Ximena Duque Giraldo stars in Telemundo’s Corazón Valiente as Samantha Sandoval Navarro, a self-defense expert who works as a bodyguard for her love interest’s father. “There are so many emotions when it comes to portraying this character. She has lived so much. I’m used to playing younger characters, but Samantha is a complex woman.”

Even though Ximena assures she is nothing like Samantha, preparing for this role was one of the most challenging and enjoyable experiences, “Playing her is like playing different characters. One minute she is very strong-willed and the other she is very vulnerable. I love that I can have fun with the layering of this character. It’s like being on an emotional rollercoaster.”

The up until recently brunette confessed she changed her hair color as part of her character development process. However, she had already made up her mind about changing her hair color, no matter what role she took on next. “As an actor, you need to offer the public something different. Visually, people already feel you are someone else. I already knew I wanted to change my hair color to blonde for my next role. I arrived at the screen test and they didn’t approve. They wanted me with black hair, but for the first time in my life, they actually did what I wanted and let me keep the light hair.”

However, Ximena’s challenge was not only emotional, it required a lot of physical training as well. “I had to train in martial arts and kickboxing. When we were about to finish production, I was craving to do some action scenes. I didn’t want my double doing all of the fun work! I insisted so much that they finally agreed, but the results were not pretty. I ended up all bruised, but it was worth it. With this character, I’ve discovered so many things I never thought I’d enjoy.”

Don’t forget to tune in to Telemundo tonight for the premiere of Corazón Valiente starring Ximena Duque Giraldo.

Photo by: Juan Manuel Garcia/Telemundo