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Emily Tosta plays Liv a youth who is tried of living in a town of violent animatronics in Willy’s Wonderland. Liv risks her life to aid a quiet drifter (Nicolas Cage) in the story, and this fighting spirit is not just relegated to the silver screen.
Note: This is just a two minute video of Emily Tosta, as the rest of the video had a lag due to a shaky wi-fi connection (fyi – that was my fault – but the rest of the interview, transcript wise, is in our post!)
Emily Tosta came to the United States at 12 from the Dominican Republic with her mother. In 10 years she has learned English and carved out a flourishing acting career (Mayans M.C., Party of Five, Willy’s Wonderland). That said, this success was hard fought and was not an overnight process.
During an in-depth interview on the SUS: Share Ur Scare podcast, Tosta discussed her battle with ulcerative colitis and being hospitalized during COVID-19, and that account is definitely an eye-opening listen. Watching Liv (Tosta) duke it out with a bunch of animatronic mascots resonated a bit deeper upon my Willy’s Wonderland viewing. Thanks to another eccentric performance from Cage (he’s silent through the entire movie) and the feature’s off the wall plotline, Willy’s Wonderland is a thoroughly engaging watch.
Tosta talked to Deepest Dream about the film, the upcoming season of her beloved series Mayans M.C., the Karttos International foundation, and why The Shawshank Redemption is one of her favorite films (fyi we spotlighted that movie’s actually press junket on Matt and Greg Used To Interview Movie Stars).
The audio version of my chat with Emily Tosta is featured on the latest episode of CinemAddicts:
Emily Tosta: Hello!
Hi. How are you?
Emily Tosta: I’m good. How are you!
Great. By the way, I really enjoyed your film. I really loved it.
Emily Tosta: Oh awesome. That makes me so happy!
I’m a huge Nicolas Cage fan. Going into this project, were you a huge Nicolas Cage fan as well?
Emily Tosta: Of course, I thought that a super interesting element as well. To answer your question, I have been a huge Nicolas Cage fan since I was a little girl. I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and I used to watch all of his movies with my family over there. It was just always so much fun watching him on screen.
I thought he was such a brilliant actor so when I got the chance to work with him, I felt so honored and blessed. This is someone I obviously watch and I adore his work. He’s an Oscar winning actor so to be able to lead a film with him, it was such an honor. It was so so much fun.
What is the set of Willy’s Wonderland like with all those animatronics? It’s such a unique film and it will be hard to come across a movie like this.
Emily Tosta: Absolutely which is one of the reasons why I as soon I got the script, I was like ‘I’m going to do this.’ Because most likely I’m not going to get to do anything like this (again) in my career.
Yes it was definitely a rush. The set designers did a wonderful job with the sets and everything felt so realistic and there was that feel to it that it made our jobs so much easier. I was so much fun running away from them and all the action sequences and the fighting scenes and the stunts. Overall it was an awesome experience for sure.
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On the outside looking in, one can assume that you are an actress on the rise with Mayans M.C., the Party of Five reboot and Willy’s Wonderland as part of your resume. Look a little closer and you learned English when you were 12 or 13 and battled ulcerative colitis. Where do you get your strength from? I’m assuming your mother had a hand to play in your personal growth and perseverance.
Emily Tosta: Wow that was so beautiful. Well first of all, thank you so much for that. Yes, my strength comes definitely from my mother – a lot of it. She has always been my best friend and we moved to this country together to pursue my dream as an actress.
We both came out here with no legal status to work. Obviously Spanish was our language and we have been through a lot of hurdles and battles but at the end of the day, it’s an amazing thing that I get to do what I love and I get to help my family now. And our charity work, my mom and I have a foundation together that help the people from Venezuela and we get to have all these resources to be able to do what we love.
It’s such a blessing. It’s true what you say sometimes people say like ‘Oh this happened overnight.’ No it definitely didn’t. I have been working so hard since I was a little girl in my country and also moving out there. At the end of the day, the journey has been so pleasant and it has definitely made me the person and the actress that I am today. I’m grateful to every sing thing that has happened – even the bad things.
With Mayans M.C., I am assuming the huge community that has supported the show and your work, along with collaborating with a talented ensemble, are reasons you love doing the show.
Emily Tosta: Absolutely. The cast and crew that alone – we’re like a big family on set. It’s always so much fun working with everybody. That makes what you do so much more pleasant when you’re able to work with people that you get along with and people that you love and people that have been there for you throughout the seasons.
But as well, the audience. Oh my gosh. I am constantly blown away by the support from the audience every single day. Ever since we announced that season 3 was coming out it’s like everybody has been so excited and looking forward to it. We get so many messages of people saying ‘We can’t wait to watch the show and finally it’s coming back.’
That support means the world to us because obviously we make this for them. That’s the reason why we do what we do. It makes me feel so happy and so honored that we get to watch our show so religiously and they’re such big supporters and they love our work and that means the world to me.
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