Of
Valerio Cappelli
«I was counting pennies to go to school on the bus. My father had four other children by four women, my mother raised me. I dreamed of being a model in Milan, where I live”
Mariana Rodriguez comes from the poverty of her native Caracas, a complicated past, concrete, used to rolling up her sleeves. She is 34 years old, lives in Milan, photomodel and actress. She is Checco Zalone’s girlfriend in Good Way.
«A smart girl who tolerates his exuberance. Each of us takes advantage of the situation and wants something, he the pussy, I the wealth. On the set Checco said one thing and the director another, I tried to please everyone, then the solution was found. I am full of gratitude.”
Let’s be honest, did you expect this success?
“I don’t know, but it’s exciting to see the empathy, Italy united by laughter.”
At least in this. In the film there is a father looking for his daughter. She…
«My father had 4 other children with 4 different women, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. In the film Checco tells his daughter you never called me dad, I burst into tears. I have two brothers 20 years older than me, my mother raised me alone, she did many jobs, being a housemaid, selling products house to house, cleaning and cooking at the nursery…At home we ate rice or chicken, we couldn’t afford two dishes.”
What do you remember about your years in Caracas?
«Even when my father was there I counted the cents to go on the bus to school. Dad was a policeman before he was shot in the face. I have a hard time talking about him. My mother worked in a very dangerous favela. Drugs, violence. My cousin was killed in a showdown. Nothing bad has ever happened to me but you know the neighbors. Every now and then I slept with a friend who was worse off than us, my mother told me: now you see the real misery. She had me at 42, out of wedlock.”
«He is the head of a narco-government. I read in the New York Times that they caught his nephews with 800 kilos of cocaine, I can’t even imagine something like that. It would take a machete to wipe him and his gang out. From Caracas I gave a harsh report for Le Iene and they took away my passport for four years, the accusation was: traitor to the homeland. We have become the new Cuba.”
How did it arrive in Italy?
«It was my dream, I was 18 years old. In Caracas I had saved up for the plane ticket by working as a sales assistant. I learned Italian thanks to Iziano Ferro, everyone said I had to be a model, I relied on Venezuelan friends who lived in Milan, but getting there was an adventure, at the Madrid airport where I was in transit they stopped me, my fault was that I only had 50 euros in my pocket.”
Were they suspicious at customs?
«I found myself in an airport cell for three days, men and women together. They made me feel like Pablo Escobar’s daughter. I was desperate.”
«I was a model, a film with Gigi Proietti and reality shows, one also in Spain. At Big Brother Valeria Marini nominated me every week. I, who am considered the family clown, couldn’t answer her and defend myself. Maybe he feared me. He insulted me about everything, I preferred to be bullied than to speak.”
What does he want to do in life?
«I’m a chameleon, I can’t do just one thing, I have a concentration disorder. Thanks to reality I discovered things about myself that I didn’t know, they made me stronger. In the cinema I would like to act for Tim Burton, his zombies remind me of certain sides of South American folklore, they are part of our culture.”
«I got rid of this word, people think that success is who knows what, the day you die that’s not what you take with you. I felt empty, I didn’t feel good about myself and to find myself I took a spiritual journey to India.”
«When I’m with him I feel protected. I have a complicated relationship with my father, Gianmaria, the important thing is that we are good parents.”
«My school is what I live. There is a volcano inside me, even my beginnings as a photo model were not easy, I was flat as a surfboard, in Venezuela the women are curvy.”
«A kind of eye, an esoteric symbol, my guardian angel».
December 31, 2025 (changed December 31, 2025 | 09:03)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
