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Hidden Remote had the pleasure of chatting with Lily Santiago who stars in La Brea, NBC‘s new hit drama series.

In La Brea, Lily Santiago portrays Veronica Castillo, who caught our attention right away. She’s a complex character audiences loved learning more and more about each episode. The series has been renewed for a second season and we can’t wait to see what happens next! Naturally, we were super excited to chat with Santiago about La Brea and get to know both Santiago and her character Veronica a little better.

Please note there are spoilers ahead if you have not watched the season 1 finale!

The below interview was edited for length and clarity*

Interview with La Brea star Lily Santiago

Hidden Remote: La Brea is one of our favorite new shows this season here at Hidden Remote. We love the mystery, the drama, the diversity, and how it follows not just one character, but several. One story that instantly caught my attention is Veronica Castillo’s. I just knew there was more to her. Can you tell me how much you knew about Veronica and Lily’s story going in?

Lily Santiago: Yeah, it was really interesting. For my audition, all the information that I got was that she’s protective of her little sister. And so that’s how I played it. And then in my callback, they started giving me information. I learned that I kidnapped her. Then it wasn’t until we were filming that I learned that I was also kidnapped myself! I never know what to expect from a script. They like throwing things at me that shock me and are really interesting and tragic, but exciting as an actor to play with.

HR: I always enjoy asking that question because I find it so interesting how much actors know at first and what they have to change as they learn more. I follow you on Instagram and you and Veronica couldn’t be any more different. I love when actors just completely transform into this new character. Can you talk about what draws you to Veronica?

Santiago: Absolutely! I think it’s really, really exciting to get to play a role that is so unlike me, and obviously when I got through I had my doubts because you know, there’s the imposter syndrome of like, “but I’m not like her.” And she [Veronica] harbors a lot of anger and sadness, but I think what I love about Veronica is her strength and her ability to survive and persevere.

And the truth is that she has a big heart. She cares a lot. She sees herself in Lily and she is also struggling with a lot of the confusion, a lot of the trauma. I’m enjoying figuring out how to access her humanity and how to allow her past to be visible but not control her life.

HR: And I think we see a little bit of that in the scene where Veronica suffers a panic attack — which you did amazing in that scene by the way!

Santiago: Thank you so much!

HR: Can you tell me what went through Veronica’s mind during that moment?

Santiago: So in my mind, it was the handcuffs and the physical touch that initially set off that panic attack because I don’t know if people notice, but my character doesn’t really touch people, except for Lily. And to me, especially a man touching her, touch is traumatizing. It’s based on her past. What I’ve been told of Veronica’s past and what I’ve made up for myself about Veronica’s past. Chloe [Chloe De Los Santos], who plays Lily, we got to talk about what our past couple of years possibly looked like and I imagine we were handcuffed on a bed together every night to sleep. So that panic really came from being stuck, being out of control, being physically out of control. And being reminded of her past containment.

Lily Santiago on the magic that goes behind-the-scenes of La Brea

HR: Do you watch La brea on TV when it airs?

Santiago: I do. I like to watch it with my parents!

HR: I ask because I want to know about the the whole filming experience. There’s just so much CGI and magic that goes on behind the scenes. How is it watching all of that come to life? Are there any special effects that surprise you?

Santiago: I think with the pilot episode, all of the buildings like the CGI that went into the destruction of Los Angeles, I was blown away by that. And it’s sort of funny to watch back and see a person who was standing in a blue suit turn into a full on creature! I sort of I get good giggles out of it.

HR: After every episode, I’m always jumping on Google to research those creatures, the animals, the history. It’s all very interesting. It’s a truly unique show.

Santiago: You never know what’s gonna jump out at you from the woods!

HR: What are some takeaways you took from season one?

Santiago: I was just so impressed, grateful, and amazed by everyone who worked on the show. I have never been a series regular on a show before so I was learning every day. I was learning from the other incredible actors and I was learning from the crew who you know, they’re there for endless hours, and they’re always so positive and helpful. So that was a takeaway for me of like, how I want to be on sets going forward and the environment that I want to be around.

