Eiza González: Women have been like beaten dogs in showbiz for a long time

Mexican actor Eiza González, who has appeared in Hollywood films such as Baby Driver (2017), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), and filmmaker Michael Bay’s newest action film, Ambulance, among others, reflects on her 15-year-long career. And she says she has long witnessed women being oppressed in the entertainment industry.

“[I feel] women have been oppressed in [this] business and have been put in a box for a long time. Sometimes, I approach it (the status of women showbiz) as… we are sort of beaten dogs, and we sort of flinch,” González says.

But, the 32-year-old is glad that now women, including herself, are “unwinding slowly” to a point “where we can be directors, screenplays, and DPs (director of photography)”.

She continues, “I’m evolving towards this. I can be a multi-hyphenated [personality], and do many things. I don’t have to just oblige to the rules that the industry has in a parameter for me. I’m learning as I go, who I want to be, and being like, ‘You can also do this!’ It’s a process,” she adds, hoping “every woman out there feels incredibly empowered” in the coming years.

Talking about her latest film, car chase thriller, Ambulance, wherein she stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the actor says, “I took Ambulance when I was coming off of a really vulnerable year because it was the pandemic. I had a lot of time to sit with myself in silence, which I hadn’t had since I started my career. I never stopped for that amount of time in my life as a working woman. It was a very transitional moment for me.”

She further elaborates, “By the time the role came into my life, I had evolved so much already of who I was before I started. It allowed me to really think who I wanted to be as an actress. I walked into being very vulnerable and honest. It was cathartic and powerful. It was the perfect new beginning of my career after COVID,” she concludes.