“I think the biggest thing I’d want people to know is that I’m not interested in putting myself in one box.”
This is dancer, singer, and actress Bella Valdes. Bella is a triple threat we’ve come to admire because she refuses to think of herself as one kind of artist. While many find their niche, folding their skills together to fit one kind of job, Bella is constantly using all of her skills to push her projects to the limits of her creativity and her abilities as an artist.
Recently, Bella appeared in FX’s The Shards, the short film Shuga Mango, and released her own single “Siren Song” along with a music video for the track. With each new project, Bella cements her creative process and proves that doing it all really is possible.
We caught up with Bella to go behind the scenes of her recent projects and find out how she gets it all done. Check out the full interview below.
Showstopper Magazine Online: Today, you are a multi-talented performer. Can you tell us about your background as a dancer and an NYU Tisch-trained artist?
Bella Valdes: Dance was really my first language. I started dancing at 3, and it became the foundation for how I moved through the world. It gave me confidence in my voice and body from a young age and made me a better actor and singer as I honed those skills through discipline and determination.
I went to NYU Tisch, where I studied acting, but I never really saw acting, dance, and music as separate worlds. Tisch gave me the space to explore my ideas and understand who I am as a storyteller. I have my “why,” but that “why” keeps changing over the years. I’m very interested in the intersection of performance, music, movement, and visual storytelling. I think that’s ultimately what makes me feel most like myself as an artist, when I use them all as one.
SMO: You have released so many incredible projects recently. Before we dive into each of them, how are you feeling as a creator and a performer?
Bella: I’m finally allowing myself to take up space as the artist I actually am.
I’ve never felt like I had to choose one thing: Actress. Dancer. Singer. Songwriter. Trying to separate them doesn’t really make sense for me. As much as I dream of being on set or stage every day as an actor, I feel my music gives me more creative liberty than anything. I can cultivate my own tone, performance, style, choreography, and cinematography all with one song that I wrote. Music excites me and feels like the intersection of all the aspects of performance that make me who I am. This has been such a full and exciting chapter creatively. I’m releasing music that I’ve been carrying with me for years on my EP “Siren Songs”, seeing The Shards come to life, working on my next projects, and continuing to dance. It’s a little surreal, but I’m mostly grateful I’m finally getting to share work that feels very personal to me.
SMO: Tell us about The Shards! How did you bring Cha Cha to life?
Bella: Cha Cha is a lively, vivacious star who owns the room. From the beginning, she jumped off the page to me. Every line feels intentional, and in the ’80s especially, the stakes are high for a girl like Cha Cha who knows exactly what she wants and will do anything to achieve her dream.
A huge part of my rehearsal was her dancing. We prepared her solo to Blondie’s “Rapture” months in advance, and the “Dance Off!” The episode required extensive preparation with the rest of the cast. Physicality was key to understanding her psychology.
Cha Cha is smart and cunning, and everything she does is a performance—even the way she speaks to her lover, Tony Cruz, and arch nemesis, Debbie. But she believes every word she says about herself. She’ll do whatever it takes to win and become the star she knows she’s destined to be. That ability to turn everything into a performance is ultimately what serves her most—and becomes her demise.
SMO: The Shards brings all of your dance and acting skills together. What were some of the most memorable parts of that experience?
Bella: The hot bright lights, the colors, the costumes, the hair and makeup—it was all so vivid and intentional, and influenced so much of my performance. Cha Cha is a girl who walks into a room and owns it, and being surrounded by that world helped me understand how she carries herself, how she moves, and how everything she does is a performance.
Being directed by Ryan Murphy and using Cha Cha’s movement to guide everything from her physicality to the way she speaks was incredibly rewarding. Working with Anthony Ramos was also unforgettable. He’s a Broadway star himself, and as my scene partner, he brought so much out of Cha Cha and gave me something new to play with in every take. Getting to dance and act in the same project felt like a beautiful convergence of everything I’ve been training for. I’m looking forward to throwing singing into that mix next.
SMO: You also appeared in the recently released short film Shuga Mango. Can you tell us about your role in that film and working with your co-star Mia Oliva?