Who will survive the La Brea?

HR: For fans who haven’t watched the season 1 finale, what can you tease?

Santiago: Everyone just keep your fingers crossed for everyone’s survival! [laughs]

HR: And just a couple of fun questions. Besides falling into a sinkhole, what would you say is your biggest fear?

Santiago: [without hesitation] Great white sharks. I am so terrified of how powerful they are. And also because humans are so helpless in the water and they’re so fast and strong and their mouths are so big and I just…they’ve freaked me out since I was like, seven years old.

HR: If you did fall into a sinkhole, what songs would be on your playlist while you wait for rescue?

Santiago: That’s a good question. I think I would want some relaxing songs. I’d probably listen to some Lucius and Daniel Caesar and maybe some Mac Miller. Those are some of my go-to these days.

The first season of La Brea is now streaming on Peacock.

Next: 50 best original shows on streaming to watch right now

Reporting from Nashville —

Two middle-aged women eyed Lillie Mae as she strolled into Rotier’s family restaurant in Nashville, her head shaved on both sides with a shock of short, dark hair on top, nose ring and tattoos on both arms easily visible.

“Well, aren’t you just darling?” one of the observers said gleefully on her way to the cashier to pay her bill.

Singer, songwriter and fiddler Lillie Mae smiled back and demurely thanked the woman for the remark.

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“That’s better than what I get a lot of times,” she quietly told a visitor as they sat down for a late lunch on a recent afternoon in one of her favorite hangs, far removed from wherever the hip-and-trendy epicenter of the country music capital happens to be these days.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »

Lillie Mae has dazzled increasingly larger audiences over the last decade with her elastic and colorful vocal aplomb, her technical command of the fiddle and her charismatic presence as a performer.

Those traits take center stage in her biggest career step yet as Jack White’s Third Man Records releases the 26-year old musician’s new solo album, “Forever and Then Some,” on April 14.

As part of a trip west to tape an appearance that will run on Thursday’s episode of “Conan,” she’ll also play a showcase that evening in L.A. at the Monty Bar.

Lillie Mae doesn’t sound like most of the carefully groomed nascent stars roaming the streets of Nashville, but that’s one of the things that caught the attention of indie rock kingpin White — who recruited her for the all-female band that supported him on his Lazaretto tour in 2014

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“What isn’t interesting about her?” asked Stacy Vee, director of festival talent for Goldenvoice who oversees the talent bookings for the promoter’s Stagecoach Country Music Festival, which Lillie Mae played in 2008 with her family band, Jypsi.

“Seriously, the way she’s singing, the way she presents her art, I haven’t seen it performed like that. …It’s completely fresh, it sounds way older and way newer, masculine and feminine at the same time. It’s going to be a really fun project to watch develop.”

In the beginning, there was little expectation attached to her venture into a recording studio last year with White at the helm.

“There was no plan to make a whole album,” said Lillie Mae. “He asked me to come in and record a few songs, and after we got done with three, he said, ‘You got any more?’ ”

That turned into a baker’s dozen tracks —11 on the album and two more that are slated as B-sides for singles.

They span the melancholic Americana breakup song “Over the Hill and Through the Woods” to the sprightly country two-step “Honky Tonks and Taverns.” Elsewhere, there’s the country-gospel lope of “Wash Me Clean” and the folk bluegrass sway of the title track. The album closes with the haunting mantra-like minor-key lament “Dance to the Beat of My Own Drum.”

Among the songwriters she most admires are Americana guiding lights Lucinda Williams and Guy Clark, both of whom she aims to emulate for at least one quality: “Their songs are just so honest — they write about life in ways that are so real. I really love that about them.”

Lillie Mae’s voice comes out of the Dolly Parton school of high, quavering emotionalism, bringing a tinge of sadness even to her more optimistic lyrics. One of the most distinctive facets of her singing is her ability to swoop up to some notes, gracefully fall off others and register hop with the ease of a great yodeler.

