Celia Cruz is known as much around the world for her famous rhythms as she is for her infectious laugh and colorful style. And though it has been twelve years since she lost her battle against brain cancer, she’s not been forgotten. Telemundo is honoring the multiple award winner with a drama series aptly titled, “Celia” premiering October 13th.
Longtime fan Aymee Nuviola has been honored with the distinction of playing the Cuban-American legend in her later years alongside Willie Denton who brings to life Celia’s husband of 41 years, Pedro Knight. Aymee told us ahead of her musical tribute at the Latin American Music Awards last week what it was like channeling someone so beloved and the pressures behind it.
“I felt the pressure and responsibility to portray someone as beloved as Celia because her fans have known her and her mannerisms for so many years,” she said. “But now that it’s all complete, I feel a great satisfaction over the work we did. It’s a beautiful thing because I learned so much in the process. I learned a lot of things about her that I didn’t know before. I became very in-tune with who Celia was as a person and as an artist.”
Not only did she learn a lot about her idol but she also learned some things about herself. She explained, “I learned you should never place any limitations on yourself. We should push ourselves to do more always. It’s important to know our true selves and what we are capable of. Sometimes we can close our own path because we doubt we can do big things. But the truth is, if you put all your effort and heart into it, you can do anything.”
When we met Aymee at the Dolby Theater, she embodied the late singer in spirit and in style. Decorated with flowers and bursts of color, she confessed she took cues from Celia’s wardrobe as early as 2013.
“I’ve been a fan of Celia for a long time. If you look up my first album, ‘En La Intimidad,’ which came out about four years ago, I started to look for something different— something different for my image. So I started to wear colorful things, inventive things on my head, very much like Celia did. And since I don’t like to really do my hair much, styling it in an Afro works perfectly for me. This all happened way before I was honored with this opportunity to play the iconic Celia Cruz in Telemundo’s new series.”
The world lost an icon so many years ago that it’s important that new generations learn about this great woman and the values she cherished most. Aymee wants not only new fans to be introduced to Celia, but old ones to learn a lot more about the woman who brought so much “Azucar,” into their lives.
“It’s important so that the new generations who never had a chance to meet her or know her music, can learn about this legend. Even for those people who are familiar with Celia, it’s a beautiful story that is not only musically and artistically important but it has a message of family, love, and respect. There are a lot of values that are lacking today that hopefully can inspire society to be better. Times are a little crazy right now!”
“Celia” airs Monday through Friday at 8pm ET on Telemundo.
