Roberta Colindrez is preparing for the Lucha of her life…
The 35-year-old Mexican actress will star opposite Gael Garcia Bernal in his Amazon film about “The Liberace of Lucha Libre”, Cassandro.
Colindrez will play best friends with Bernal’s Saúl Armendáriz as she finds community in the Lucha Libre world training young fighters.
The film, produced by Ted Hope and Todd Black, is shooting in Mexico City.
Cassandro, directed by Oscar and Emmy-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams, tells the true story of Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso who rises to international stardom after he creates the “exotico” character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre,” and in the process upends not just the macho wrestling world but also his own life.
Armendáriz at the age of 15 quit school and began training for Lucha Libre, beginning his professional wrestling career in 1988 under the mask as Mister Romano. Ultimately he would abandon the character and take on the exotico character of Baby Sharon. Exoticos are male wrestlers who dress in drag.
Colindrez is best known for her work in the Tony award winning musical Fun Home as well as her stand-out roles in Amazon’s I Love Dick, FX’s Mrs. America, Starz’s Vida, and HBO’s The Deuce.
Colindrez will next star in the Amazon series, A League of Their Own.