Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Zair Montes of The Other Side of Things Is Helping To Shake Up The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Ming Zhao

… I learned to anticipate potential production issues in advance, but more importantly, I learned to be creative and to have a mindset that finds solutions and not problems. All the shoot was about finding creative solutions in the absence of resources and it is one of my favorite projects ever.

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Zair Montes.

Actress, Producer, and Writer, Zair Montes started her career in the industry as an actress, performing in several roles in different countries in Latin America with a vast experience in TV, theatre, and films. Since 2007, she has been seen in many movies along with participating in “Popland,” a TV Series produced by MTV. In 2014, she produced and played a lead role in the American feature film “Habana Instant,” a drama shot on location in Cuba and winner of the Innovation Award and Ecumenical Award at the Montreal World Film Festival, 2015. In 2016, she produced the first horror movie to be shot between New York and Havana: “Havana Darkness.” In 2018, she acted in the New York movie “Respite,” and her performance won her best-supporting actress at the Golden Door International Film Festival 2020. That same year, she also wrote her first theater play: “The Flowers” which premiered as a short format in New York City and won four Latin American Theater Awards including, best actress and producer. In 2019, producing and acting as the lead, she turned the play into a TV Series filming in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The series premiered in 2020 on Amazon Prime. In 2022, she wrote, produced, and acted in the inspirational short film: “The Other Side of Things,” which is an official selection at the Dances with Films Festival and the Georgia Latino Film Festival 2022.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. My parents emigrated from Colombia and settled down in Caracas. Even though we didn’t always have economic resources to afford a luxurious life, my childhood was beautiful and fun. My parents and I used to drive from Venezuela to Colombia every year for Christmas. It was a long trip, but I always found the way to make a bed among all the luggages full of our clothes, presents for the family, and Santa’s gift (although I didn’t know that at the time, lol).

Being the child of immigrants in Venezuela was the norm. Venezuela is a country of immigrants. After the second world war, the country hosted Italians, Spaniards, Lebanese and Portuguese people, among others. South American immigration, like in my parents case, was also popular. I don’t recall events related to racial issues or strong bullying due to my origins or anyone else’s during my childhood. As a matter of fact, I feel that I started to really understand those social issues when I became an immigrant myself. Fortunately for my family and all the immigrants that became Venezuelans, we were always welcomed.

During my time in Venezuela, I studied from kindergarten until I graduated from high school in the same school, and then I went to College and got a degree in Translation at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where I had the chance to represent my University and my country in The World Model of the United Nations (Worldmun), organized by Harvard University in 2004, 2006, and 2007, while I was already starting my career as an actress.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Since I was a kid I always wanted to be an actress. I would make my parents take me to auditions for commercials, and pay acting courses every time I’d come up with something related to it. However, it was when I was already in college that I got my first big opportunity in television. I landed the lead in a soup opera for one of the major television networks in Venezuela. From there on, I continued acting in telenovelas, films and theater, until 2011 when I moved to Colombia. Not only the political situation was getting worse at that time in Venezuela, but I felt the need to explore something different, to learn more about the craft, and to grow. I felt I had accomplished pretty much everything that I wanted in Venezuela, so I moved to Colombia and my perspective expanded. I started to do more cinematic content and films, and I started to get curious about what was going on behind the scene, on the other side of the game. I got interested in production and met a group of talented and interesting young filmmakers with whom I started to make plans about producing our own content and developing it from the scratch.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Every project I’ve worked on, has brought so many interesting and fascinating stories, so it would be hard to chose one. However, I would say that to me, it is very interesting now to look back and see how a short theater play that I wrote for an acting exercise while I was studying at HB Studio in NY, quickly developed into an award winning play, after we performed it on stage in New York, and later on, we transformed the concept into a TV series, filmed it in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and released it during the pandemic. Filming this project was a beautiful experience that expanded my confidence and opened the doors to the world of writing. Our current movie, The Other Side of Things, exists in part, because I opened that door and jumped into that cliff with that TV series.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Habana Instant, my first movie as a producer, was shot entirely in Cuba. We brought everything from Mexico and Colombia, including camera equipment, cast and crew, props, you name it. I had been to Cuba before, but as a tourist, so it never crossed my mind, that I needed to anticipate (as any good producer would do) certain uncommon things pertaining to the place itself. So, here I am during preproduction, and I want to print the call sheets but we are in Cuba, so I didn’t have any internet or connectivity to the outside world (this was 2014), let alone a printing machine. So, here I’am, paper and pen, handwriting the call sheets everyday, and hanging them with gaffer tape in front of the door that was “the main production office” AKA the house where I was staying, and everybody had to show up there every night to see what was going to happen the next day.

