‘Griselda’ Star Sofía Vergara Related To “An Immigrant, A Mother, A Strong Person,” But Was “A Bit Traumatized” By Playing “A Monster”

deadline.com:

Sofía Vergara stars as a notorious Columbian drug lord in Netflix limited series Griselda and she knows first-hand how the narcotics trade can ruin the lives of ordinary people. “I lived through that era,” says the native Colombian, for whom Pablo Escobar and the Orejuela brothers were household names. “Everybody at that time—good families, families with money—were part of the business at some point.

Even, unfortunately, my brother.” Vergara’s brother was killed by a drug cartel in the 1990s, when he was just 28 years old. “There are things that happen in life that push you in the wrong direction,” she says. “My brother had nothing to do really in this business, and for some reason he ended up there.

He was very charismatic, very generous, very handsome. You would’ve never thought. But people are not just one thing. They sometimes get dragged into things because of necessity, because of things that happen in life, and you make the wrong decisions.

That doesn’t make you a horrific person.” A ruthless drug lord containing multitudes was what intrigued Vergara about Griselda Blanco, the titular lead in Griselda, on which Vergara also serves as executive producer.