CHARO TOLEDO

As a child, in Puerto Rico I would sit down every meal and say the words… “¿Te acuerdas?” In English, “Do you remember? “I recalled the strangest details about life and loved telling stories. Imagination and humor for me, were a fantastic escape where I could be anyone, anywhere… I figured that the only way to go to Hollywood and tell stories was to act them out since I won lots of trophies in High School performing poems. Why not be the next Rita Moreno?  After getting a BA in Sociology and Anthropology at Swarthmore College, (my mother insisted I get an education before becoming an “actress”), I ended up at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, studying acting along Benjamin Bratt. After my MFA, I was excited to go to Hollywood to become a leading actress in a film or TV show only to find out that the only parts available for me were that of maids, nannies and the odd detective here and there. I was appalled. What do you mean that I can only play maid and nannies? I am 5’10’’, light skinned, with a master’s degree plus I am taller than my “boss”.  I never got the job! 

That’s when I realized that if I wanted to see myself on the screen, I had to WRITE the parts.  Since I didn’t have any formal film school training, I CREATED a way of writing using the ACTOR’S language. I wrote from a CHARACTER driven perspective. My first play, The Princess Within, was a series of monologues about the different personalities I developed with the different men I dated.  I acted, produced and cast as my personalities, my female colleagues who were not finding decent roles in Hollywood. The play was critically acclaimed and its proceeds went to Women Against Rape.

After this success, I embarked on an eclectic career writing for the American and International markets in both Spanish and English. I worked on award shows (Miss Universe, Latin Billboards, Imagen Awards), half-hour sitcoms in Spanish (Solo en America, Viva Vegas), a telenovela in Spanish (La Culpa with Nora Aleman) as well as a play at the Latino Initiative of the Mark Taper Forum titled, Coquí.  I was selected as a writer on ABC’s Daytime Program, where under the direction of Hal Corey, we created the daytime drama Pretend.  After the program, I was a staffed at ABC’s Port Charles, when my mother fell ill with cancer. I left Hollywood for a year to care for her at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, the cancer beat my mom.  I went back to Hollywood and needed a job, fast.  Because I speak 5 languages, I became a linguist for the DEA and took down drug cartels, earning the prestigious St. Michael’s medal. Meanwhile, I also co-wrote and produced an indie romantic comedy feature film, East Side Story, a festival favorite earning more than 25 awards as well as the prestigious GLAAD Award.  

I’ve worked on groundbreaking scripted and non-scripted shows; reality shows like (Rockstar Academy, Kiki Mobile, La Reina de la Canción), game shows (Minuto Para Ganar, Confetti), features (East Side Story, Lifetime’s Pop Star) and top-rated late-night shows (Mas Vale Tarde, Noches con Platanito). I was head writer and producer of Seasons 2 and 3 of the Emmy-nominated Hulu show, East Los High, and won a Sentinel Award.  In addition, and produced the International Emmy award winner, El Vato, on Netflix.  I was a consulting producer on Confetti Mexico, Facebook’s highest rated show in 2019 with 10 million followers.  

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, I ghost wrote a best seller non-fiction book, as well as developed several TV shows including Ms. Puerto Rico, a comedy-drama with Craig Wright (Greenleaf, Tyrant) and a thrilling soapy drama, Maria, with showrunner Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives) and director Kevin Dowling (The Americans) at Michael Strahan’s SMAC.  Currently, I am shopping Feliz Café, a bold soapy drama, based on my family’s coffee business in Puerto Rico (Kevin Murphy attached). In 2018, I was honored to be chosen as one of Take the Lead’s, “50 Women to Change the World” and in 2023 the KNOW Women chose me as one of the “100 Women in America to KNOW”.   

In 2021, I started teaching writing classes and it was exciting to see the students start with one monologue and write a dynamic short film.  I approached each lesson using the precepts from acting combined with my 20 years plus experience in TV and film; helping my students create character driven monologues and scenes that represented their Latine authentic stories. One of the ways the students got to be genuine with their writing was using Spanish and English.  When we are bilingual, we express our reality in different languages. Using the storytelling techniques I learned in Hollywood, I am one of the few people in the world that is teaching students how to write scripts for theater, TV and film fluently in Spanish and English, resonating authentically within the global community.  When we write our stories in our language, we present flesh and bone characters, not tropes. The more human the characters, the more universally relatable the stories will be.  The reason I started writing was because I did not see myself on the screen.  The reason I started teaching was to empower the Latine community and women of color to remove the tape from their mouths and tell the world their authentic stories in their authentic language.  Our stories. Our power.

El vato –

nbc universo

2015-2016

Consulting Producer

Regional Mexican singer El Vato and his friends struggle to succeed in the enticing but deceptive music world in Los Angeles, California.

EAST SIDE STORY –

INTO ACTION FILMS

2009

Writer/Producer

The arrival of Anglo newcomers to an East L.A. Latino neighborhood rocks the quiet world of a handsome young local who is torn between the family restaurant and life as a big city chef.

EAST LOS HIGH 3: TRANSMEDIA–

HULU/WISE ENTERTAINMENT

2015

Writer/Producer

East Los High is a breakthrough Hulu Original that centers around romance, dance, and the struggle of a group of Latino teens living in East Los Angeles.

POP STAR –

LIFETIME MOVIE CHANNEL

2013

Writer

A music producer convinces a gifted singer (Christian Serratos) to lend her voice to a talentless celebrity in exchange for a future record deal.