I certainly learnt to anticipate potential production issues in advance, but more importantly, I learnt to be creative and to have a mindset that finds solutions and not problems. All the shoot was about finding creative solutions in the absence of resources and it is one of my favorite projects ever.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Certainly, my husband, and business partner, Guillermo Ivan, has been pivotal in the evolution of my craft. He has taught me to believe in myself and has supported me all the way in. Earlier, I mentioned that I met a group of filmmakers in Colombia, with whom I started to ponder the idea of producing. He was part of that group and gave me the opportunity to produce that beautiful project in Cuba, even when I didn’t know anything about producing. And on top of that, I also happened to act in that movie.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Just do it. Embark on that journey and figure it out along the way. You will fail because it’s a part of a never ending process ( I keep failing ), but you also fail if you don’t try it. The only way to learn and get better is doing, so be a learner and go ahead and make mistakes. Also, don’t wait for anybody to give you opportunities. Create your own!

What drives you to get up every day and work in TV and Film? What change do you want to see in the industry going forward?

I love what I do, and that’s the drive. Acting and creating is my passion and that makes me get up every day and keep dreaming and working towards that dream.

I want to see more openness. The industry is still so hermetic even when it tries to be diverse. Take the Latinx community as an example. I particularly feel that we are always labelled into one box and therefore that means, we are all the same and we all must look the same, otherwise, we don’t fit in that category, and the reality is that we are very different even though we share the same language and other cultural similarities, and it would be very powerful to see our differences and uniqueness represented in films and television. In other words, there is more than tacos! LOL.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

Right now, I’m working on Golden Ceiba Productions’ new romantic comedy called: “Dopamine,” which will be filmed on locations in New York and Mexico. It is a fresh and sexy film in which I’ll be acting and producing.

We are also developing a faith and family movie called Drown to Live, inspired on a true story to be shot in 2023.

I see myself creating, developing and working on projects that I feel passionate about, and that challenge me to grow and improve my craft.

We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?

Me too!!!!

I think, first and foremost, having real diversity represented in film and television will help our society decrease racism and bullying. Once we normalize the “otherness,” we will be able to live in a more harmonious and tolerant world. Filmmaking has an enormous power over society, over cultures, over the way we think, and judge. It has the capacity to let us see the other side of things, different perspectives, and different worlds, and I don’t know of anything that has more influence in people that film and TV, and if we are part of it, to a greater or lesser extent, it is our responsibility to have awareness of such power and contribute to create and promote more inclusive and diverse content.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

Don’t wait until you are ready to take the risk. You’ll never be ready!

Learn as many skills as you can even if you think they are not necessary for your craft.

Don’t be afraid of failing. You either win or learn but never lose.

The journey of the actor is like a running race. You have to set your mind to win, but you have to remember that you are not in the competition as a sprinter, you are an endurance runner. It’s not about speed, it’s about resilience. And you are competing against yourself.

Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t, and don’t take it personal when you get a NO. Actors, and independent filmmakers face more rejections than not, and it’s not about you or your worthiness.

Can you share with our readers any selfcare routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.

I have a self-care morning routine: I wake up early from Monday to Friday, I drink coffee while I watch 30 minutes of inspirational content (some of my favorite podcast are: Impact Theory, The School of Greatness, On Purpose, etc.). After I’ve finished my coffee, I meditate for 20 minutes and then work out at the gym for no less than an hour. I don’t touch my phone until I’m back from the gym. I give this space to myself first thing in the morning, then the day can start. This is my mind body connection.

On the weekends, I love hiking and I also indulge in a relaxing jacuzzi session at least twice a week.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Repetition is creative. It takes me back to the times when I was redefining what acting meant to me and all the explorations and results I was able to obtain through repetition. I love it because it applies to anything in life. The most efficient way to learn, or get good at something is through repetition.

Believe you can and you are half way there. It is a constant reminder about the power of a good mindset and everything you can achieve if you believe in yourself.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

It would be a “love more, judge less” movement. However, I strongly believe that you don’t need to have an enormous influence, or fame to inspire a massive movement. It can be daunting to think that if you don’t create a tangible massive movement, you are not a force of inspiration and change. I believe more in the domino effect. I think if you can change or inspire at least one person, you’ll be contributing to waves of good that you can’t even think about.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Only one? Let me give you two options to increase the odds! =)

Oprah

Reese Witherspoon

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Absolutely.

My Instagram account (my favorite social media, and the one I connect with followers the most) is: @zairmontes

I’m also on Tiktok: @zairmontesg

Twitter: @zairmontes

Facebook: Zair Montes fan page.

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Thank you for such a cool and thorough interview!!!