After studying drama at Richmond-Upon-Thames College, Diana Bermudez went on to perfect her art at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama that boasts alumni that include Judi Dench, Carrie Fisher and Gaël García Bernal to name a few.
Her performances have been catching the eyes of international producers and directors of note and she has an exciting body of work out or about to be screened this year. She has been spotted filming opposite Natalie Portman in Xavier Dolan’s feature: “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” and in Danny Boyle’s upcoming musical romantic–comedy “Yesterday”. She also played Marion in the TV series Avenue 5, and has just completed her role as Juanita, in Sylvester Stallone’s “RAMBO 5: The Last Blood.” To complete a busy year, she is also appearing in Mindy Kaling’s remake of “Four Weddings and a Funeral”.
One of her most recent performances was in the role of Isadora in ‘The Life Tree’, a short film directed by Paul Frankl. This is a film permeated with magic realism, fantasy and inventiveness and it forms part of a visionary anthology of 20 shorts under the collective title ‘An Uncertain Kingdom’. Covering an array of subjects from pollution and climate change (as in the Life Tree) to the #metoo movement, Brexit, sexuality, immigration and diversity, the compilation is exciting, challenging and moving.
Diana Bermudez as Isadora in The Life Tree.
Her natural beauty is exceptional as is her gentle demeanour, which made her the ideal choice for the lead in ‘The Life Tree’, where she suffers in silence as her sick child deteriorates. The story is about a Bolivian migrant who works as a cleaner in a large office where she is not respected. There, she discovers a healing tree that helps her ailing son, Tomás (beautifully played by Juan Leonardo Solari) who is dying of plastic pollution. Meanwhile, in the background, a TV broadcasts details of uncontrolled migration caused by drastic climate change.
Diana Bermudez is also very creative herself, and in 2014 she wrote and directed a short “Storm in a Teacup”, and later in 2015, she was associate producer on : “My Beautiful White Skin”.
My Beautiful white skin https://vimeo.com/120503885 (watch the film: 19:30 minutes.)
Born in Cali, Colombia, Diana Bermudez came to the UK as a three and a half year–old child: -
“A lot of my Latino friends have the same story, you know. We moved here when we were really little, so we were brought up in the UK educational system… I didn’t really want to be an actor when I was younger. But I was one of the top students, when my teacher said: “Oh, there is an external theatre group”. I remember I hated it, as I was so shy! I ended up being cast in one of the main roles and I remember being terrified, but when I finished performing, it was the most incredible feeling and that was when I started to really enjoy acting and the sense of escapism that it brought to me from my everyday academic life.”
Her hopes to go to Saturday drama classes were dashed when her mother insisted that she attend the Gabriel García Márquez Spanish school instead. Now, as an adult, she appreciates it was the right thing to do. But as a result, initially, she thought of drama only as a hobby, until an unexpected opportunity in Italy opened up: -
“I went to Italy to teach English. I was thinking of being an English teacher, or maybe, a translator… but when I got there, this company also ran a [theatre] company, so although we were all trained to be teachers, when they performed… I was like: “I want to get into that!” and within a couple of months I had become one of the actors… That is what made me realize that it was what I wanted to do as a career! Before then, drama had been something that gave my life an energy and though I loved it, I still saw it as a hobby. Especially in the UK, we are not represented, as a brown woman of indigenous descent, growing up… I never saw people that looked like me in films or in the theatre. I saw all these amazing white English actors, especially when I was younger. Now, yes, things are changing and it’s a lot more diverse, but at that age when you are wondering what do with your life, you don’t see yourself in a job, in a role and you don’t imagine that that could be for you.
[The theatre group in Italy] was just amazing! I learnt so much from the other actors I was touring with. We remained friends … they taught me how to be a professional actor without having trained… I learned about the discipline that it takes to perform every day, and the energy it takes. I went to drama school after that, but I still think it was a much better way to do it, because I knew exactly what that work implied and I knew then that I wanted to become better at it, and after a year and a half [touring] I could see it as a career.”
Diana Bermudez in 'Doctors' TV production.
Observing her natural ability, it is interesting to discover that initially she had gone to King’s College to become a translator which would have been a loss to us all. Being passionate about a lot of ethical issues, she was amazed at the synchronicity of the situation when Frankl approached her to audition for the part in The Life Tree: -
“There’s cash projects and then there’s creative projects. When both of them combine then that’s perfect…that speaks to me as a person and creatively as an actor. This one, ‘The Life Tree’, when I read it, I had literally just started to speak about plastic pollution on social media and just when I was advocating that every little helps, as our consumption of plastic is so high, this script suddenly landed in my in-box! I loved it because it uses fantasy and I love that whole Pan’s Labyrinth… where it’s clear without saying it directly. I loved that element of it and, of course, it came just as I was speaking about plastic pollution! [After lockdown] I’m going to be involved in another project which is exactly the same. I’d been talking about missing and murdered indigenous women in the Americas and this film deals with exactly that subject [ titled ‘Into the Wolves’ Den’] … These are projects that I can’t help but be drawn to, as they are so close to my heart.”