Bella: Bringing Shuga Mango to life in my hometown of Miami felt incredibly personal. I play Adri, a funny, relatable “bruh girl” who knows she’s cute—a tomboy at heart with a very girly side. Her best friend, Laura, is preparing to leave Miami, and Adri avoids confronting what that means: losing her best friend and the world they grew up in.
Laura is facing that transition head-on, scared to leave her home, her best friend, and her childhood behind. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Miami and gentrification pushing locals out of their communities, the story becomes bigger than just one friendship.
Mia Oliva has been my best friend since I was 15, so we were essentially playing versions of ourselves at the age we met. Our chemistry was completely natural, and we improvised a lot. At its heart, Shuga Mango feels like the last day of your childhood—the moment you realize your innocence, freedom, and the place you call home are changing.
SMO: With back-to-back premieres this summer, how did you celebrate?
Bella: I celebrated by being around the people I love. My mom was my partner in crime at both premieres, and I was able to have a little party with my family and closest friends to celebrate the release of my EP. It felt really special to pause and be grateful for these dreams starting to come true.
I’m very focused on what’s next, so I have to remind myself to actually celebrate the things I’ve worked hard for. People see the wins online, but they don’t see all the waiting, uncertainty, and work that happens between those moments. I think it’s important to celebrate your wins—and to let yourself be present for them.
SMO: And that wasn’t all! You also released your single and music video for “Siren Song” as a first look at your new EP. What can we expect from the full project?
Bella: Siren Songs is probably my most personal project so far. It grew out of a very specific period in my life, but the emotions are much bigger than that one chapter.
Sonically, it blends alternative rock, pop, soul, and ’70s rock. I grew up listening to rock ballads and artists like Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks, but I’m also influenced by pop stars, Broadway harmonizations, dance music, and everything I’ve absorbed throughout my life. The EP doesn’t really fit into one genre, but I would call it “Mermaid Rock”: it’s emotional, theatrical, and visual.
That idea really comes through in the “Siren Song” music video. We move back and forth between the sea and the land, two different worlds or states of being. The whole story plays with choices—“to be or not to be, to kiss or kill, to surrender or resist, to be aware or ignore.” I wanted the siren to exist in that tension, where attraction and danger can feel like the same thing. “Siren Song” is the first doorway into that world, but there are a lot more versions of me waiting on the other side.
SMO: “Siren Song” is one of many songs living in your journals from college. How did it become the finished project we’re listening to now?
Bella: It started with my guitar, poetry in my Notes app, and John William Waterhouse’s painting of Ulysses encountering the Sirens. I wanted the song to feel sexy and hypnotic, imagining a detached, almost dangerous woman I wanted to become. But the more I sang it, the more I realized the siren isn’t evil—she’s irresistible. I didn’t want to be bad; I wanted to be so good and undeniable that no one could tell me I couldn’t have what I wanted.
I built the song with Thomas and Carter, with Aleksei producing in Ableton. Victoria Princi added the violin, and Carter created a guitar sound that felt like “constellations.” I imagined the whole song as a dark blue ocean under a full moon, surrounded by stars. The music video brought that world to life visually, and making it with friends I’ve known for years made the process feel like closing a chapter while reclaiming it at the same time.
SMO: With so much under your belt already, we have to know what else you have planned. Can you tell us about any other projects you have in the works?
Bella: I’m continuing to work on my next EP, and I have a music video in the works for my previously released cover of “La Tirana.” I’m really interested in finding opportunities where I can combine acting, music, dance, and storytelling.
Siren Songs is just the beginning of me sharing this side of myself, and I already have ideas for where I want to take the next project. I’m also excited to debut in my first full feature movie and keep challenging myself with roles that are very different from one another. I don’t want to repeat myself. I’m interested in building a career where every project reveals another side of me while remaining true to myself.
SMO: Thank you for sharing so many amazing stories with us! Is there anything else you’d like people to know about you or your work?
Bella: I think the biggest thing I’d want people to know is that I’m not interested in putting myself in one box. The most exciting work happens when I let them collide. I’m also really interested in growth. I want to keep discovering new sides of myself and hopefully give other people permission to do the same. At the end of the day, I want to make work that makes people feel something—more themselves, more free, heard, and loved.