Joana Vilapuig: "I'm a bit old-fashioned. If I could keep the money in a drawer, I would."

Actress Joana Vilapuig (Sabadell, 1994) grew up in a family of artists. She opted for the performing arts and, at just 15 years old, starred in Red bracelets, colliding with the success and fame of the Catalan series.

She entered the working world at a very young age: "When I was 17, I had quite a bit of money in my account because I had done the first and second seasons of the show. My parents saved it up. And when I was 18, I started spending it on my studies." She went to London to study English, paying for everything herself. Later, she took a theater course in Paris.

She has always known she wanted to dedicate herself to acting, and it is something "very irrational": "I think that people who dedicate ourselves to this do so because we are looking for something. There is a constant dissatisfaction." The only thing that fills that void is writing, singing, creating, or going on stage: "At times and in specific projects, I am absolutely fulfilled. And I haven't found that with anything other than this profession."

On the other hand, it's a very unstable job: "In fact, I don't know if I could have a stable one. There's something about this instability that allows you to think anything is possible." But this means the artist visualizes his day-to-day life just two months in advance. And this is a financial problem, especially considering that "at 15 I already had a financial cushion": "You see that you can lose it at 27, when your friends are doing the process in reverse."

In this sense, Vilapuig emphasizes that she always struggles with money: "You think: now they've taken me on for this project that might earn me 10,000 euros. But I don't know when I'll work again. Maybe that money will have to last me the whole year." She has worked as a theater teacher or as a summer camp instructor during times when she wasn't employed. And she admits that on some occasions she has thought that she would be "the happiest person in the world" if she knew that she would religiously earn 2,000 euros a month.

That is why during these 15 years in the sector she has expanded her field of action: "In addition to being an actress, I have projects with Mireia [her sister] and I have started doing voiceovers for advertisements. I have been doing many things for many years and last year for me was a good year."

Furthermore, she considers that it is a poorly paid, very precarious sector: "Actors are very fragile. If I don't accept it, someone else will, because obviously it is not easy to find work." The artist adds that there is a glamor which is not real within the sector: "Sometimes you have a new look, but it's been six months since you did that. And maybe there's the pressure of having to look for a suit and a stylist who costs money. But you're in a moment that you don't have."

With her sister they created and starred in Self-tape, a series where she assures that they gave it their all, also financially: "In the end, I had spent all my savings and I thought: if it doesn't work out, maybe I'll have to dedicate myself to something else, because nothing's coming out of acting for me either. We put everything in a letter. And luckily, it worked out. I don't know what would have happened otherwise." The suffering and effort of years of dedication were worth it: "There was something we sensed would go well."

And now, she's also busy: "I'll start shooting a series now in December and the same month another one will premiere in which I had a small role, but I really liked it. And Mireia and I are writing things." In fact, she wants to strengthen her creative path with her sister: "I would love to be able to direct and make a film."

When it comes to personal finances, she's a saver, but not a strategic one with money: "I'm not financially minded. I'm a bit old-fashioned. If I could keep the money in a drawer and pay with my savings, I would." She currently feels comfortable living in a rental: "What I don't see as a good thing are the infernal market prices." However, she says she's been lucky in recent months: "They lowered my rent instead of raising it for a period of a year. I'm paying 600 euros for an apartment in the center of Barcelona on my own." And, although she would love to buy an apartment, she's afraid of going into debt: "I only think I would like it if I paid for it in cash or owed very little. But I'm far from that," she clarifies.