First Person:
By Dr. Al Carlos Hernandez

   Maria Richwine is the first Latina Playboy Bunny to ever become a serious actress and model. She has joined the ranks of such luminary former Bunnies as Gloria Steinem, Debra Harry of Blondie and Lauren Hutton.

   Born Maria Agudelo in Colombia, her parents viewed the USA as a land of opportunity both educationally and economically. Her father brought the family to the US when she was just a little girl. In NYC, they took her to see the Rockettes and “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” at Radio City Music Hall.

   Audrey Hepburn’s performance as “Holly Go Lightly” was such an inspiration to her and made such an impression that she decided that one day she would become an actress.

   Her family later moved to Los Angeles, where she studied ballet, jazz and modern dance for eight years. She attended high school and college and majored in foreign languages with the intention of becoming an interpreter at the United Nations. During that time she began teaching aerobics classes at the Century West Health Club in Century City. Across the way from the Health Club was the Los Angeles PLAYBOY CLUB. One of the students in her class was “The Bunny Mother” who was the person responsible for training and hiring all the Playboy Bunnies. Maria was offered and accepted the job and became a Playboy Bunny for the next four years.

   She began taking acting classes. The classes lead to her being cast as Catherine in Arthur Miller’s play “A View From the Bridge” at the Nosotros Theatre. Her reviews caught the attention of an agent who signed her on the spot. Soon after, she was seen by casting director, Joyce Selznick, who was looking for a young actress to play the part of Maria Elena Holly in “The Buddy Holly Story” opposite Gary Busey.

   She has worked in several other feature films and dozens of guest starring roles for television, including “Three’s Company” with the great John Ritter and “Sledge Hammer,” under the direction of Bill Bixby. She was a series regular on Norman Lear’s first Latino sitcom on prime time, “AKA Pablo” starring Paul Rodriguez. Ms. Richwine has worked in over 100 Television Commercials for the Spanish and English markets and numerous voice over projects.

   I was introduced to Maria by our mutual friend Richard Yniguez:

   AC: Tell us about your parents. What kind of work did they do, whose idea was it to come to the USA and what where they looking for?

   MR: My father was very young when he met my mom; they fell in love, got married and started a family right away. She was a homemaker and he worked for Sears Roebuck & Co in Medellin, Colombia as a repairman. He had high ambitions and wanted a better life and a good education so he decided to go to the US to study and work.

   We stayed with my grandmother in Colombia and Dad went to the US. He attended school during the day at the “New York Technical Institute” to study thermal engineering and at night he worked in a restaurant to save every penny so that he could send for me, my mom and my brother Fred.

   AC: What was it about the Rockettes and Audrey Hepburn that inspired you? Was it the fame, the glamour, the adulation?

   MR: When I walked into Radio City Music Hall with my dad, the auditorium felt like a microcosm of the universe. The stage and the lights were like the stars and planets floating by me. It looked like the sun was illuminating the long legged ladies dancing in unison, it was breathtaking!

   I was inspired by them to learn to dance but Audrey Hepburn’s performance left such a lasting impression on me that I wanted to grow up to be just like her.

   AC: This may be an embarrassing question, but has being stunningly beautiful your whole life been a help or a hindrance to your career?

   MR: Stunningly beautiful is not how I would describe myself. I have always been aware of my flaws and have had to work to hide or alter them. As I get older, I see how hard I was on myself as a young girl coming up.

   My first acting coach would say, “There will always be greater and lesser people than you.” He made me understand that we all have to be happy with ourselves and appreciate the unique gifts we were born with.

   AC: What did your dad say about you becoming a Playboy Bunny? Any stigma attached to that type of work and what are some of the misconceptions?

   MR: My dad was very supportive. He thought it was a great opportunity. The reality is that a Playboy Bunny is basically cocktail waitress in a sexy costume with ears and a tail. I loved the costume; we all looked beautiful, sophisticated and elegant in it.

   The biggest misconception is that folks often mistake a Bunny for a Playmate. Playmates are models who pose nude for the magazine. Bunnies worked at the Playboy Clubs as cocktail and food servers.

   AC: Tell us about the four years you worked for Hefner. What were the good and bad, and if you had the chance would you do it over again?

   MR: That was probably the best and most fun job that I have ever had and I would do it again in a nano second. At first I was reluctant because I was a bit of a feminist back in the 70’s. As I grew into it, I knew that Mr. Hefner was giving the girls great opportunities. He set up scholarships for anyone who wanted to continue with an education. There were girls who were going to Law School, Medical School, training for the Police Academy, single mothers, actresses etc… I was studying acting during that time and was grateful for the job which gave me so much freedom to pursue a new career.

   AC: How did you feel when you got your first big break with the Buddy Holly story? How do you view the work now?

   MR: I was doing a play at Nosotros Theatre and going to acting class at the same time. Everything I thought about was acting. During my breaks at work, I was studying scenes for class and in the evenings, I was rehearsing “A View From The Bridge” (my first play). It didn’t take very long from the time I began to study and get an agent to the time I was hired to play Maria Holly. When I heard I got the job, after having gone to four callbacks, I was floating on air. I really had to pinch myself. Sometimes I fell asleep with the script in my arms. I knew I had to just get on that train and ride it all the way and never look back. There was no room for fear or insecurities; I just had to step up to the plate.

   AC: Tell us about the project you are working on with our friend Richard Yniguez?

   MR: Richard is a very talented actor with an amazing imagination. He comes up with the most interesting concepts and fills the scenes with profound images and symbolism.

   He wanted to take matters into his own hands and decided to develop a series of stories for the Internet utilizing this new medium that is accessible to us now. Hopefully we can inspire sponsors to take an interest and facilitate the making of more stories with great production values. So far, we are just in the beginning stages and I am looking forward to what is ahead. http://www.angelfire.com/nm/mariarichwinefans

Find the full story online at www.latinola.com/story.php?story=9111