Who was Griselda Blanco?
Actor Sofia Vergara on the real Griselda Blanco aka the 'Godmother of Cocaine' and why playing her was "a lot of fun".
"The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco." And so begins the latest original series from Netflix, Griselda, a six-part dramatisation of the real-life story of Colombian drug lord (lady) Griselda Blanco. The quote allegedly comes from none other than the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and it encapsulates the character of a woman who would become the ruthless boss of a drug empire and involved in Miami's cocaine drug wars in the 1970s and '80s.
Actor Sofia Vergara plays the titular role and also executive produces. She tells the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Graham Norton why it was the kind of bold, meaty, dramatic part she had always longer for.
"This is an idea that I got like 15 years ago. This was actual - a real story of a woman. This is one of the biggest drug dealers that ever existed in Colombia and she was able to do it for a long, long time because she was a woman," says Vergara
"I went crazy about that story because I have this accent that's not that strong but...it sometimes not allow me to play every role that I want and so I had to look for roles that was for me and she's Colombian, she's a woman, she's an immigrant and she was a very, very tough, ruthless woman," says Vergara.
(Photo: Sofia Vergara during a press conference at the photo-call of the Netflix TV series Griselda in Madrid, 09 January 2024. Credit: Rodrigo Jimenez/EPA)
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