She was delighted to have the chance to work with Natalie Portman in “The Death and life of John F. Donovan” directed by Xavier Dolan: -
“I had seen her in so many incredible films that there was this part of me that held her on a pedestal. When I actually met her, I realized that she’s just a real woman…. (laughs). Sometimes we can forget that all these actors that we see, and yes, we love them, but that they are also so real. For me it was great to see her working, you are always learning from others round you and it was lovely to be able to see her thought processes, it was amazing!”
Diana Bermudez as Juanita in Rambo 5
Bermudez has now worked in film and TV. When asked if she preferred one to the other, she replied: -
“They are 2 different mediums… in the world that we are living. Now film and TV are starting to merge. Before, TV was mostly entertainment and film was more ‘art’, but now, some series that I have watched feel like an amazing, epic long film. One of the things that I want to do is get into a series where I can create a character and develop her over a long time. With film, yeah, you probably get to film for one month, if you’re one of the main characters, but you don’t have time… one or two months and then …poom… it’s gone! I think it would be incredible to go on a journey with a character for a year or two …and see where that character goes, and that is my next dream!”
Working with different directors brings out different energies from the actors. Bermudez found that working with Paul Frankl on THE LIFE TREE was particularly rewarding thanks to his own sensitivity and personal way of working with the actors: -
The Life Tree.
“I have worked with many directors who have a very specific idea of what they want the character to be, and if you go in with an idea they will say: ‘No, I want it exactly as it is in the script...’ and that’s alright because I respect the director’s vision. What was lovely about Paul is that he understood that he’s a British guy from the UK and that despite writing his story with a lot of research, he saw that I was… the real thing… and that I could definitely relate to the character and every time I suggested something like: “ Maybe she wouldn’t do that”, he was open to changes. So, it was really amazing that he gave me the space to create this character as I wanted to show her. Isadora is a cleaner, and I remember that when we first moved to the UK, that is what my Mum was doing as well as many of my Mum’s friends, even though they had all had very different careers in Colombia, or Ecuador or wherever. Many people’s qualifications got downgraded here, so I was aware of all the nuances, and I knew what that life was like and could relate it to my own life experience… A lot of the film deals with internal emotions and he would say: “Diana, we’re going to film this scene, do you need to go for half-an-hour and prepare for the scene?” which was great. Some directors do that but some don’t. He was very thoughtful and it was really a pleasure to work with him. I know that it’s a short film with a smaller budget than other films I’ve worked on, but that’s what makes these projects really worthwhile: the consideration for my creativity and my process. When you really enjoy working with directors you always want to work with them again, of course, I can’t show up all the time in his films!” (laughs)
Diana Bermudez is now being sought after for international projects and one important production which is now on hold due to the coronavirus lockdown, is a fine example, as it touches on themes that Bermudez is concerned about, and she is pleased to have the chance to help attract more attention on these issues: -
“We don’t know how the industry is going to progress in terms of the survival of film. After lockdown, I’ve got a new project: “Into the Wolves’ Den” which will be filmed in the Americas...when?... They are even further behind with regards to the lockdown! It’s a project in the pipeline and will be an incredible project to work on, with many other indigenous actors working on it as well. I play Jolene who’s the mother of an indigenous girl who’s gone missing. It’s a real situation that’s happening all over the Americas. It’s prevalent in North America and, for me, it’s a symptom of colonization continuing. They get kidnapped, some never show up and some show up dead. It’s a horrible situation. Also, in North America, there are rules around indigenous groups and native Americans… so that they are not protected like other citizens. You can commit a crime on a reservation but if you are a ‘white’ American, you cannot get charged! So, imagine! You could go to a reservation and commit all the crimes you want, it’s really weird, but it’s why indigenous people are targeted. The film aims to attract attention to the issue, especially as now, questions are being raised about the subject, but indigenous subjects are still not at the forefront of people’s thoughts.”
Diana Bermudez appears in the short film: ‘The Life Tree’ which forms an integral part of an anthology of 20 films under the title THE UNCERTAIN KINGDOM, which is to be released online on June 1st 2020, as theatrical screenings had to be cancelled.
THE UNCERTAIN KINGDOM will be launched on June 1st 2020, through Verve Pictures. The film will play as two feature-length volumes, available on BFI Player, iTunes, GooglePlay, Amazon Prime Video and Curzon Home Cinema.
