Roswell, New Mexico star Jeanine Mason first graced our television screens in 2009 when she made her debut appearance on season five of So You Think You Can Dance. Mason credits this time as her “entry point” into the entertainment industry, as she had no prior access into what can seem like an impenetrable apparatus. In what Mason calls a “ridiculous outcome,” she went on to win her season, and from there, her momentum has only grown since.
From there, Mason started receiving attention from casting directors to further her acting career, but what she found most valuable from her time performing on So You Think You Can Dance was learning how to truly enjoy herself and have fun.
“I didn’t have a game plan or a strategy to win [So You Think You Can Dance], I felt like I jumped into a TV screen and was just delighted, and I was just trying to show up and make it the best show possible,” Mason said in an interview with GRAZIA. “In my observations of 10 years in the industry, a lot of people get buried alive and debilitated by the stress and the pressure of ‘am I making the right moves.'”
Mason says her approach works best when she comes from a place of joy and what feels right in the moment for her. She said that she wants her piece of the puzzle in acting to be “the best, the shiniest, the funkiest and most entertaining.” She feels this is particularly important when preparing for her Roswell, New Mexico role of Liz Ortecho, a biomedical researcher who is the daughter of undocumented parents. Working on Roswell, Mason finds it very different to be leading a series as opposed to her previous roles on shows like Grey’s Anatomy.
Now, four seasons in, Mason said she loves the challenge and what she calls the “gifts” of being able to play such a role.
“When you’re in a position where you are going to have those hard days or those good days, you have a possibility for highs and lows,” Mason said. “It’s an endless learning gig, even into season four, I’m still figuring stuff out. I’m figuring out how to be a great leader, how to be a great comfort for my crew and how to create a happy, productive and comfortable work environment where people can be creative.”
Mason said that she seeks to create a space where vulnerability can thrive, as many aspects of acting require vulnerability for successful role execution. In her portrayal of Liz Ortecho, Mason said that she had the unique challenge of having a character “in her bones,” meaning it’s the longest she’s ever sat with a character. Working with this character, Mason always wonders what’s in store for her next, as her character develops, how does she develop alongside her?
“I’m so grateful that the character I’m getting to lead a series with is a character that is as strong willed, intelligent and full hearted as Liz [Ortecho],” Mason said. “Liz is here to work, and she’s a lot tougher than I am in how she presents to the world, and I’ve had to tap into that to be a good leader on the show.”
Alongside her work on Roswell, Mason, alongside actress Sarah Silverman, has scored a key role in Blair Underwood’s upcoming psychological thriller Viral. The story follows a man named Andrew (played by Blair Underwood) whose life falls into disarray after the disappearance of his wife, played my Mason. Mason said that this independent film was a prime opportunity to do something different in her acting and an opportunity to meet new people whom she finds creatively stimulating.
“I’m tuning my acting chops, I’m gathering more information, and I’m taking all of that back to Roswell,” Mason said. “It’s good all over, I love doing hiatus jobs.”
Mason’s latest “hiatus” job, Christmas On the Square, also starring Dolly Parton, was recently nominated for an Emmy Award. Mason said that working with Parton was the “dreamiest” thing to ever happen in her acting career.
But her work as an actress and an entertainer isn’t the only aspect of her life that Mason finds important, the actress recognizes and understands the importance of having a platform to inform her audiences about topics that are important to her. Lately, Mason, a Cuban-American, has been very vocal about the current protests occurring in Cuba. She feels that speaking on things that are personal to her and making space for activists and educators is more effective than speaking as an “authority” on topics.
“This is a topic that is personal to me, my parents are products what happened [in Cuba], and I feel that in my bones and in my body and I can tell you that these people have been fighting for 60 years to get their freedom back, and that freedom is not a dirty word,” Mason said. “Even still, with this topic that is personal to me, I still consider my role in this to be sending you in the direction of people who have all the information and who are activists.”
It has always felt comfortable for Mason to advocate for Hispanics, as it is something personal to her, but now as Roswell, expands on its representation, Mason finds that advocacy expanding into other marginalized groups as well. Mason said that as one of the only shows that is truly led by Latin women, Roswell helped her to see how she could be there for others, especially Indigenous communities in and around New Mexico, where the show is shot.
“There’s such an incredible native population in New Mexico. We have this particular opportunity there to create a channel to be involved in our industry.” Mason said. “This is my way of saying ‘thank you’ to the community and ‘thank you’ to the state that has provided so much for us. We’re so fortunate to be able to work among all these different cultures that coalesce there, the Spanish presence, the Mexican presence the Indigenous presence is all so beautiful.