This past week, I had the chance to interview actress Jacqueline Piñol, who you may know as Rio Morales from Spider-Man: Miles Morales. We got to talking about Spider-Man, motion capture, and Jacqueline’s dream role.
Spencer Legacy: Could you tell me a bit about yourself?
Jacqueline Piñol: I live in Los Angeles, I grew up in L.A. in Hollywood. You know, nothing fancy, it just happened to be in the city, and my family is Latin American. My mom is Columbian, my dad is Guatemalan, and we have Spanish in us, so we’re a cultural blend in my family.
I grew up and went to school here, I went to college at LMU and have always pursued acting. Since I was in elementary school, I knew that I wanted to be an actor. I had no plan, it was just kind of like whatever opportunities I can come across as I pursue this art, I will pursue. And here I am, decades later [laughs.]
Clearly it worked out!
Yeah! It’s not an overnight success, at least not for me, you know of course there are those that have different paths and get lucky, but that’s the exciting part. I think there is no set path, you can make your path anything you want. You can dream big and just continue to pursue it because you just never know. Like every career, it has it’s ups and downs, and you just have to stick with it and never give up.
What made Rio Morales appeal to you?
When I first came across the script, of course, everything is very secretive, you don’t know a whole lot. You just know first names, that it’s a video game, and that everything is titled differently, so I think I looked at it with fresh eyes. I had no expectation, other than bringing this beautiful character that was written on paper to life.
I think what did it for me was that I had just become a mom a few weeks before I originally auditioned for Rio for the first game with Peter Parker, the first Spider-Man. So although I didn’t know that information, for me, becoming a mom and then coming in to play a mom with such a heartfelt story from the beginning, it just translated very easily for me. I think I was in a place in life where I could channel her through me very genuinely. I didn’t have to search [for] or imagine certain circumstances or feelings because they lived in me. And that was who Rio was, and I was just so flattered and happy to get the role, still not knowing what it was for completely, but as an actor, I’m always happy to play a part that I feel I gave 100% to at the audition.
Was that familial connection your favorite part of being Rio Morales?
I think so, because as an actor, and maybe other actresses who have become moms can relate, the first thing you think when you get pregnant is “uh oh, my career is over, oh no, what am I going to do, that’s it, I’m done.” So it’s a difficult place to be in emotionally as an actor, because you feel like you’re going to take years off or that this is the end.
And here I was, my baby was just a few weeks old, and I booked this part, so there’s something in me that’s like “I still got it” [laughs.] I still got it, I can do this!” I guess I hadn’t played too many moms, or I hadn’t played any moms while being a mom. I’d always played young moms without being a parent to anything other than my canine children [laughs] which is a different kind of mom. So this really, I think it just sparked new life in me as an actress. I felt like I just wanted to give Rio every bit of truth and honesty and strength and vulnerability that was written on paper, because I felt like I was given a chance to bring that to the table, and I couldn’t turn away from that. Especially being a new mom, I was like “hey, if I’ve got it, let’s show up and do it,” you know?
What is it like to perform in a video game compared to live action?
For me personally, it’s more challenging. I think the difficulty exists in that when you do motion capture, and you’re doing everything in parts for a video game, and even though the production itself is still filming and recording audio and video during every aspect of the part, you don’t know which part they’re going to take from to form a final product. So you have to be 100% in every part of it, and you have to remember where you are in the story because we film out of order, you have to remember the emotional throughline of the character that even if you film a scene that already happened two months ago, and you’re filming the scene right after it, you have to go back and revisit that to make it connect.
So that’s the difference with video games that I find, is that it’s a really long process, so there’s more homework involved. For me as an actor, I keep a journal as the actor for where I was on a given day for the scene [and] for the emotional line of the story, what we already shot, because I may not revisit that part of the story for two, three, or four months.
