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 ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'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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