Francia Raisa On Who She Wants To Play Future Valentina In How I Met Your Father
How I Met Your Father is a standalone sequel to the hit show How I Met Your Mother and follows a group of friends living in New York. Led by Hilary Duff as Sophie, the series is framed by her future self in 2050, played by Kim Cattrall, narrating the story of how she met her son’s father. I spoke with Francia Raisa, who played Sophie’s fashionista bestie Valentina, about the new series and who she’s love to play Future Valentina.
While Francia Raisa started out in more serious roles, she loves that she has been able to embrace her comedic chops in her recent projects. “I loved [Valentina] from the minute that I originally read the audition sides. Honestly I didn't think I would end up in comedy. It started with Grown-ish and now I'm doing a multi-cam show and I absolutely love it,” shared Raisa. “I am so happy that I didn't end up doing drama like I thought I would. I'm glad that I'm able to now know that I can do both.”
Her favorite part of working on How I Met Your Father? Her co-stars. “All our group scenes are really fun at Pemberton's. Mostly because we just have a good time and it's probably the only time that we really mess up our lines and laugh,” she said. “All my scenes with Hilary are pretty solid. We just have a good time and we have really good chemistry.”
Raisa’s character Valentina is an assistant stylist who can be a bit impulsive. She’s also got killer fashion sense and shared her favorite fashion moments in the series. “Oh my gosh, the Selena [shirt]! That was my favorite hands down. That was the first episode and I said, ‘I'm home. I'm home and I feel seen and understood,’” said Raisa. “But there is an outfit coming up. I want to say it's episode seven. It's a purple Ivy Park outfit and it looks so fire.”
As an actress of Mexican and Honduran descent, Raisa found it refreshing that she was able to celebrate her culture in a subtle way. “What I appreciate is that I’m not the Latin friend on this show. I am someone’s friend who represents a culture that obviously is very near and dear to my heart. I wore a Selena shirt. Everyone watching, and me as a human being, felt that love and felt that pride, but it wasn’t a thing on the show like, ‘Oh, your Selena shirt,’” she said. “I did the Ugly Betty joke and it was just like an understood conversation. I love that it's not a thing and I get to just normalize it.”
While Kim Cattrall plays Future Sophie, Raisa knows exactly who she’d love to see play Future Valentina: Salma Hayek. “I requested it as soon as I found out about Kim. I said Salma Hayek,” gushed Raisa. “For future writers, please make it happen, thank you.”
When it comes down to it, How I Met Your Father proves coming-of-age stories can happen at any age. “It’s really about a group of friends just trying to figure out life. I’m in my 30s as well and I feel like I’m still waiting to grow up, as they are. It's a different decade in your life so it's okay that your personality changes,” she shared. “You don't have to be stuck to whatever mentality you even had at 29, you know? Things change. That doesn’t make you any different of a person, [it] doesn’t make you fake. It just means you grew.”
Hulu has renewed How I Met Your Father for a 20-episode second season.