You want it to connect, and you want it to feel streamlined like you filmed it continually, and we couldn’t since that’s not how production works. That is the hardest part, I think, of doing the live-action motion capture video games, but I love it! It makes you feel like you’ve encountered this big obstacle and you overcame it. It’s really cool to be challenged in that way. then you feel like you can do anything. Then you get a film or a TV role and you’re like “oh this is no problem, I got this!” [laughs]
It’s physically challenging too because although they have professional stunt motion capture actors who do more of the difficulty and the dangerous stunts, we get to do some of that so it’s realistic to our body type and our size and the capture of our bodies. So the funny thing is that my motion capture shoes, unlike everyone else’s on this game, were heels [laughs] so it was really hard! You have all this equipment on you that adds pounds of weight to the chest, shoulders, and head, and then I’m in heels in a really really tight Velcro suit with all these dots on me everywhere and on my face with makeup. And sometimes you’re running and jumping and falling and screaming, you’re doing all the live-action stuff that’s happening in the game, so all of that was a lot for me. There’s days where it was like getting a workout, so what I appreciate is that production provides someone, in the beginning, to show you how to stretch, why you need to stretch before and after, how to land properly, how to work your body with all this equipment on. That was really helpful, there’s an art to it.
Did you notice a difference in how you performed as Rio between games?
Because it was more work and more scenes, I really did have to get more involved and was privy to more of the storyline. And during the table read, I was more consciously invested in the other characters, whether I ever had a scene with them or not, just for my own research and place in the story. I felt like I had to know more about them and everybody’s involvement in it. Even back to the character that plays Miles’s uncle, you know, there’s a history there, that even if we never saw it play out, I had to create all of that and visit all those possible scenes in life that we didn’t really see.
I really like that part, because it makes your role have like a real arc, and Rio, even if she’s not visually involved in some stuff, I feel like emotionally, and in the history and in the consciousness of Miles, she’s involved. So that’s how I was able to build my character, as she had higher stakes this time.
When you’re talking about your history or your past, I’m telling Miles stories about his childhood or his upbringing or his grandmother and why there’s a tiff there between me and his uncle, all of that I had to create and to live. And Nadji [Nadji Jeter, actor for Miles Morales] was just a lovely, lovely boy– or man, he’s a man, but I see him as my boy because I have this motherly feeling towards him [laughs.] And we had such good chemistry working together, even in rehearsals it was just so nice to feel like we could go back and forth to talk about things or just rehearse the scene, and he was always so present and so vulnerable and so real, so it was so easy for me to just live the scene. I didn’t have to try so hard.
If you could pick anything in the world, what’s your dream role?
Hmmmm. Oh my gosh, that is such a good question, there’s so many! [laughs.] Well, I mean, I might say that in Game of Thrones, either Arya or the Queen, Cersei, and I’ll tell you why. I’m not usually seen as that type, you know, those roles tend to cast women that exude a different type of energy and vibe, but for any actor, it’s just a dream to stretch yourself in the direction you’re not usually seen as, right? So for me, especially playing Cersei, oh my gosh, it’s so meaty! You know, no one likes to be hated, but it’s just a TV role so why not? [laughs.]
And then Arya is such a hero. I loved Arya’s role in Game of Thrones, I just couldn’t wait to see what other things she would come up with and do and where we would see her, I just love the adventure of that character and the risk-taking. So I would have to say one of those two for sure.
Whenever I ask this question, I get Marvel, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones, so you’ve already got one done!
Oh, do you? [laughs.] Yeah, I have Marvel! But yeah, that would be so fun.
What advice do you have for any aspiring actors and actresses?
I definitely say that if you know you want to do this, it’s because you have to do it. Never do it for fame or money, and always study your craft. I say if you always stay involved in classes or theater or try to create your own project and get involved and always staying active instead of waiting for a job to land, that’s how the jobs will land. It’s in always pursuing your craft and getting really good at it. It’s kind of like working out or going to the gym. You’ll never get the ideal body unless you stay consistent and just keep to the task. With acting it’s the same, develop your craft, stay dedicated, find ways to keep doing it, and those jobs eventually will land. Somebody will see you, somebody will notice, and you’ll get a shot, I really believe.
You’re going to have plenty of pitfalls, and that comes with the pursuit of the career, but see, I think it comes with the pursuit of any career, and I don’t just put it in the bubble of Hollywood or entertainment. Any career, you want to get noticed and to the top, and to stay in the scene of any career, you’ve got to get good. And how do you get good? You’ve got to keep practicing, get more knowledge, get more experience, and stay in the scene.
I want to thank Jacqueline for taking the time to talk to us about her career. Be sure to stick around MonsterVine for more Spider-Man content.
