Recently Colgate-Palmolive introduced New Colgate Renewal, a toothpaste designed by gum care experts to reverse early gum damage for a beautiful, revitalized smile.  As part of the launch the brand called upon Mexican-born actress, writer, and producer Ana de la Reguera to spread awareness on the importance of proactive gum care. We sat down with the multi-talented performer to discuss her career, future plans, keys to success, and of course, the importance of a perfect smile.

Ana De La Reguera is a multi-hyphenate performer and creator known for her work in hit projects in both the U.S. and Latin America. She recently starred in “The Forever Purge,” the latest film in the Purge franchise and “Army of the Dead,” director Zack Snyder’s upcoming Netflix film. Both films premiered this year. She’ll also reprise her role from the feature film in the animated spinoff series, “Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas” for Netflix and Snyder. De la Reguera also stars in her self-titled comedy series, “Ana,” which she created, executive produced, and wrote. The show premiered on Lionsgate’s Spanish-language streaming platform, Pantaya, last April as well as on Latin America’s Amazon and Comedy Central platforms.
The show received an Imagen Award nomination last year for Best Primetime Program: Comedy and was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Spanish-Language Scripted Television Series.

Additionally, De La Reguera recently starred in “El Rey de Todo el Mundo” for BAFTA-winning director Carlos Saura. Her many notable credits include starring opposite Billy Bob Thornton in Amazon’s critically acclaimed drama series “Goliath” from David E. Kelley, as well as co-starring in the Warner Bros/MGM Pictures feature film “Everything, Everything,” David Lynch’s reboot of cult-favorite “Twin Peaks” for Showtime, and the hit Starz drama series “Power.” She has appeared in prominent guest arcs on Netflix’s “Narcos,” HBO’s “Eastbound and Down,” and CW’s “Jane the Virgin.”

As a major film star in Mexico and Latin America, De la Reguera has nearly 3 million followers on social media and last year was named one of People en Español’s “25 Most Powerful Women.” She has also been recognized as one of Vogue Latin America’s “33 Most Elegant Women in the World” and People en Español’s “50 Most Beautiful,” and was awarded the Imagen Award for Best Actress for her role in “Backyard,” Mexico’s Academy Award entry for best foreign film in 2009.
A longtime activist and philanthropist, she is the President and CEO of ONE Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing disadvantaged children with essential resources like shelter, medical care, and education. She also founded VeracruzANA, which rebuilt her home state of La Antigua in the wake of the massive hurricane Karl in 2010. And in 2017, after a massive earthquake hit Mexico, De la Reguera partnered with fellow Mexican actresses Karla Souza, Kate del Castillo, and Olga Segura to create Los Angeles en Mexico, a foundation which is committed to securing long-term support and building homes for impacted families.

HOMBRE: How did your relationship with New Colgate Renewal come about?
Ana de la Reguera: They were launching this project about preventing health issues with your gums and I knew exactly what they were talking about. With time the gums start to move, start to suffer, it’s something that happens. Besides I love the brand, I grew up with Colgate so I was right away interested in working with them.

H: Did you have any previous knowledge?
ADLR: I had knowledge about issues with gums and with age, but I had no idea they were launching this toothpaste. It’s probably the first in the market and I thought that was great. There are so many things we do to prevent health issues, we take vitamins, we use anti-aging creams, but there’s not much we can do with our mouths, with our dental health. I thought it was genius that they were doing this.

H: Why do you feel the product will make a difference?
ADLR:  There are products for whitening, or cleaning and they’re for the teeth, but no products for the gums. That’s the big difference.

H: What have you learned through working with Colgate?
ADLR: That it’s great to have something like this in your bathroom counter. I learned that it’s best to do these things in an early stage instead of waiting for something to happen. It’s just a toothpaste that we are using but we are preventing a problem. We don’t know if it’s going to happen but it may prevent spending a lot of money and a lot of surgeries, or going to the dentist or pain.
It’s a preventative measure to start using it early.

H: What projects are you working on now?
ADLR: I am shooting my own show “Ana.” It’s not a reality, it’s based on my life, my experiences but a lot of things have never happened and there are a lot of fictional characters. It’s a show about a woman coming of age at forty, which I did for Amazon, and Pantaya, and Comedy Central. The first season premiered last year and now we’re shooting the second and third seasons. It will come out next year. I’m very happy. People loved the show and I’m grateful about that.
I’m also premiering my horror podcast. It’s called “Crónicas Oscuras.” The first season was very popular. It’s really cool. And next year you’ll see the prequel of “Army of the Dead.” I also just finished a movie for Netflix.
H: You’re very busy.
H: What is the best part of working on “Ana”?
ADLR: For me it’s the writing process. The writing room is a lot of  fun. The worst part is pre-production because it’s just solving problems every day. Insurance problems, budgets, a lot of things I wasn’t used to. I would just go and have fun as an actress, or you just go and write, which is all about imagination and having fun in the room. But pre-production is about solving issues every single day. That’s what is happening right now.
During production you have to relax and enjoy it, which I do as an actress. But when you’re acting and producing and writing and show-running it’s very challenging.

H: Were you shooting the series during the pandemic?
ADLR: Thank God I shot it before the pandemic, and then it came out during the pandemic. Then I developed and wrote the whole thing (the new seasons) during the pandemic and right now we’re shooting. There are a lot of issues with all the Covid tests, because if someone comes in the production positive you have to stop, which is a little of a nightmare. Unfortunately you can’t hang out with a lot of people because you have to be careful. We have to take care of each other.

H: Why was it important for you to move on to writing and producing?
ADLR: It was more of a need. I just needed to be able express myself as an artist. I just wanted to talk about my story, talk about what happens to women in their forties.  I wanted to talk about this coming of age at forty story that happened to me, and share it. I felt there needed to be something like that in the Hispanic market, even though you can see this show in other countries.

H: With such a long successful career, what advice can you offer?
ADLR: I think people have to work really hard. You have to push yourself and not stay in a comfortable place. You always have to be thinking about the future. The world changes really fast, so you have to be adapting quickly to new platforms, to a new world, to new generations. Como dicen en Mexico, “No te duermas en tus laureles.” You have to push yourself and keep growing all the time. It’s a lot of discipline and work.

H: Is that what has kept your career active for such a long time?
ADLR: I think so. I don’t want to think that I already made it, or that I have a name. People forget about you really quickly so you have to keep busy.

H: Let’s wrap this up by going back to Colgate, why is it important to use New Colgate Renewal? 
ADLR: For prevention. I just feel like it’s a no brainer. If you have a toothpaste that will likely prevent you from going to the dentist or will keep your gums healthy, why not use it? I would, and I am using it. We take so many medicines to prevent health issues and we never think about our mouths and yet its one of the most important things. It’s aso the first thing you see in a person. You can see immediately if people take care of their health through their mouth.