The notion that Hollywood is an elite society has been fed to us since the beginnings of the industry. It isn’t called Hollywood Glamor for nothing. Success seems to be defined by red carpets and high-end lifestyles. For many young actors, this lifestyle becomes their ultimate goal. When the illusions of the big screen dictate what it actually means to be an actor, there are only a few talented individuals who honor the art and Arlyn Broche is the embodiment of the authentic craft that is performing. As Dany Garcia in “Young Rock,” Broche shows she is part of the small group.
Broche is beautiful inside and out, with her powerful demeanor shining through in any role she takes on. Watching her onscreen performances, she emulates skill that only a natural born actress could, but her journey into the industry wasn’t clear cut. “I was first studying business in college because I always have had that mindset and wanted to have my own business. Then I realized I love to communicate with people. So I got very good at networking and talking to people. Then I realized I love storytelling. I love talking to people and wanted to be a journalist,” she says. “Then I thought, I’m gonna really let it hang out there and I'm gonna go for acting, which is what I ended up doing. I auditioned for the theater department at FIU and began training privately with a lot of different people.”
While it took her time to discover her true calling, the actress has been working hard throughout her entire career. “I've been pursuing acting for over 10 years easily and I had done a lot of independent films and feature films,” Broche says. “I was really putting in the grind because acting is the creative expression of storytelling, but it's also a business in the sense that, you have your expenses, you have to travel, you have to put in your auditions, and I put in the hustle.”
Fleeing Cuba in the 80s, Arlyn was raised by two hard-working parents who instilled the work ethic that she had now. “I grew up in a lower income household. My parents came on the Mariel Boatlift. And I was born here in the United States, but they understood that exploring your creativity or what you have a passion for is very important.”
Not only were her parents extremely supportive of her journey as an actress, but Broche’s father was the one who started a generational itch for the art as he was a successful actor in Cuba. “My love of acting and storytelling came from my father. He gave me my first acting book, which was the Stanislavski method, “An Actor Prepares” and ever since then, I've really loved acting and I feel that my family is an artistic family. My mom is a registered nurse, but she has always loved drawing and painting and writing poems.”
“I was really putting in
the grind because acting
is the creative expression
of storytelling..”
With over a decade in the industry under her belt, Broche is no stranger to hard work. She knows that the facade of a lucky break in Hollywood isn’t an accurate depiction of all the laborious effort that goes into acting. “I've done over 700 audition tapes. It's a lot of callbacks and flying out to New York and LA. I tested at a network for a very big project. That was a big deal. I didn't get the role, but I knew I was there. I told myself that eventually, I'll be here again. And I hadn't booked anything for about a good year and a half. I was auditioning, auditioning, auditioning, and then this last year I booked my first lead role in “Gravesend” on Amazon Prime. And then I booked this recurring role of Dany Garcia on NBC’s “Young Rock,” which was a full-circle moment for me because I've always admired Dany's career. Sometimes I’ll have these big gaps where I don’t book anything. It’s just about riding those waves.”
Arlyn Broche’s depiction of Dany Garcia in “Young Rock” may have recently been introduced into the series, but the impact that Garcia had on Dwayne Johnson’s life is obvious from the moment Broche appears on the screen. An entrepreneur in her own right, Dany Garcia can be credited for providing the wrestler-turned-actor the motivation he needed to become the fitness superstar that the world knows now. “I brought her to life on screen for the world to see,” Arlyn reflects. “And she told me, ‘You're in a unique position to show the world that it was a woman who architected this whole thing.’ Not to take away from [Dwayne’s] magnificence and what he has done, but I’m showing she's always been behind the scenes. A lot of people don't know who Dany Garcia is. Everyone knows The Rock. Everyone knows his life. They don’t know about the person who kicked it all off and got him to where he was.”
While Broche’s role in telling Johnson’s story through “Young Rock'' was established quite recently, the pair seemed to be co-stars written in the stars! It’s one of life’s crazy coincidences: Arlyn had actually met Dany during the period in her life the actress is playing in the sitcom. “[The Rock and Dany Garcia] used to live here in Miami. They used to go to Porky's Gym in the Hammocks in Miami. And I remember my older brother, he was like, ‘you have to go get his autograph!’ And I'm like, ‘stop it.’ I wasn’t gonna go up to the Rock and ask for him to sign something, but my brother begged. So I went and like he was with Dany working out and I was like, ‘excuse me. You know, my brother really is a huge fan and I'm a fan too and I would really like your autograph.’ And so we went to the front desk and he was so nice. When I spoke with Dany while I was doing character development years later, I told her the story about how I had met her already.”