The album features instrumental and vocal contributions from several members of her large family: her brother, Frank, on guitar; older sister Scarlet on mandolin; and younger sister McKenna Grace on vocals. For years, they sang together as a family band that also included another older sister, Amber Dawn, who now lives in Canada.

Nearly a decade ago, they were making the rounds as Jypsi. They scored bookings at major festivals including Stagecoach and Bonnaroo in Tennessee, and for a time had major labels jockeying to sign them.

Lillie Mae was 16 at the time, and she quickly rose from her role supporting her older sisters and brother to the band’s lead vocalist.

But the group’s hippie-bohemian fashion sense, as well as a penchant for material that often veered to pop music’s fringes, scared off many would-be industry supporters.

Nevertheless, Jypsi persisted, mostly at Layla’s Bluegrass Inn on Broadway along Nashville’s central tourist thoroughfare. The band would play several nights a week, four hours a night for years, honing the siblings’ instrumental and vocal chops across a broad range of material from country and bluegrass to rock, soul and R&B.

That provided Lillie Mae with a richly diverse range of tools in her musical kit. As a songwriter, she leans toward tunes of heartbreak, which she concedes sometimes limits her opportunities to flash her expertise on the fiddle.

“I just don’t write those kinds of [uptempo bluegrass] songs,” she said. “I wish I did.”

When Lillie Mae and her family first settled in Tennessee, they were quickly taken under the wing of Jack Clement, a.k.a. Cowboy Jack Clement, the former associate of Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, and one of roots music’s most revered producers, engineers and all around idiosyncratic musical geniuses and raconteurs. He mentored Lillie Mae and her siblings, helping nurture their maverick sensibilities.

She also credits the time spent in White’s band for opening her up to an even greater diversity of music. Now the big challenge is stepping up yet again: from frontwoman in a family band and featured support player to a bona fide rock star to focal point of her own show.

“I’ve never put my own band together,” she said. “It’s kind of scary, in a way. But I’m really ready to just get out there and play and play and play.”

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Pop & Hiss premieres “Nobody’s,” the first single from singer-fiddler-songwriter Lillie Mae Rische, who most recently has been in front of audiences as part of Jack White’s touring band.

Anyone who caught one of Jack White’s shows supporting his latest album, “Lazaretto,” most likely has taken notice of one of the members of his band, singer-fiddler Lillie Mae Rische, who has just released her first single, “Nobody’s,” on White’s Nashville-based Third Man Records label.

Pop & Hiss is premiering the track, an alt-country number that White produced and in which Rische sings of yearning to make a deep connection with a romantic interest who doesn’t show the same level of interest.

She co-wrote the song, and the flip side, "Same Eyes," with members of the group who backed her: steel guitarist Carl Broemel from My Morning Jacket, bassists Jack Lawrence and Dominic Davis and drummer Whip Triplet. It's part of the "Blue Series" of vintage-style 45 rpm releases from Third Man. Here's 'Nobody's':

The experience playing in White’s band and interacting with his wide-ranging circle of musician friends has been an eye opener for Rische, who grew up playing chiefly with her siblings and parents as their family moved from trailer park to trailer park around the South.

“I come from a bluegrass-country background,” Rische said from her home of recent years in Decatur, Ala., about 115 miles south of Nashville. “Where else would I have met any of these people, some of whom have a hip-hop background, some are from rock 'n' roll -- all different kinds of people. I never would have.”

She said White invited her to play on a recording session he was doing for a film soundtrack, and then: “They just kept calling back and calling back. I sang on one song on his last album. It’s been a really busy couple of years with him.”

"Times are hard right now -- in every business," she said. "I definitely was lucky to land a gig like this during the last couple of hard years."

Rische first started getting noticed while she was a teenager singing in Jypsi, the family band that had dazzled audiences in the country music capital with its regular performances at Layla’s Bluegrass Inn. All the buzz scored Jypsi a California gig at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio in 2008, even without a major label contract.

