Emilio Bastré: Fragile Enough for a Strong Connection.
Skene Staff
Emilio Bastré is a Mexican actor and member of the Compañía Nacional de Teatro whose work lives at the intersection of freedom and craft.
Emilio Bastré is a Mexican actor and member of the Compañía Nacional de Teatro whose work lives at the intersection of freedom and craft.
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There are artists who choose their path with clarity from the start—and then there’s Paulina Treviño, who built hers by rejecting every path that didn’t feel like her own. A chance encounter in the courtyard of her all-girls high school with filmmaker Manuel Teil set her on an unexpected journey into acting, one that would carry her through film, television, theatre, commercials, performance, dance, and dubbing. Over time, the labels shifted—first “the TV actress who did theatre,” then “the theatre actress who worked in TV,” and now, as one director friend aptly put it, “the all-terrain actress.”
For Treviño, theatre has always been home. Eight formative, demanding, and transformative years with Mexico’s Compañía Nacional de Teatro deepened her artistry and shaped her as a person. Today, she approaches each project with discipline and adaptability, guided by the belief that mastering technique is the gateway to creative freedom.
In a world where technology accelerates and AI threatens to overshadow human craft, she sees theatre as the actor’s irreplaceable refuge—a place where presence, vulnerability, and connection will always matter. In this edition of PROFILES, Paulina Treviño reflects on survival, self-definition, and why her ultimate goal is simple: to grow old as an actress.
Sentirme diferente al resto de las personas me llevó por el camino artístico. No porque supiera lo que quería. Más bien, por rechazar el camino que me presentaban enfrente como el único posible. Ese camino convencional era, para mi, la muerte. Y creo que por eso la vida me puso a Manuel Teil en el patio de mi preparatoria de monjas un día que, junto a otros cineastas, buscaban locaciones para rodar una película gringa. Ese encuentro me llevó a mi primer experiencia con la actuación, y posteriormente a encontrar una escuela donde estudiar.
Así, equivocándome y sobreviviendo, fui descubriendo muchos caminos y lenguajes dentro del arte de la actuación: sin saber qué quería, sino, más bien, rechazando lo que no quería. Así hice cine, tv, teatro, comerciales, performance, danza y doblaje, en géneros y estilos variados. Comencé haciendo cine, pero entre rápidamente a una escuela de television, en donde tomé clases con vacas sagradas del teatro mexicano. Me gradué con una obra de teatro y así fue como, trabajando para la pantalla, fui haciendo cada vez más teatro y menos televisión. En el teatro era la actriz de la tv, y con el tiempo me fui haciendo la actriz de teatro cuando hoy trabajo en la tv. Ahora, soy la actriz todo terreno; así me dijo recientemente un amigo director, y me gustó.
Aunque hoy ya se que el teatro siempre, siempre, será mi casa.
Feeling different from everyone else led me down the artistic path. Not because I knew what I wanted—rather, because I rejected the path that was presented to me as the only possible one. That conventional path, for me, was death. And I believe that’s why life placed Manuel Teil in the courtyard of my all-girls high school one day, when he and other filmmakers were scouting locations to shoot an American movie. That encounter led me to my first experience with acting, and later to finding a school where I could study.
And so, through making mistakes and surviving, I began discovering many paths and languages within the art of acting—not by knowing what I wanted, but by rejecting what I didn’t want. I did film, TV, theatre, commercials, performance, dance, and dubbing, in various genres and styles. I started in film but quickly joined a television school, where I took classes with sacred cows of Mexican theatre. I graduated with a play, and while working for the screen, I began doing more theatre and less television. In theatre, I was the TV actress; over time, I became the theatre actress who now works in TV. Today, I’m the all-terrain actress—a phrase a director friend recently used to describe me, and I liked it.
Although now I know that theatre will always, always, be my home.
Trabajar en la Compañía Nacional de Teatro ha sido de las cosas más bellas que me han pasado. Pero no todo fue miel sobre hojuelas. Estar ahí me acabó de formar como actriz (y como persona) y también dolió. Me enseñó tantas cosas, de la vida, más que nada. Fueron ocho años por los que me siento profundamente agradecida, por todas las personas que conocí y el privilegio que implicó poderme concentrar en vivir y pensar el teatro, intensamente.
Working at the National Theatre Company has been one of the most beautiful things that has ever happened to me. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Being there completed my formation as an actress (and as a person), and it also hurt. It taught me so many things—about life, most of all. They were eight years for which I feel profoundly grateful, for all the people I met and for the privilege of being able to focus on living and thinking about theatre, intensely.
Llevo una rutina, absolutamente. Más bien, le llamaría técnica. La que cada artista va construyendo a partir de nuestra mirada personal, lecturas, curiosidades y experiencias. Aunque es una técnica que adapto según el proyecto que tengo enfrente. Según el lenguaje, el tono, el medio, y mi lugar dentro de ese proyecto, decido la manera en que voy a enfrentarlo. Pero siempre implicará metodología y orden. El dominio de la técnica es la libertad del creador, dice Luis de Tavira.
I follow a routine, absolutely. Or rather, I would call it a technique—the one each artist builds from our personal perspective, readings, curiosities, and experiences. It’s a technique I adapt depending on the project in front of me. According to the language, the tone, the medium, and my place within that project, I decide how I’m going to approach it. But it will always involve methodology and order. The mastery of technique is the creator’s freedom, says Luis de Tavira.
Yo misma. Dominarme. Relajarme. Soltarme. Fluir. Aceptarme. Trabajar en mi. Para que en el escenario o pantalla, no se trate de mi. Para poder ser un vehículo, para que el signo pueda expresarse a través de mi y yo no lo frene, haciendo que se trate de mi.
Myself. To master myself. To relax. To let go. To flow. To accept myself. To work on myself. So that, on stage or on screen, it’s not about me. So that I can be a vehicle, allowing the sign to express itself through me, and I don’t block it by making it about me.
Me inspiran muchas cosas y personas, desde Peeping Tom, hasta Rosalía, pasando por Meryl Streep, hasta Carmen Mastache y Gabriela Núñez.
I’m inspired by many things and people—from Peeping Tom to Rosalía, passing through Meryl Streep, and all the way to Carmen Mastache and Gabriela Núñez.
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Confíen en si mismos y no se dejen definir por los demás.
Trust yourselves and don’t let others define you.
Creo que ya no espero eso. No busco impactar ni dejar huella. Espero llegar a vieja siendo actriz. Y claro, que los proyectos en los que esté sean fruto de reflexiones y conversaciones profundas.
I think I no longer expect that. I’m not looking to make an impact or leave a mark. I hope to grow old as an actress. And, of course, for the projects I’m part of to be the result of deep reflections and conversations.
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