'I am living my dream right now': Actress inspiring other immigrants to follow their dreams
A former Fort McMurray resident is showing off her skills on the small and big screen alongside celebrities like Jason Momoa.
Humberly González has acted in commercials, films, TV shows and done voice work and motion capture for video games. Recently she appeared in the Netflix show Slumberland as Graciela.
"Every new project, I am like, 'this is surreal, I can't believe I am here,'" said González.
"I am living my dream right now. I am doing exactly what I hoped for. I never thought it could become real and then it did."
González was born in Venezuela, a "lively and very performance-forward" country. Due to the political turmoil in Venezuela, her family left and moved to Aruba before eventually settling in Fort McMurray.
"I had never seen snow or felt cold weather in my life," said González. "I was trying to imagine what it would be like and I was like, 'is it like living in a fridge?' Like, what does snow feel like? Is it like a snow cone?"
Moving to Canada was a shock, but it also provided opportunities.
"I got into drama right away, I always loved performing and I used to do little theatre shows and things like that and Westwood had such a great arts community," she said.
"I remember booking like my first lead in a musical in high school, which was Urinetown, and I remember that moment on stage, I just felt connected to myself."
The passion for the arts was something that didn't go unnoticed by her drama teacher.
"I could see this immense desire to be an actor and she was still absorbing English and so forth and she was just a quick study," said Terri Mort.
González attended college in Fort McMurray and originally thought of acting as just a hobby, not a career path.
"Being the daughter of immigrants, especially with everything my dad had to sacrifice to bring us here, I always felt like I had to do something 'real and significant' to make him proud, but… honestly, it was my parents who supported my arts in the first place," González said.
Eventually, she went to school for theatre and film, moved to Toronto, got an agent and has appeared on all the major Canadian networks.
"I would never have thought I'd be here now working with Netflix, working with Sony Pictures, working with these incredible and huge production companies you can only dream about," she said.
González hopes her story will inspire other immigrants and show them that dreams can come true.
"If I can do it, then anyone else can," she added. "If you have a dream, what is literally the worst thing that could happen? You get told 'no,' or maybe you try again or go a different way, but there was just no way that I wasn't going to try."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.