Years later, the actress later played alongside Johnson in “Ballers” as Tonya. In fact, Broche accredits this role as the first time she really felt she made it. ‘I started doing a lot of independent films. I did feature short films for different festivals, but I feel like my first big role that I was like, “oh my God, I'm actually on a set and this is so freakin’ cool!’” Call it destiny or a coincidence, but it’s hard to deny just how kismet Broche’s portrayal of Dany Garcia seems to be.
To make sure she was portraying Dany’s personality as accurately as possible, Broche meticulously combed through the details that made the character who she was. “Whenever I’m taking on a role in an audition or on set, I’m given a blueprint. That’s what the writer gives to you.” Arlyn explained that as an actor, a culmination of small details will bring authenticity to a character. As Dany Garcia, the actress’s strategy was more important than ever. “A lot of my scenes are at Merril Lynch, where she was a broker. She’ll be on the phone and the script says she had pink or red nails. I told Dany that she didn’t seem like a pink nail girl. She said to me, 'I would always wear ballet slippers and a square French manicure.’ Talking to her, I had a lot more information to make [the story] as true as the real thing.. That's what we are made of, our gestures, and these things make the scenes authentic to who she is and what she represents. Dany’s a powerhouse.”
The only way that Broche was able to curate the information she did to bring Dany to life was to talk to the character IRL. “There weren’t a lot of like videos or footage of Dany to look at when I was playing her. She was always a very private person. Business driven but just very private, not in the limelight. She's intelligent, genuine, and authentic to who she is. She told me, ‘I would love for you to show not only that I was very driven business-minded, but also show the quirks and the insecurity of not always understanding or knowing how everything’s gonna work.’ Talking to her, I got information that I wasn't able to find online and just really understood who she is. She's this confident, powerhouse businesswoman but also a mom and a wife and human. She loves to read, and she’s a very well rounded, humble person.”
As a mom, Broche has a lot on her plate. That’s why she makes sure that what she’s taking on, she’s
passionate about. “I'm very intentional about the work that I put my time into. And I have fun and I prepare when I put my audition tapes out there. If it gets picked up, perfect! If it doesn't, I have my day to day life. I also have to think about how I’m gonna go to my kid’s volleyball game or make food or whatnot and I just incorporate it into my life. Who cares what’s next? My friend asked me, ‘did you book that audition that you said you were doing?’ And I was like, ‘oh yeah, I don't think about it anymore.’ I put it on tape. I thought about it when I had to work on it. I did it. I forget about it until my agent tells me I booked it.”
Being Latina, Broche’s experience in the acting world has been different than most, but she believes that through the years she’s been in the industry, she has noticed change. “I’m very proud of being Latina. Funnily enough, in my upcoming show “Gravesend,” the breakdown for the lead that I booked was written as a Caucasian woman from Ohio. I have olive skin, and thick eyebrows. I am definitely Latina! I did the audition and they said, ‘you know what, we're going to change her. We're going to change her nationality and we're going to change her completely. We're gonna make her Cuban.’ I was stunned. For me, that is a huge pride and honor. Putting Latinos on the forefront, putting them in bigger roles on shows in film in mainstream Hollywood is just amazing. I was born here in the United States and I'm grateful for a lot, but I still carry my roots and where I came from very, very close to my heart. In my work, I bring a taste of that.”
Arlyn has added a Cuban twist to her acting, but she is also the vice president of Areu Bros, a film studio in Atlanta dedicated to helping minorities break out into the film industry. It’s the first Latinx-owned studio in the United States, and Broche is proud to play a role in the barrier breaking company. “It's about working with minorities, marginalized communities, Latinos, women, to bring them to the forefront to raise the voice of Latinos. And so being a part of that and working with Ozzie Areau, has been a game changer. I'm so so excited and I definitely have seen a lot more Latinos.”
While many are disappointed with the authenticity and grit of the acting industry, Broche’s hard work and success is truly inspiring. “It's not about the glitz and the glam. I've had callbacks where I have to fly to New York in the morning. And by the time I arrive, I go to the callback, in the casting director’s office. Sometimes producers are there and you just go, do your callback, it could be 15-20 minutes. Then you go back to the airport and I'm in the airport for a good three to four hours. I can’t schedule the flight too close to the audition, then fly back, and get ready to go to the next city!”
Broche is redefining Hollywood, and shows the hard work that goes into acting. Her dedication to the craft has paid off, but she is just getting started. “I always bet on myself. My mom always told me, ‘listen, time is gonna pass by anyway. No matter what you do in life, you are the youngest you’ll ever be and the oldest you’re gonna be all at the same time. Time goes on no matter what. If you want something, you have to go for it.’ And that's what I did.”
Interview & Article by Zara Rawoof