Sofía Vergara delves into the mindset of a drug lord

Sofía Vergara first heard of Griselda Blanco – the murderous Colombian crime boss she plays in the Netflix miniseries “Griselda,” a role for which she is now nominated for an Emmy – when she saw the 2006 documentary “Cocaine Cowboys.” But she didn't give the villain known as the Black Widow much importance. “I grew up in Colombia in the '70s, '80s and '90s,” Vergara says in a phone call from her home in Los Angeles. “We all knew who was who, which drug dealer was doing what and from where. They were household names.”

But not the cocaine godmother. Vergara thought “she must have been a drug courier or the wife of a drug dealer,” and never believed that the woman had been “at the level of the biggest drug traffickers.”

Years later, reading about Blanco in a magazine mid-air, Vergara got a clearer picture. “I realized that she hadn't worked in Colombia, but in LA and Miami,” she says. “She was before Pablo Escobar, the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers or the Ochoa brothers, who were the big capos. [kingpins] that were known at the time.” She knew then that this was a role she could play.

Yes, Blanco was about as far away as Vergara could get from the character Gloria Pritchett she played so successfully on Modern Family. But that wasn't what initially attracted her. “I didn't really think, 'Oh, I'll show them.' No! Because I love doing comedy, I love Modern Family, I couldn't be more grateful,” she insists. Vergara – who had never had any formal acting training at the time – just needed a character she knew. And she knew Blanco.

“I'm Colombian, I'm a woman, I'm an immigrant, I'm a mother. So there were a lot of similarities – and of course many, many big differences. But there was a lot that fascinated me about her,” she continues. “Maybe I wouldn't want to kill my husband, but I would understand why she would want to do it. [laughter].”

The only problem? Blanco was still alive after being released from federal prison in 2004 and deported to Colombia. “I couldn't romanticize her or make her into a heroine,” Vergara says. “She was out and about in Medellín.” But when she died (she was murdered in 2012), Vergara says, “I was able to tie the story together with an ending.”

If Blanco's death gave Vergara freedom, then discovering Netflix's Narcos gave her a way forward. She knew the creative team would understand the character immediately. But what were the chances they would believe her? her as one of the world's most ruthless drug dealers? As it turns out, pretty well. Still, “Netflix would never believe Gloria Pritchett would be able to do that,” Vergara says, quickly adding that the network was immediately, completely and surprisingly supportive.

Only when Vergara was only a few months away from the actual shooting, she become a doubter. “How am I supposed to play this?” she remembers asking herself. “I've never done anything like this before. I didn't even know if I could cry in front of the camera.” At first she panicked. Then she hired the renowned acting coach Nancy Banks, who has worked with greats like Margot Robbie and Jennifer Aniston. “The most important thing for me was that people forget Gloria Pritchett.”

Although Vergara's hard work with Banks had taken her far, she still needed a little more help to get across the finish line. “I knew I had to transform myself so I didn't look like myself or Gloria,” she says, thankful that Blanco's face isn't as universally recognizable as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or Princess Diana's. “But I also had to make it look natural and not bother me, because for six months I was in every single scene of that TV show. Like 16-, 17-hour days. I was the first one on set, in the makeup trailer. I couldn't take off my clothes. [any of it] during the lunch break – the wig, the nose, the eyebrows or the plastic in the eyes. The only thing I could take off were my teeth.”

But, oh, were those teeth a tricky business. “I had false teeth on top and bottom,” Vergara reveals, adding that during the first week of production, they flew out of her mouth during scenes where she barked orders. “It was hilarious, but… you can't order someone to kill while you have a lisp,” she says, laughing. The lower dentures were then deleted and Vergara was over the hill.

Having to act in her native language – which she was initially worried about as she had never done it before – turned out to be a blessing. “I didn't have to translate, search for words or think,” she says. “It was just about capturing the emotions and the scene. I really enjoyed that part. It was incredible.”

While filming, Vergara and her colleagues knew they were working on something special. “Those sets were so spectacular. You really felt like you were in that era,” she says, noting that she realized the scripts and the entire cast were top-notch. “I don't think anyone was thinking about awards or nominations at the time, just about doing something that felt really good.”

And now Vergara is facing her first Emmy nomination for a drama. “I actually thought the show would be nominated – not me,” she says with a giggle. “I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I was very excited for myself and for everyone else because it was something really unexpected.”

Vergara has been nominated four times for “Modern Family” without ever taking home the statuette. Can she win for “Griselda”? “To be honest, for me it's already a victory,” she says. “I'm very, very happy. My best reward was the big premiere that Netflix had in Miami. [where the audience] applauded when Griselda got away with the most horrible things,” she says, laughing.

The actress must have enjoyed her foray into the dark side, because she and “Griselda” co-creator Eric Newman are already working on their next project, which will likely be another dramatic miniseries. It centers on a character “who is very different from Griselda,” Vergara notes, “but also very strong and very powerful. So that's exciting.”