Among her friends, Camilla Belle is known as “the Zen one,” she says. And that’s definitely a good thing, considering the young actress has been in the fast-paced entertainment business for about 19 years, hits the red carpet and has starred alongside some major superstars.
The young ingénue known for her beauty and on-screen presence, Belle’s career has run the gamut from heavy dramatic films such as The Ballad of Jack and Rose opposite Daniel Day Lewis, to action and science fiction in Push with Dakota Fanning to comedic drama in Father of Invention, among many others.
As glamorous and exciting a job as it might be, the 24-year-old Brazilian American and Los Angeles native seems to have a healthy attitude toward her work-life balance. Like any pro, she’s developed her own ways of managing and maintaining a sense of calm and well being.
“This job, it can present an amount of stress, but when I come home, I am home. I am me and I am done,” Belle says. It is an admirable quality, not to mention healthy choice to make wellness and well-being a priority. And for Belle, its due in part to her desire to cultivate interests outside of work.
“I love to cook,” she says. Some days she cooks, other days she goes to dance class, something she has done since she was a little girl. “Or maybe I will go to the beach and take a walk, seeing the water calms me down.”
Her diverse interests, and centeredness seems to contrast her new role, that of the single-minded, law-school obsessed Nora Dominguez in the upcoming film From Prada to Nada, a new retelling of Sense and Sensibility, but with a Latino family at its center. Nora is the modern Elinor Dashwood, the solid older sister made famous by Emma Thompson in the 1995 British film. Nora uses her study to avoid forming bonds with other people. Meanwhile her younger sister Mary, played by Alexa Vega, is careless and carefree and harbors a taste for luxury and a distaste for her Mexican heritage.
At its core From Prada to Nada is a light-hearted romance, but it also deals with the loss of a father and the loss of the life (and lifestyle) to which the sisters have become accustomed.
When the Mexican-American sisters lose their father they must live with their aunt who is closer to her roots than they ever were. Although both of the sisters’ lives are thrown off balance, one suffers from culture clash, while the other thrives.
As humorous as it may be, the movie also delves into issues central to U.S. Hispanic identity like acculturation, loss of the Spanish language and of opening up to the lessons of heritage and culture.
“The thing about Nora is that she embraced the Mexican culture quickly,” she says. “I am kind of the same way.” Belle and the crew filmed in Monterrey, Mexico for two months and she recalls the experience fondly.
belle’s own heritage is very important to her, she says. And though she wasn’t able to show off her language skills in the film, she speaks Portuguese and Spanish fluently.
Her mother is from Brazil and Belle grew up traveling to the country regularly. She comes from a family that takes their well-being to heart and she recalled some of the things she has been told by her Brazilian relatives about taking care. In fact, she draws from her culture to keep herself healthy, and borrows some of the best habits from her roots, especially the famously healthy Brazilian way of eating.
“In the mornings I eat tons of fruit,” she says noting that she has ever since she was a girl. Breakfast in Brazil is very different she says. People don’t go out for breakfast and eat high-fat, high-calorie meals like they do in the U.S. Rather, it’s very simple, they choose fresh breads, lots of fruits, jam, cheese and coffee, which she loves. “We do that at home and I have kind of expanded on that.”
Rest is another essential component of Belle’s regimen. It’s part of reenergizing, and she’s careful to recharge. “I have always known I need a certain amount of sleep,” she says. Even when hectic schedules demand that she be on location or she comes home late from events, she’ll catch up on sleep the next night, think of it as a modified “early to bed, early to rise” approach.
“I always wake up early,” she says. “I never sleep in when I stay up late. I will go to bed early the next night, around 9, to try and catch up on it.”
Not one to pamper herself, she seems to prefer uncomplicated maintenance to deluxe spa weekends, but one indulgence she will grant herself is a good massage. “I rarely get one but when I get one it really relaxes me,” she says. She doesn’t need anything fancy, she insists, just give me a Swedish one.”
Caring for your sense of wellness is as important to the body as it is to the spirit, she suggests. “ Simple things like that have always helped me and kept me sane,” she says.
Among her friends, Camilla Belle is known as “the Zen one,” she says. And that’s definitely a good thing, considering the young actress has been in the fast-paced entertainment business for about 19 years, hits the red carpet and has starred alongside some major superstars.
The young ingénue known for her beauty and on-screen presence, Belle’s career has run the gamut from heavy dramatic films such as The Ballad of Jack and Rose opposite Daniel Day Lewis, to action and science fiction in Push with Dakota Fanning to comedic drama in Father of Invention, among many others.
As glamorous and exciting a job as it might be, the 24-year-old Brazilian American and Los Angeles native seems to have a healthy attitude toward her work-life balance. Like any pro, she’s developed her own ways of managing and maintaining a sense of calm and well being.
“This job, it can present an amount of stress, but when I come home, I am home. I am me and I am done,” Belle says. It is an admirable quality, not to mention healthy choice to make wellness and well-being a priority. And for Belle, its due in part to her desire to cultivate interests outside of work.
“I love to cook,” she says. Some days she cooks, other days she goes to dance class, something she has done since she was a little girl. “Or maybe I will go to the beach and take a walk, seeing the water calms me down.”
Her diverse interests, and centeredness seems to contrast her new role, that of the single-minded, law-school obsessed Nora Dominguez in the upcoming film From Prada to Nada, a new retelling of Sense and Sensibility, but with a Latino family at its center. Nora is the modern Elinor Dashwood, the solid older sister made famous by Emma Thompson in the 1995 British film. Nora uses her study to avoid forming bonds with other people. Meanwhile her younger sister Mary, played by Alexa Vega, is careless and carefree and harbors a taste for luxury and a distaste for her Mexican heritage.
