“Acting was always my dream," says Jimena, who adored watching her grandmother, an amateur actress. "But I couldn’t see how it could become a reality for me.” So, Jimena started a Masters in Education, only to realise, on attending a lecture on education in the arts, that “it’s great to teach this, but I really want to be doing what they’re doing."

Jimena laughs about starting her UK stage career in a pantomime in Putney: “I was happy to say that the first thing I did was very English.” However, when she started out, she faced “a lot of having to play to what people were expecting me to sound like and look like.” This meant being required either to exaggerate an accent or to adjust to RP: "I was even told I wasn't brown enough.”

Over recent years, however, Jimena has felt a real change. “People are more aware about cultural appropriation”, and as a result, she has more space to perform in a way that is true to herself. She reflects that the Royal Shakespeare company cast her “knowing that there will be people who dislike hearing Shakespeare in a foreign accent. They were happy to bring me on board for exactly who I am.” In both the RSC and The Gate, Jimena felt that “there was a place for me to be me.”

Balancing the actor's career "when life has to stop” with parenting is practically impossible, she laments. “You know that you’re disposable as an actor,” says Jimena and this feeling of powerlessness led her to take matters into her own hands. She recently wrote, directed and performed in a short film, HELADO, which she made with the help of a group of Latin American friends.

“If you spend all your time waiting for big theatres and those kinds of opportunities, you miss everything. It gave me a buzz to write and direct,” she says. "Ultimately, this is what I want to be doing. I feel so lucky that I get to do something what I love: creating and being creative. I feel so free.”

Jimena Larraguivel is dressed by Amy Lynn. Makeup by Caitlin Ross. Hair by Vanessa Zamudio