But the Nashville establishment didn’t know what to do with a group fronted by three freewheeling sisters who looked like they had stepped off the set of a late-'60s psychedelic movie, and who played with extraordinary musical dexterity while effortlessly spinning out tight three- and four-part (with their guitarist brother Frank) harmonies on a par with the tightest bluegrass vocal groups.

Rische will be releasing a full album in February, one she recorded in Decatur with backing from the Kenneth Brian Band, with whom she has been performing frequently when not occupied supporting White.

The album, she said, “is very different” than the two tracks she recorded with White. “When I did that with Jack, he brought in musicians I’d never played with before. That would be quite a bit different than playing with the usual people I’m with. My family also played on the album I did.”

Also, she noted, in focusing the attention on her voice, the new single “has no harmonies on it. Coming from what I was in before, that’s quite a bit different. That’s what I love to do, you know. But [White] has a different way of recording and going about things. He likes to keep things new and fresh and interesting. It keeps things from getting stagnant.”

Follow @RandyLewis2 on Twitter for pop music coverage.

Note: The following is an expanded version of story that appeared in the January issue of WIN Magazine. Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN Magazine.

By Brian Adamowsky

Lillie is Ready for Next Level

Only the realization of a lifelong ambition to become the first member of his family to attend college by virtue of accepting a wrestling scholarship could ease the pain Yusief Lillie felt when it became clear he would not have the chance to chase his fourth high-school state championship in the upside-down 2020-21 season.

On Jan. 2, Lillie signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his wrestling career at Utah Valley University, where he will compete at 125 pounds for the Wolverines.

wrestle at Utah Valley University, becoming the first member of his family to attend college. (Ed Sanchez photo)

“I was pretty upset because at first because the high school season isn’t really going to happen,” Lillie said. “But then I realized how much better I’m getting. I’ve been working one-on-one with (Team Aggression co-founder) Geoff Kaylor, and with school being different and everything I can train like that a lot more. And a college scholarship was always part of the plan.”

Lillie, who is the son of Gregory Lillie and Damaris Diaz, and the brother of Adanesne, 21, and Amanda, 11, said the feeling he got when he visited the UVU campus in Orem and the tone of the recruiting message from Wolverines assistant coaches Ethen Lofthouse and Erkin Tadzhimetov convinced him Utah Valley was the right fit for him.

The fact that a pair of friends from Washington, Vancouver’s Danny Snediker and Spokane’s Braxton Mikesell are already at UVU didn’t hurt, either.

“We are excited to have Yusief join the Wolverine family,” Utah Valley coach Greg Williams said in a press release announcing Lillie’s signing. “He is a dedicated student-athlete that has high goals in all areas of his life. He embraces tough challenges and has the work ethic and unwavering focus to be successful here.

“As we got to know Yusief better during the recruiting process, it became clear that he was a great fit for us. We are looking forward to working with him.”

In addition to joining the Utah Valley program, Lillie will also have the opportunity to train at the Brunson Utah Valley Regional Training Center in Orem, headed up by Will Rowe. That supplementary training outlet was also attractive to Lillie in selecting UVU over offers from Oregon State, Air Force, Wyoming, Lehigh and Missouri.

Chris Feist, the Washington State Wrestling Association’s Cadet Director, only coached Lillie at Tahoma High School during the 2019-20 season, when Lillie won his third state title in a Bears singlet. But Feist has known Lillie since he was a youngster and raved about the UVU-bound wrestler’s mat acumen and hunger to excel.

“His wrestling IQ is so incredibly high. That’s the thing that has stood out to me about Yusief since he was a boy,” said Feist. “As a 10 and 11-year-old, he was paying such close attention to little details and asking qualifying questions that I wasn’t getting from juniors and seniors in high school.

