Taliana Vargas: Acting and being a beauty queen are poles apart

Taliana Vargas

Taliana Vargas plays Paola, the lovely wife of the Cali Cartel’s head of security Jorge Salcedo (Matias Varela), in the third season of “Narcos.” But, avid missosologists have been following the 30-year-old Colombian beauty’s career—as a model, actress and beauty queen.

Taliana won the Miss Colombia crown in 2007, and placed second to Venezuela’s Dayana Mendoza in the Miss Universe tilt the following year. (The Philippines’ Jennifer Barrientos failed to make it to the top 15 in the pageant’s semifinals that year.)

When we asked her if there was anything about being a beauty queen that was helping her do a better job as an actress, Taliana, who is of Lebanese, Greek and Colombian descent, replied: “There’s something fulfilling about being both an actress and a beauty queen, but these worlds are poles apart—they’re very different endeavors. In countries like Colombia, beauty contests are used as a [stepping stone and a] platform to advance careers and support advocacies.

“But, just because you win in a beauty competition doesn’t mean that you can be a great actress. In my case, I used the beauty-pageant route as a platform to [get to where I am now], because even before I won the Miss Colombia title and did well in the Miss Universe pageant, my big dream was to become an actress—to express different emotions and portray different characters.
“Acting is what I do now for a living—and I love it! They’re quite opposite.”

Taliana also told us that she has already visited the Philippines—and that she loved every minute of it.

“I went to the islands,” she disclosed with a big smile. “I can’t wait to visit again. I love the food—and I love your beaches!”