Sofía Vergara on Stressful ‘Griselda’ Role & ‘Amazing’ Karol G (Exclusive)

Sofía Vergara is stepping into a whole different kind of role after “Modern Family” as cartel queenpin Griselda Blanco.

“Extra’s” Freddy Lomeli spoke with Vergara and producer Eric Newman about her extraordinary transformation for her new series “Griselda.”

Sofía brought killer comedy to “Modern Family” for 11 seasons as Gloria Pritchett, but her role as Griselda Blanco required her to show off her dramatic acting chops!

She admitted, “It was very complicated because I had only done really Gloria Pritchett, which was, like, a pleasure to do. Comedy comes natural to me, so it was very organic. It was scenes that were full of joy and happiness and fun. Griselda was a completely different thing. It was a lot of drama I had never done, and I had never worn prosthetics and I never really acted in Spanish. Had never even smoked, and I had to be smoking in every scene. I had to do learn how to do cocaine, so there were a lot of new things for me that made it very stressful and exhausting.”

While Vergara had to physically transform into Griselda, she also experienced a mental metamorphosis. She noted, “The first month was really weird because I didn’t understand what was happening to me… My personality is usually uplift[ing] and I would go home feeling weird, like I did not know what was going on... I started recognizing that it was days of doing horrible things to people, and horrible lines and screaming and crying and people choking you. Your body doesn’t really know that you’re not going through that, all those emotions... so it was exhausting… Now I understand what real actors, real dramatic actors do, and it’s so difficult.”

Sofía “didn’t do any method acting,” though!

For Newman, the creative mind behind “Narcos,” the biggest challenge was humanizing Griselda. He commented, “I knew that the process that she needed to engage in to become Griselda Blanco was going to come with some pain.”

“Underneath it all is Sofía,” Eric pointed out while praising her, “and when she comes on-screen you go, ‘Oh, I like her. I hope this all works out for her,’ and that's part of the power of her phenomenal performance.”

Vergara emphasized, “Our main thing was to completely have the audience not think it was me or Gloria Pritchett... That’s what I was always so worried about, that they would think it was Gloria with that fake nose and wig.”

Sofía has been on a promotional tour for the series for three weeks. She shared, “I went from L.A. to Madrid, Madrid-London, London-New York, Colombia, and now Miami. It’s been a lot of work. We have to sit down, I have to do hair and makeup. We’ve been, like, touring all over. It’s been a lot of fun because it’s great to feel when people… are excited for the show. So that makes me feel like super proud of this show. It’s been amazing, and then also I get to see everyone. I get to see Eric and Andy and the rest of the cast. We haven’t seen each other in a year and a half since we finished filming, so to be here in Miami with the cast for me is like a dream.”

Vergara also raved about having Colombian music superstar Karol G as part of the project! She said, “It was amazing that she was willing to do it, because it’s very exciting to know people that want to try everything, and you know she’s at another level in her music. And she arrived to the set, like, very humble, like she was being directed, and being like every one of us there waiting for our turns. You know how it is on a set. And she gave us all amazing tickets to see her in concert.”

“Griselda” is streaming on Netflix January 25.