“He just loves the sport of wrestling and he’s always finding ways to get on a mat, to train, even if it’s just footwork and agility work by himself. He has a hunger to be around wrestling people and improve. Utah Valley is getting a good one.”

Lillie won 3A state championships in 2018 and 2019 for Bonney Lake High School at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively, before winning the 120-pound 4A crown for Tahoma in 2020.

In addition to his high-school dominance that includes a 123-5 career record, Lillie has also excelled at the national level. He is a three-time Fargo All-American in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, placing in the top four in each of his appearances.

He won the 100-pound Greco-Roman championship in 2017 to go along with two other top-four finishes.

Lillie said transferring to Tahoma from Bonney Lake, where he wrestled for Dan Pitsch, forced him to chart his own path.

“At Bonney Lake I more followed guys like BK (Brandon Kaylor, currently wrestling at Oregon State) and Chao (Brendan Chaowanapibool, Air Force) and I had a lot of good partners,” he said. “When I transferred to Tahoma, I had to work out more for myself. Coach Pitsch and Coach Feist have very different ways of coaching, but it was good for me.”

If a 2020-21 high school season materializes — which despite recent updates from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association remains very much uncertain — Lillie would compete for Orting High School. The Lillie family now lives in Orting after a brief move to Post Falls, Idaho — where wrestling season is underway as normal — didn’t work out.

Orting’s wrestling program, led by coach Jody Coleman, is a 2A school in the South Puget Sound League which has finished in the top three of the team standings at the state tournament every year since 2005.

Whatever form the season winds up taking, Lillie will soon transition to being a college wrestler, and leave high school wrestling behind. It’s one of the steepest adjustments in any sport, as the paucity of NCAA Division I programs has narrowed those who compete at that level to the best of the best.

That can be a struggle, even for those as talented as Lillie.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to be the best in any room I was training in,” he said. “I’m hard-working. I’ll start from the bottom and work my way all the way to the top.”

Feist, who wrestled at Central Washington University from 1995-2001, knows the pitfalls of making the transition to college wrestling better than most.

“A lot of talented high school wrestlers go on to college that loved a lot of things about their high school wrestling experience, but it doesn’t always click or fit when it gets to college,” he said. “From D-I all the way down to junior college, there are wrestlers where it just doesn’t work out the way they want it to because they just weren’t having fun anymore. Unless you love wrestling for the sake of wrestling, as I believe Yusief does, it’s a grind. It’s a real difficult journey to stay the course.”

For Lillie, who has always dreamed bigger than just high school excellence, the opportunity to wrestle at the Division I level, and money towards a college education, was always the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

“It’s just super exciting,” he said. “I’m the first person in my family to go to college, and me and my dad have been planning for me to do this. It’s all been part of the process. It’s just a big relief because I’ve been so stressed out about it. It feels really good.”

De La Rosa, FCA get behind St. Germain

In his two years in charge of the Pacific Northwest wrestling chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Peter De La Rosa made many meaningful spiritual contacts with the region’s wrestlers but didn’t feel wrestling was as much in the spotlight as other sports.

He sought to change that by assembling a team of wrestlers to compete under the FCA banner at the Who’s Bad National Classic on Jan. 1-3 in Bullhead City, Arizona. Twenty-nine boys and girls from around Washington represented FCA, and in addition to the High School Girls dual team winning the championship, 19 earned medals as individuals.

De La Rosa, a native of Sunnyside, who describes himself as, “a guy who loves wrestling but wasn’t very good at it and who has a passion for Jesus Christ” was assisted by coaches Tony Nuñez, Israel Silva, Rory Coleman and Anthony Zuniga at the tournament.

“God put it on my heart to have a tournament team one time a year, at the end of the year,” De La Rosa said. “It would be inclusive, anyone could come, but win or lose we were going to represent Jesus Christ and bring hope and encouragement.”

De La Rosa has garnered notice in Washington and elsewhere for handing out red T-shirts with the name “Jesus” printed across the front in capital block letters and wrestling tournaments. He said he has been shouted out by former Ohio State wrestling standout Joey McKenna and Penn State star Jason Nolf, on social media for the T-shirts he gave them.

