Luisa Costanera is a young Dominican actress who plays an intriguing role as a character who is desperately trying to fit into her own marriage, while at the same time, struggling with the identity issue. The character is played by Rosa Salazar, a young Dominican girl who was raised in the United States. Costanera is quite popular for the roles she has played such as in ‘The Secret’ and ‘Truman Capote’. But her most memorable role is undoubtedly that of the young Nat King Cole, who is an orphan whose mother is an alcoholic.
The interesting part about Rosa Salazar is that, like most Latin actresses, her face does not feature in many of the film’s key scenes. When we first meet her, in the movie ‘The Secret’, we are introduced to her face through her accent. Her accent is so strong and noticeable that you almost feel you need subtitles to understand what is going on when she is speaking. This strong accent, combined with her red hair, make her an intriguing figure. It is this image which was used by the casting director to suggest that Costanera was not the type of woman to be timid and delicate, but rather one who was bold and adventurous.
This boldness is shown even in her dress sense, which is a very reminiscent of the fifties sex bomb, Bambi. In this film, Costanera shows her age gracefully, as well as smartly. Her height is one of her strongest attributes as she stands at 5ft 6ins in height. However, this is not to say that Costanera is an elderly woman, as the exact same height, Rosa Salazar, also happens to be a young widow, who still wears the same dress she wore to her death in the movie ‘Goodbye Mr. Jones’. Regardless of age or nationality, it can be said that Costanera is definitely one of the most convincing and well written supporting characters in a movie, whose entire appeal is based around the central character’s personality, first and foremost.