Mina El Hammani: beauty without prejudice

Mina el Hammani lives in Usera, her lifelong neighborhood, because she likes to have a greengrocer under her house. "I had time in Atocha but there was nothing there," she says. Her success caught her in her pajamas, after years selling hamburgers and appearing in public to pay for her theater studies at Iñaki Aierra's NAI School of Interpretation. "El Hammani is my father's surname, which comes from the Rif, and I have quite a powerful energy." This is how this woman presents herself who at 28 years old has known her success in all her faces, also the threatening one.

After more than ten years with blackberry roles, as she says - the most important in The Prince - she became a phenomenon for her role as Nadia in the series Elite (Netflix), released in 190 countries, the platform's biggest success. She achieved so much authenticity in her interpretation that the audience often confused person with character, so much so that she received death threats for removing her veil in fiction. “My father taught me that nothing is easy in life, that you don't have to compare yourself to anyone, that in those lonely hours, when we go to bed, we choose our own paths. He also taught me to love a lot.”

I had bulimia because he believed that being thin was the important thing ”

Hosein el Hammani died last June of cancer. As a young man he fled poverty, bound for France, where he had some cousins, but the bus made a stop in Madrid and there he met Fátima – who had come to Spain on a contract, as a cook at the embassy, ​​the mother of Mine-. They fell in love instantly, and it stayed. “She always worked on the construction site. She has given everything for us. He has left in peace, knowing that I am working, that my sister Hosnia writes poetry, that we will take care of my mother as she has done: 24/7”, says the actress.

How did she feel the call of interpretation?

We lived in Majadahonda and I played with an older neighbor who had relatives on television. One day she asked me if she wanted to do the casting of Ana and the seven because I loved acting without knowing what it was. She played at doing whatever she wanted as an astronaut or a teacher. But my parents worked and they couldn't take me to the casting. Not going was the best thing that happened to me, because she gave me a thorn. And every day I implored my mother: sign me up for theater.

What is it to be an actress?

Now I have understood what it is to be an actress, as a child I wanted to be in another orbit. I imagined how the other children played in their houses. After ESO, I started to work in everything: shop assistant, stewardess, figuration, public. I saved up for two years so I could get into Iñaki Aierra's acting school. I immediately found a representative and they took me for The Prince. I consider myself privileged, I am part of the 8% of the group of actors and actresses who are working.

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How have you experienced the scourge of racism?

I began to understand it when I was eight or nine years old: I said to myself, they are getting involved because of my name, because of my hair, we were super happy, with a modest life but there has never been a lack of food on the table. Of course, we had a difficult surname to pronounce. And I have suffered racism at school, where they called me a sheep because of my hair, and on the street with my mother, which was what hurt me the most. At the age of 41, she decided to put on her veil, and they insulted her. After 11-M we lived it in a radical way. Today there is still xenophobia, and the rise of the extreme right has favored it. It is a serious problem that we have to solve.

Now I am no longer the Moor, I am the Arab, the exotic, the racialized. There is a class bias for being famous”

Has success removed the stigma?

Now I am no longer the Moor, I am the Arab, the exotic, the racialized. There's a class thing about being famous. All the characters that I have done, except for two, are from Arabic, also because there are very few interpreters with this origin. But when they see your name, they pigeonhole you, and of course they don't call me if there's nudity. I am an actress, I have no shame and it bothers me that they decide for me.

What do you think about the use of the veil?

It is a very complex issue on both sides. I will always be in favor of each person doing what they want with everything, whoever they are, love whoever they want. The problem comes when they question you. If I understand a free woman who wears the veil, I hope you understand free women who do not wear a veil.

What happened to 'Elite'?

I only wanted to make characters, I did not expect such success. Never is never. It's not something I would have dreamed of. I just wanted to work. But Elite exploded worldwide increased by the impact of social networks

And the fans rained on him?

I don't like the word fans. It is the public, the one that gets excited, the one that gets out of their routine, to whom we give that sigh and that possibility of reflection–because I work so that people also reflect–.

What does losing your anonymity mean to you?

It means to stop having first times. You no longer have first times of things; I used to put on my helmets, meet someone's eyes, sit down to have a coffee; but now if they recognize me what they see is the character, not the person. You talk about mental health without taboos and the importance of going to therapy. Of course, we have to take care of ourselves; social networks finally talk about mental health. Therapy is expensive, yes, but instead of buying four sweaters, I invest it in my mental health, a very important aspect that must be worked on daily, and that requires great effort. We must pay close attention to everything and everyone.

He suffered racism at school, because of my hair they called me sheep, and on the street with my mother, which was what hurt me the most "

To what extent have you suffered the pressure of the beauty canon?

I have lived through two important moments: the first, when I began to want to respond to the canon and suffered from eating disorders: I had bulimia because I thought that being thin was the important thing. But I learned a lot, I became strong, I created great self-confidence, I did a lot of emotional work, until I reached the second moment and the conclusion that today my body is my home, my temple, I am a goddess to myself.