Santa Rosa native breaks LGBTQ+ barriers in Marvel’s next blockbuster

Actor and dancer Chess Lopez, a Santa Rosa native, will make her major motion picture debut this week when she appears in the latest Marvel film, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

Appearing in a Marvel blockbuster would be an exciting development for any actor, but Lopez’s part is making waves across the globe even before the film opens in theaters Friday.

Lopez — who identifies as queer — plays Amalia, one of two queer mothers of the character America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez. Chavez is a Latinx, lesbian superhero who can punch through star portals to reach other dimensions. Ruth Livier plays Chavez’s other mother.

While Marvel and Disney are tight lipped about a lot of the filmmaking process and the film itself, Lopez said that she did get a chance to share her experience growing up Latinx in Santa Rosa during the audition process.

“At the time I didn’t know that the character I was auditioning for was lesbian, I didn’t find that out until I booked the role,“ said Lopez. ”So that wasn’t really part of the audition process, that was the cherry on top for me.“

Marvel’s incorporation of LGBTQ+ characters in the film already is raising controversy in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, which are reportedly asking Marvel to cut out the LGBTQ+ references or they won’t release the film in their theaters.

“I think that it’s fantastic that more queer characters and characters of color are being represented in such massive blockbusters as this film,” said Lopez. “The reason being, because a film like this really reaches across the globe, representation really matters.

“It’s important for people that are living in areas of the world where they cannot be free with their gayness and their queerness to be able to see these types of films,” she said. “I think the inclusion of these characters is a great step moving forward and hopefully we’ll be able to see more characters that are queer and of color in productions like this.”

Raised in Santa Rosa, Lopez graduated from Ursuline High School in 2006 and earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from Purchase College in 2010.

While living in Santa Rosa, where her parents still reside, she skated at Snoopy’s Home Ice and studied dance under her mother at the Susan Lopez School of Ballet and Marin Ballet.

“I come from an intense background in terms of growing up as an artist,” said Lopez. “As a ballet dancer you learn a lot about holding yourself to a high standard, and I grew up in an environment where I pushed myself, and challenged myself.

“I was happy to have those experiences, to have a skating rink in town to explore that side of my personality and a dance school in town to do the same,” she said. “I was able to take that with me as an adult, that level of discipline was something I learned in childhood.”

Lopez studied acting at The William Esper Studio in New York City, where she began her film career by appearing in several short films like 2019’s “Hey Stranger” and 2020’s “The Burbs.” She now lives in Los Angeles. Her most recent short film, “EZ Livin,” opens next month.

“Most of the independent shorts I’ve done have been out of New York. One thing that I was really lucky to fall into — because of the group of artists I had surrounded myself with — was that I had the opportunity to play some queer characters on screen,” said Lopez.

“I’m a true believer in accurate representation, and to have the opportunity to play queer characters in these short films and to be able to have that translate over into such a massive production as Marvel, that’s a dream come true in all honesty,” she said.

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor.