The snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps glow in the afternoon light. Carolina Miranda is on a break between productions, wandering through the valleys, already thinking about what comes next: There are at least four projects waiting for her return in Mexico before the year is out.
It’s a long way from Irapuato, the small town in Guanajuato where she grew up, and even further from the entrance to Television Azteca where, two months out of acting school, she stumbled into the audition that would change her life.
“At first, I told them I didn’t know how to act, and that I had only been studying for two months; but then I thought: ‘Let’s do it,’” she recalls.
This instinct has defined her career. In 2025, Miranda returned as Camilla Roman in the second season of the series Bervil Valsoone of Netflix’s most popular series, follows Sweet Rojo and Velvet: The New Empire. She has an International Emmy Award nomination to her name, a Gracie Award on her shelf and a body of work that includes prestigious television series, drama and theatre. She has also, by her own account, tried to stop acting at least three times.
Miranda didn’t grow up dreaming about the screen. Her mother saw something in her—”You have acting talent; you have to perform at festivals,” she would repeat—but it wasn’t until after high school that Miranda Irapuato left for Mexico City to enroll at CEFAT, Television Azteca’s acting school.
“[I] He remained there for about four years. I started working on projects while continuing my studies, and honestly, living on my own, getting to know the city and starting from scratch was very difficult, but also very rewarding. I never imagined that this would become my lifestyle. It wasn’t until it worked Los Rey“My first project, I realized that I didn’t want to leave this profession,” she says.
It was almost over before it even started. Homesick and strapped for cash, she was on her way to thank the school administrators and tell them she was leaving when they stopped her with news: She had landed a role in Los Reyher first telenovela, opposite Ofelia Medina and Fernando Luján.
She decided to stay, even though the project tested her right away. A month before filming began, she dislocated her knee in an accident. I rushed to rehab to schedule a start date.
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it,” she says, laughing. “I started rehab and, so to speak, broke my knee just to start the series as soon as possible. Since then, I was trying to escape from acting, and it wouldn’t let me go.”
After Los Rey, Miranda auditioned for another TV Azteca project. Two days before filming began, she was replaced. She moved to Veracruz, convinced that acting wasn’t for her.
Then he came Senora Acero.
“Often we feel discouraged, but when we learn to believe in fate and that everything happens for a reason, life becomes easier and we make better decisions in our careers. Now I have 15 years of experience. Senora Acero It changed my life; When I was in Colombia, I wanted to go back to Mexico because I spent so much time away. …I’m always trying to escape, and yet, somehow, fate is so clearly drawn that it takes me back to where I belong, and I’m so grateful.
The Telemundo series, which premiered in September 2014, began as the story of a housewife who becomes a drug dealer to protect her family. When Miranda joined in season three, she took over the title role, playing Vicenta Acero — known as “La Coyota” — a young woman who helps migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border. She would go on to star in over 245 episodes.
“I can’t say it’s the most important role of my career, because I’ve done a lot of roles, and I don’t want to think I’ve done it already; I want more,” she says. “Senora Acero It propelled my career internationally. The series aired for three seasons in the United States and throughout Latin America. It gave me the opportunity to take on my first leadership role. The writer, Roberto Stopello, was fully committed, struggling to make me his Senora Acero; Production wanted someone with more recognition and more exposure. “I had nothing, and he bet on me until the end.”
From that moment on, Miranda immersed herself in her work with what she calls “tears of blood.” More productions followed, including Who died with Sara? – the Netflix thriller that reached No. 1 worldwide – in which she played Elisa Lazcano for three seasons.
“This project boosted my career, it was crazy,” she says.
Of all her roles, there is one that stands out. in Single womena Mexican adaptation of an Argentine series about women driven to commit murder by circumstances and social pressures, Miranda played the role of Esmeralda: a law student tempted by addiction and eventually drawn into a criminal organization.
The preparation was intense. Every day before filming, Miranda would sit for three to five hours while makeup artists applied tattoos, bruises and scars all over her body. Determined to achieve a physical transformation similar to Charlize Theron A monsterI listened exclusively to metal between house and the group and kept conversation to a minimum.
“I completely dismantled myself and made people stop seeing me as a pretty girl. Instead, I became a woman with many problems, with deep inner pain, and completely broken. There are many tools you can use to transform yourself – we are beings that come equipped that way from the beginning, but in the end, actors are created for change, and in Latin America we need to believe in that more. We can create new characters, and not just fall into the clichés or stereotypes that we carry as individuals. I wouldn’t say it’s easy Photographed, but it’s more comfortable. Mujeres Asesinas “It was a challenge but also a gift,” she says.
It took 20 days after filming ended — along with meditation and therapy — before she felt like her whole self again.
“I had to undergo several meditation and psychotherapy sessions to find peace and, at the same time, regain my physical presence, because I had become accustomed to nervous and throat spasms,” she says. “That’s how I realized that everything was okay and the fantasy wasn’t about me.”
The performance earned her a Gracie Award for Best Non-English Language Performance in mid-2025, and five months later, she received an International Emmy nomination for Best Actress.
Despite her ease in front of the camera, Miranda says she still suffers from stage fright — an admission that surprises people who know her.
“No one believes me,” she says amused. “They think it’s not true because I worked as a voiceover artist and host. When I’m in the theatre, I struggle a lot, but I know it gives you the best feelings when you see the audience so close – clapping, crying, laughing and reacting with surprise to your work. It’s the most sincere and rewarding connection ever. To this day, whenever I attend a play, I feel an overwhelming urge to cry when the entire audience stands up and applauds. Nothing compared to the thousands of comments on social media.”
She points out that the majority of her audience are women, something she takes very seriously.
“In general, my audience consists of women, which fills me with pride, love and a great sense of responsibility,” she says. “You have to be very conscious, especially on social media, of what you say, do and communicate [and] Of the messages it conveys and the extent of negativity it may reinforce.
In the end, your followers are watching you all the time, and you become a role model. I love that my audience is made up of women because I’ve always fought for them, long before I became an actor. It is a great responsibility to be aware of what we teach society through our actions, the way we respond and how we deal with our problems.
This year, Miranda is awaiting the premiere of season three Bervil Valsowhich she describes as one of the most difficult challenges to date. She will also appear in Memorias de un sinvergüenzaa drama film filmed in Colombia Who died with Sara? Co-star Manolo Cardona begins a new, undisclosed project in April.
Above all, audiences will see her playing a younger version of the late Mexican screen legend Silvia Pinal in the documentary. The charming barnstormer of revolving vanity.
“It was lovely to film this project and have the opportunity to portray Sylvia in her youth. I was lucky enough to speak to her; it was surreal to take on the role of a woman like that, drawing from her personality and her own life story. It was a short appearance but very meaningful. A month after I finished filming, Sylvia passed away.”
After 15 years, Miranda stopped trying to decide where her career was headed. She chooses projects by instinct – the first reading gives her goosebumps, and it’s a character she can already hear talking before she says yes.
“I can’t forget that I wasn’t committed to it before, and that I may not be in the future. It doesn’t mean I’ll stop being someone. That’s something that artists should always keep in mind, because it’s very difficult when projects aren’t consistent. You can’t lose yourself and feel like you no longer have value just because you’re not working at this. It can’t represent everything in your life.”
But for now, the work continues. And Carolina Miranda, as usual, continues to appear.
