She still can’t believe it: they recognize her on the street, ask for photos and even congratulate her on her brand new romance with actor Esteban Lamothe. Like in a romantic movie, Débora Nishimoto is living a dream.
Many identify her as “Envious China”. But in reality, Débora Nishimoto is Argentine and of Japanese descent. Her life took a complete turn after her performance in the Netflix series, where she plays Mei, a tender and loving oriental woman, who owns a Japanese restaurant with her family and falls in love with the character of Lamothe, an employee of the establishment. Fiction worked its magic and the couple crossed the screen.
And in this great moment, The actress and dancer also can’t believe that they have genuinely started asking her for interviewssomething that had not happened until now: “I remember that before the series premiered, we said with my representative: ‘It would be good to do an interview. Who can we write to to get it?’ And suddenly they started calling me. It was all very sudden and I’m enjoying it. I feel like I’m surfing it very well. The series was a success and I feel like the whole country saw it,” he slips.
At 9 years old, I renounced my Japanese roots a little…I think I wanted to go unnoticed.
She seems excited about the talk. He is loquacious, but speaks slowly. Short, petite, beautiful and delicate. He is a mix of his paternal grandparents (Kimico and Taro), survivors of Hiroshima, and his parents (Viviana and Alejandro), born in Argentina. He grew up with both roots. Although as a girl I had some short circuits: “At 9 years old, I renounced my Japanese roots a little.. When they said my last name at school, I wanted them to think I was Italian. And it once crossed my mind to use my mother’s, which is Seino, shorter. “I think I wanted to go more unnoticed and blend in well with the school group.”.
Crossed by both cultures, she grew up eating noodles, chicken legs, Roquefort sandwiches and, in parallel, large banquets of Japanese food prepared by her grandmother. Deborah wasn’t such a fan of raw fish back then. Only when he grew up did he connect with the oriental.
At 17, for example, He traveled to Japan on a scholarship to learn about his roots. It was through the Hiroshima Camp Descendants Association. And at 21, he started studying Japanese. “At home Spanish was always spoken. My mother doesn’t know much Japanese and my dad speaks, but a Hiroshima dialect, which is the one he learned from his parents. I wanted to speak it well,” he says.
His father was an airplane pilot. He started in the Air Force, flew to the Malvinas and retired in LAN: “We traveled a lot because my dad had free or discounted tickets.. So I traveled all over Argentina. I had a very nice childhood.”
The first years he lived in Almagro, more precisely on Avenida Corrientes and Yatay. He completed primary school at the Rosario Vera Peñaloza school. At 9 years old, they moved to Belgrano, where he went to Normal 10. And she did high school at Lenguas Vivas because she was a big fan of English and languages.. “Later, there, I followed the English translation and graduated. It is a school that I love deeply. “I made friends that I have to this day.”
The before and after
Débora gains confidence and is encouraged to tell an event that changed her life. Ten years ago, she was traveling in a taxi, felt unsafe and decided to get out of the moving car. He hit his head on the ground, suffered a fractured skull and lost his sense of smell.
“It was a drastic change in my life. Luckily I didn’t have any sequels.. But losing my sense of smell was tremendous. I recovered it with a rehabilitation that I did at the Hospital de Clínicas. It was six months of going once a week. It was only fifteen minutes to basically smell very strong things with my eyes covered and start describing and touching them. They ended up taking my case to a conference because I made a very noticeable evolution”, he comments.
But losing my sense of smell was tremendous. I recovered it with a rehabilitation that I did at the Hospital de Clínicas.
And he continues with the story: “At first I was depressed, but I was able to overcome it. I think Japanese culture, which is very resilient, helped me. I remember saying to myself, ‘I’m going to get something good out of this.’ From that, I started cooking and mixing flavors. That’s how I started cooking at home, using spicy foods, which I didn’t eat before; to mix sweet with salty, textures.”
On this path of recovery, more surprises appeared: “It was a change that I felt in my body, like a rebirth, that made my life take another turn. And I left everything academic behind and began to connect more with the physical. I started studying dance and theater. I also started with more alternative therapies. I did my family tree and discovered that my Japanese name means aroma. Strong”.
Love in all its forms
In this new stage, Débora began taking acting classes with Nora Moseinco. “But my goal was not to be an actress. It went little by little and everything happened step by step. That worked in my favor. Yes, I wanted roles that went beyond the oriental stereotype or that had a nice story. and with envious that happened. In February the second season premieres and in it my character grows a lot”, he advances.
Débora also does theater and is filming a series. Photo: Martín Bonettto. In the meantime, he continues to present the film at different festivals. The summer themeby Pablo Stoll, a Uruguayan director. He also does theater. Keep up the work The fears, which was born in the Moseinco classes, where all the functions are different. “We started in a rehearsal room for thirty people and next year we will be at the Konex,” he warns.
And there are more plans: “I’m filming a series for Flow, which is a thriller. I am also writing a play with a friend that is about the world of two translators. Is called The proximity and has a lot of humor. We are also going to act it.”
Personally, Débora maintains her gastronomic venture of vegan cuisine, based on plants and with a mixture of flavors and spices, sometimes with a Japanese influence called Kaori feedinglike its name in Japanese and gives cooking workshops.
He continues with the poetry workshops of Fabián Casas, one of his favorite authors, and does not miss the electronic parties: “I love dancing and being close to the speaker.”
-And we have to talk about love. How did your relationship with Lamothe begin?
-It was after the filming of Envious He was a boyfriend. I think it cut during recording, a few months before it was finished. We got along very well and talked a lot. At first I said, “Well, I hope he’s my friend, because he makes me laugh a lot.” I filmed almost the entire series with him and it was a lot of fun.
I think our connection (with Lamothe) started with a book exchange during the filming of Envidiosa.
-And who gave the initial kick?
-Esteban. At first we were looking for an excuse to see each other until we had a date. We’ve been together for three months now. My friends tell me: “You have a gleam in your eyes that gives it away.” We laugh a lot together. That for me is key. It drives me crazy when they make me laugh.
-And what do you feel brought them together?
-I think our connection started with an exchange of books during filming. I lent him The marble, by César Aira, and he gave me one by Daniel Durán. We spent time exchanging poems and music.
-Returning to the Envidiosa series and its theme, are you a bit of a Susanita or do you have a fantasy of getting married?
-Zero. There are no married women in my group.
-And what is the most Argentine thing you have?
-I discovered black pudding, something I didn’t eat before and I love it!