Begonya Plaza is a bilingual actor, writer, and filmmaker. When living in Hollywood at age nine she starred in an independent film called "Big Sister" and appeared in several commercials. She moved around for most of her formative years between California, Guernica in Northern Spain (where her father and her mother's father are from,) and Colombia where she was born until settling down again in Los Angeles. She finished high school at John Marshall High while working as writer and anchor for the Emmy Award winning television news program, Student News on channel 58.
After an internship at ABC News, she contemplated joining the air force but when learning that women could not become pilots, she attended the Los Angeles Theatre Academy at LACC College.
After her role in 48 HRS, and auditioning for similar roles, she realized that she'd had to accept being typecast, so instead she moved to New York to study classical theatre at the National Shakespeare Company, and train privately with Geraldine Page, Bill Hickey, Herbert Berghof, Eric Morris, and Michael Howard, study dance at Alvin Ailey, voice with Graham Bernard, and work as a cocktail waitress at Johannas private nightclub. Off and on she would always be attending independent writing courses at NYU, UCLA, AFI, and many times with Robert McKee.
Some of the directors and actors Begonya worked with in film, television, and stage include: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Walter Hill, Oliver Stone, Michael Mann, Amy Jones, Tim Hunter, Clint Eastwood, and Ellen Kuras, and actted opposite Willem Dafoe, Tom Cruise, Nick Nolte, Robert De Niro, Roddy McDowall, and Carroll O'Connor, among others.
At the Labyrinth Theatre Company Begonya originated the role of Ms. Reyes in Stephen Adly Guirgis' "In Arabia We'd all be Kings" directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. At the Beverly Hills Playhouse she originated the role of Rose in "Old Friends" written by Martin Zurla, directed by Richard Zavaglia, produced by Dan Lauria. At New York City's avant-garde Gas Station Begonya performed a one-person musical of Bertolt Brecht poems and Kurt Weill compositions, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre West she played Yerma in Garcia Lorca's "Yerma" directed by Russian director Yuvgeny Lanskoy, and in "Ronensbourgh" at IATI theatre in NYC she originated the role of Hannah. Begonya has also collaborated with Culture Clash, Rachel Rosenthal, Barry Gifford, Dan Lauria, and others.
Her documentary "Gernika Lives" was filmed in the Basque country of northern Spain. She raised the funding, wrote the concept, directed, and with her friend, Emmy Award winning editor, Jack Tucker, edited the film in a co-production with K2000 in Euskadi. "Gernika Lives" is a 40-minute film about the bombing of Gernika and the 50th anniversary ceremonies of that day. She filmed her father along with his family, and friends, all survivors of the bombing of Gernika. It is one of the first ever aerial bombings prior to the Spanish Civil War. The documentary is narrated by John Randolph, a close friend and mentor of Begonya's who she collaborated with on a multitude of socially conscious projects in Santa Fe New Mexico, Mexico City, Nicaragua, and Spain.
Begonya starred in the CBS television series "Dark Justice" for the first 12 episodes. It was the first co-production between the US and Catalán TV, shot in Barcelona. she remained there to have a child, form a family and live life with new perspectives that invited other probabilities. She turned down the film Mambo Kings, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, and when discovering she was pregnant had to withdraw from a third call-back for Man of La Mancha on Broadway.
Begonya wrote, filmed, edited, and produced the documentary, “Souvenir Views” as an homage to NYC. About a young man's self-imposed rite-of-passage experience in Lower Manhattan post 9/11. The film premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, La Habana International Festival, aired two consecutive years on The Independent Film Channel, and traveled to East Coast universities including Wagner College and Dartmouth University.
Begonya wrote “Teresa’s Ecstasy” a three-character, full-length play, and performed in the Off-Broadway run opposite Shawn Elliott, and Linda Larkin. Directed by Will Pomerantz and produced by Jack Sharkey and Jim Weiner at the historical Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC. Teresa's Ecstasy is published by Broadway Play Publishing, Inc.
Her screenplay "The Persistence of Memory" is about one year in the life of Salvador Dalí and his wife, Gala, seen from the eyes of a young lover. The script garnered letters of interest from the celebrated actress Glenn Close, and director of photography, Juan Ruiz Anchía. While pursuing the funding for a film production, Begonya wrote a rendition for the stage, and is currently completing the novel version.
Begonya's poem "Love" was published in Silver Tongued Devil Anthology / Rimes of the Ancient Mariner, Celebrating 5 years of East Village Poetry, her poem "To Caterina from her Mother" is published in Beyond Words Magazine, November 2021, both in print & online. Other poems are in The Write Launch, The Ulu Review, L'Esprit magazine, and Rogues Scholars Press Anthology.
Begonya Plaza-Rosenbluth's latest venture is a short 1-person play QUANTUM'S BIG PICTURE You can see a recording of her live performance for Equity Library Theatre at the NY Public Library on YouTube. Currently she is developing a full-length version.
Link: www.begonyaplaza.com
Link to work-related stills & click on each photo.