Draped in a red headscarf with backdrops depicting the nativity scene, you\u2019ve likely seen the Virgin Mary announce the coming of Baby Jesus in Spanglish on your social media feeds this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on our way to Belen. Baby alert! We\u2019re on baby alert! The baby\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clips of the Cuban-American Mary from Miami, performed by actor Marcela Paguaga-Fuentes<\/a>, have racked up well over a million views on Instagram<\/a> and TikTok<\/a> since she launched the seasonal series on December 1, with videos detailing her character\u2019s baby name ideas (Jesus, because \u201cI wanted a name that sounded good in English and in Spanish\u201d), birth plan (she wanted Mount Sinai, but had to settle for a \u201cs\u00faper luxurious, private\u201d manger), and how Joseph reacted to her pregnancy (\u201cCaballero, anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a papi.\u201d)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis year, make your gift count \u2013 \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur work is funded by readers like you who make voluntary gifts because they value our work and want to see it continue. Make a contribution today to help us reach our $30,000 goal!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Paguaga-Fuentes, a New World School of the Arts grad best known locally for her role as Margarita Maria Mendoza in the popular Amparo Experience, which told the origin story of Havana Club rum amid the Cuban Revolution, has been acting since she was eight years old. But she\u2019s seen her follower count more than double since she debuted her Mary character, with creators like Tefi Pessoa<\/a> and artists such as Fifth Harmony singer Lauren Jauregui<\/a> reposting or interacting with her posts. Further down in the comments, local fans tag Saturday Night Live and cast member Marcello Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, who\u2019s been making Miami proud on the sketch comedy show since 2022.<\/p>\n The newfound attention comes at a surreal time for Paguaga-Fuentes. When I call her for our scheduled interview, I hear the buzz of a crowd of people in the background. She apologizes for the noise and tells me her grandmother just went into hospice care, and the whole family is at her house.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an immediate, hard turn from the light conversation I\u2019m expecting about a comedic social media video series, but one that makes sense coming from the creator of From Someone Who Gets It<\/a>, a podcast she hosts about her mental health struggles. As it turns out, I learn that the character she\u2019s created to make a million (and counting) people laugh was born out of heartbreak.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get a little personal,\u201d she tells me, just shy of three minutes into our call. \u201cI\u2019ve been struggling to get pregnant, and I\u2019ve been in this very weird season of feeling angry, feeling very lonely. I woke up to my period, and I really thought I was pregnant. I just felt alone, and I was just like, I don\u2019t know what else to do.\u201d<\/p>\n To paraphrase the Beatles classic, when she found herself in times of trouble, Mother Mary came to her.<\/p>\n She\u2019d had a fleeting idea for a character that would go \u201clive\u201d on her social channels a few weeks prior, but the moment passed. \u201cI just dropped it. I didn\u2019t pay attention. And then I got my period. I was not feeling well about myself, and I said, \u2018Okay, well, let\u2019s start creating art. What can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n What she did was go on a coffee run, park her car, reach into her backseat, grab a spare piece of cloth (\u201ca movie theater blanket that I had in the back of my car\u201d), drape it over her head, and start filming. She initially posted the video on TikTok, where it quickly gained traction, but it really took off on Instagram.<\/p>\n Every bit the stage actor, Paguaga-Fuentes is certifiably academic when she speaks about her characters and process. \u201cI went to Catholic school. I know the material,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t write this beforehand. I improvise the whole thing. I get ready, I set up the camera, and I just do it. I give myself like four takes, because I don\u2019t want it to sound scripted.\u201d<\/p>\n Another reason she feels comfortable going off-book: Like her Cuban-American character, she\u2019s a Miami girl through and through. She and her husband, Eddie Fuentes, co-owner of Calle Ocho\u2019s Dead Flamingo<\/a> bar, are Hialeah kids who got married on 305 Day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a love letter to my city,\u201d she says of the series now, though the character she created, an expectant mother, began as an exercise in catharsis during a difficult time. \u201cI really did it for myself, because I wanted to show myself we can create even in the saddest times.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the success of the series, she\u2019s introduced another character, a Cuban-American Mrs. Claus, who\u2019s freezing in the North Pole and hiding cookies from her husband, Santi (you know, Claus). For fans of her endlessly quotable Cuban-American Mary, she\u2019s also dropping merch<\/a> based on the character.<\/p>\n She says the burst of creativity, bolstered by a supportive audience, has helped her get through a difficult holiday season. \u201cThe anger has kind of gone away, and I just feel that my time will come. And until then, let\u2019s create another kind of life, and that life, right now, is art.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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