Before the soap opera Tan lejos y tan cerca (So far and so close), Leidis Díaz was not an unknown actress for Cuban viewers, in fact, she had already starred in another of our primetime dramas: "Cuando el amor no alcanza", with the character of Nereida. However, I dare say that Susana stole the spotlight.

Leidis did not undergo the casting for another character, but she received a surprise: "Loisys Inclán, the director, was looking for an actress who would sing to defend the character of Magalys. I did my casting with Alberto Corona and, well, I waited. After that I was called and I was surprised, because they gave me another character, which was not the one I had casted for, in this case, Susana's."

What challenges did the character of Susana pose for you?

"The first five chapters were given to me and I remember when I began to read the story of this character, it hooked me right away. The first thing, because he it approached a subject that, until then, was taboo on Cuban television and seemed very interesting to me to do something as new and necessary as that too. But it was quite a challenge, because the character was always written to be funny, likeable, to make you laugh and I thought that I’m an actress more of the dramatic side, I’ve not really gone into comedy a lot and that was already a challenge: how to make the character funny, but at the same time real."

Are there common grounds between Leidis and Susana?

"I think so, that Leidis has common grounds with Susama, above all determination. That determination Susana has to attain what she sets her mind to, to fight for love, she believes in love and defends it to the bitter end and fights for it in her own way... Everything Susana learned, everything Susana later came to be, I think it has to do with Leidis and in that transformation I was able to put a little bit of myself into Susana as well."

The couple you make with Delvys Fernández has very nice elements, but also leaves very serious messages. How did you find that balance when interpreting them?

"The first thing that helped them was to have a script as good as the one written by Alberto Luberta Martínez and Lil Romero, that already helps you in the process: to have something worthwhile to defend, that you don't have to change it, or fix it so much. The second thing was to be clear that these are two real characters. Delvys and I talked a lot at the beginning, in rehearsals, and we said: they are the fun part of the soap opera, but we have to make sure that the circumstances, that is, what It happens to them, whatever makes viewers laugh, but makes them feel like it's a real life situation, that was very important.

"When Eduardo Eimil joined the process, well, we finished closing that very good triad, contributing ideas so that the characters would get richer and better, but above all so that they’d be characters of everyday life, so that any viewer could see himself in Susana or Orlandito and, the best thing, is that that person found in us the answer to their doubts, to their questions".

Was the idea always to make people laugh, but not just gossip?

"That was very important: to make people enjoy themselves, to have a good time, especially since the soap opera has many very strong stories, with quite large conflicts, so our time on screen was to relax from the rest of what was happening in the soap opera. We decided not to make cliché characters, we wanted to make real people, so that the viewer would crack up with laughter with the situation, but that for them everything that was happening would seem very real."

According to what you’re telling us, you didn't know the funny side that you showed through the character of Susana...

"Not really. I already told you I consider myself a dramatic actress. I also don't want to be tagged into characters that are all suffering and pain, but I think that when comedy is done that way, situations are nice, but the characters are real, well, that's how I like to do things, I have a lot of fun and I enjoy a lot. I was really very nervous with the outcome; I was eager for the soap opera to be premiered. I was afraid of overdoing it or falling short and that people wouldn't understand, but well, finally, with everyone’s help, including our director Loisys Inclán, also learning from my dearest Doris Gutiérrez, a character I leaned on a lot, the French, Dominic, with a lot of experience, of course, the help of Eduardo Eimil , the good chemistry that Delvys and I had, because that's how all good things were achieved and people were able to enjoy it on screen".

Immediate projects?

"Right now I'm back in the theater. I love it, that's a place I’d never want to leave. This time I'm with Buen Día group, in a beautiful project that fills me with hope: Miss Julia, directed by Sandra Lorenzo, where I play the character of Cristina, a very cute character that I’ve grown very fond of. The play has already premiered, but I joined the cast and then, for them it would be a second season and for me the premiere on the last weekend of September at Tito Junco ward at Bertolt Brecht, Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. We will be there sharing a classic, in a version of Sandra Lorenzo that I consider very interesting, so the invitation is out.

"I finished recording Tras la Huella, which should come out, I don't know if for this season or the next one, on December, also a very interesting case, where I risked using a new image that I like a lot, but I never used it on screen. The case is called Varados and it’s directed by