Ana Ortiz, Tony Plana, and Mark Indelicato don't just play a family on TV; they've bonded so closely off screen, you'd swear they were actually related. "We come from the same kinds of families," Indelicato says. "Loud, affectionate—I guess that's a big part of why we connect so well."
On ABC's Ugly Betty, the trio gives believable life to the titular character's colorful Queens, N.Y.–based family. Plana is warm and gently authoritative as patriarch Ignacio, while Ortiz brings subtle texture to Betty's brassy sister, Hilda. And as Hilda's flamboyant son, Justin, Indelicato manages to be completely outrageous and absolutely real. This season has seen the Suarez clan face their share of setbacks: We rooted for Ignacio as he struggled to become a U.S. citizen, and we grieved when Santos, Hilda's fiancé and Justin's father, was killed. Through it all, Ortiz, Plana, and Indelicato created a family as multidimensional as anything you'd find in the real world: loving, difficult, and utterly authentic.
Back Stage: How did these roles come to you?
Mark Indelicato: It came in as a regular audition from my manager, and it was in New York. I went, and the next day I was put on tape, and then it was sent [to Los Angeles]. Then I just went through the normal callback process, and I tested with America [Ferrera, who plays Betty], and I booked the pilot. They didn't recast me, so here I stand.
Ana Ortiz: I actually auditioned for Betty first. I remember getting the audition from my agent and being like, "This is wrong. I think you sent me the wrong [part]." And he was like, "No, this is a project I really want you involved in. This is the only part they have written right now, and we just want to get you in there." I guess his advice turned out to be kind of brilliant, because then they called me back in for Hilda. At the time, Hilda was pregnant, married, was looking for a minivan, and didn't live in the house with the family, so it was a whole different vibe. But I went in there with my own idea of what a Queens professional would look like, so I just made her that, and that ultimately stuck.
Tony Plana: It stuck deep! I've been on television as a regular eight times. This was the easiest audition process and pilot-booking process I've ever had. I went to one audition. In my car on the way home, they had already called my agent saying, "We want him."
Ortiz: That's amazing! No studio, no network—
Indelicato: You're so lucky!
Plana: I didn't test for the network or for the studio or against anybody else. I had competition there at that first audition: There were a lot of old-looking guys walking around trying to remember their lines. That's the first time I booked a pilot without testing. But it's funny: After the fact, you hear about all these people who were offered the role and turned it down for something else. [The roles initially] go out to these name people. And I think that's one of the refreshing things about our show: The casting is fresh.
Indelicato: We're all new faces.
Ortiz: [To Indelicato] You're a really new face!
Plana: And an ever-changing face.
Ortiz: Oh my God, we just watched the pilot, and it's like [watching] an alien.
Plana: But a cute alien.
Indelicato: Well, I can't argue.
Back Stage: Your onscreen chemistry is so believable. Did you bond immediately?
Ortiz: I remember reading [the pilot] and thinking, "Oh, this is my family. This is how we speak to one another; this is how we relate." Talking over each other, loud, and just hugging and constantly on top of each other. Then when we met, I remember Tony was like, "I already feel like you guys are my kids."
Plana: There was an immediate intimacy and a comfort level between us. You know, my friends would come over during high school to have dinner and study. After dinner, they would look at me and go, "What was everybody fighting about?" I'd go, "They weren't fighting—that's how Cubans talk. You should see us when we really fight."
Indelicato: I know! Haywire. Me and my mom have an argument—not an argument, a discussion—in the car, and we're yelling at each other and pointing at each other, and people are looking at us like she's abusing me. It's just like, that's the way we are. I remember when I first got out here, Tony and Ana kind of took my mom and I under their wings. We would go over to Tony's house and hang out with his family. And Ana took me to the movies, and we went to Universal.
Plana: We adopted them.
Ortiz: We have that familial thing. The other day we were on the elevator, and Freddy RodrÃguez, who's on our show right now, was there; and Tony and Freddy and I were talking, and we're like, "Oh, we have to hang out; where do you live?" Tony said, "I live here." And I said, "Oh, yeah, he has a beautiful house—you know what, you should come over." I just invited him over to Tony's house!
Back Stage: This show has such a unique tone: high comedy mixed with intense drama. How do you work together to maintain that?
Indelicato: You concentrate, but you don't concentrate too much. You just let it happen, and you let it come to you. You know how they say, "Think of a sad moment"? Don't force it. Think of that sad moment in the back of your head, but also think about your character and what your character is going through that's making you so upset.
Ortiz: I think we're lucky that we do have these close relationships. You can really just be in the moment.
Indelicato: Yeah, you're emotionally attached to these people. With Kevin Alejandro, who [played Santos], we had an instant connection, which made it even more sad [when the character was killed off].
Plana: The separation is real. He's not gonna be back. Unless they bring him back in a flashback, he's gone. There is a sense of loss.
Ortiz: I'll tell you, [Ugly Betty is] an actor's dream job. How often do you get a chance to be wacky, slapstick, pratfall funny, and then at the same time turn around and have a really emotional, truthful scene? You couldn't ask for a better gig.
Back Stage: Are the writers open to your input?
Indelicato: We communicate with our writers. If they throw an idea at us and we're like, "How about this?," they're willing to compromise.
Plana: There was an episode where Betty was wondering if I had a favorite between the two [daughters]. There was line in there where I actually tell [Betty] that she is my favorite and Hilda overhears it. Both America and I had an adverse reaction to it. We said, "No, a parent would not say that, even privately. He might say something close to that, but never that. No way!" So they listened to us, and we tweaked the line, and I think I said something like, "You've always been so special to me," so it's a little more subtle, a little more layered and not so definitive. I love Hilda as much as I love Betty.
Ortiz: And there are all kinds of subtleties like that that they respond to. There was a time when they were like, "So little Justin leaves the house." And I'm like, "Yeah, but he has to give me a kiss before he leaves the house." That's just how it is. So now I always get to have that moment with him, because I remember that from my childhood. There was absolutely no way I could get out of the house without a kiss, a hug. That's just an example of the little subtleties that are thrown in, and everybody has that freedom to do that and bring that to their characters.