“They’re both really strong in their faith,” he said.

De La Rosa said he wants to expand the competition side of FCA in the Pacific Northwest and said that personnel from tournament promoter Rocky Mountain Nationals Events (RMN Events) approached him in Arizona about having a presence at as many of RMN’s events as possible.

He is particularly proud of the role FCA has played in the recovery of Adrian St. Germain, a redshirt freshman at Hofstra University and three-time Washington state champion and FCA member who was hospitalized on Nov. 27 after, according to a CaringBridge website created by Adrian’s mother, Sarah, Adrian suffered “a severe hypoxic ischemic event that caused multi-system organ failure, including diffuse brain damage.”

This event, which substantially reduced the amount of oxygen flowing to Adrian’s brain, was caused by excessive alcohol use and resulted in Adrian being in a coma for 45 days, De La Rosa said.

“I got all these calls, because what happens when bad things happen is that coaches call me to take solace in people who have faith,” he said. “The first words out of some of their mouths was that Adrian could die.”

The next day, De La Rosa held the first of 45 consecutive prayer chapels over Zoom, which included supporters from Washington, Hofstra’s campus in Hempstead, New York and other distant locales.

“There have been 30-80 people on there every night, including Hofstra’s head coach (Dennis Papadatos) and people from Chile, Australia and 12 other states,” De La Rosa said.

On day 45, Monday Jan. 11, Adrian emerged from his coma, started speaking in full sentences the following day, and has continued to improve since then.

“We’ll have to see what the future holds, but I want us to be about unity and hope,” De La Rosa said. “All wrestlers in the region would have the opportunity to come be a part of something that is extremely encouraging and positive. We give athletes the opportunity to share their faith, not to be religious.”

Legally, these stretches of coast are protected, but in practice, they are frequently degraded due to a lack of awareness and respect

Dec. 15, 2023 10:04 AM PT

Mulligan is a native San Diegan and is the ocean conservation coordinator for Wildcoast and lives in San Diego.

Growing up in sun-kissed San Diego, I spent most of my weekends in La Jolla, desperate to be in the water. Whether I was surfing around Scripps Pier or kayaking the Cove, I couldn’t but help notice the abundance of marine life around me.

Turns out, the stretch of coastline I cherished so dearly was designated a Marine Protected Area or MPA in 2012, the same year I reveled in its wonders as a middle school student. However, I quickly realized that not everyone appreciate its beauty, nor felt compelled to protect it, and I wanted to do everything in my power to change that.

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Fast forward a decade, I landed a position with Wildcoast, an ocean conservation organization. In my role, I actively educate our community and local businesses about the ecological significance of these beautiful marine areas and our collective responsibility to protect these ocean treasures.

Similar to parks on land, these marine areas are designated regions of the coast and ocean with regulations on what can be taken in an effort to increase ocean biodiversity and resilience. California’s 124 such marine areas, covering over 500,000 acres, serve as vital habitat and migration corridors for some of the world’s most important marine life.

Wildcoast was a key stakeholder in the designation of these Marine Protected Areas in 2012, and continues to help protect 11 in San Diego County and with partners statewide, through the MPA Collaborative Network. The success of these ocean havens was underscored by a recent study that suggests La Jolla Cove has the densest variety of animal life, and La Jolla Shores has the widest variety of marine animal species, compared to any beach in the United States. It is clear that when a marine ecosystem is left alone, it will thrive.

However, the effectiveness of these underwater parks depends on public compliance. Legally, these stretches of coast are protected, but in practice, they are frequently degraded due to a lack of awareness and respect. This is an issue that I am actively working to change.

In an effort to facilitate this transformation, I help to manage MPA Watch, a statewide network of organizations that collects data in and around protected areas through community science. It provides a unique opportunity for the community to be involved in the research of 58 different marine areas.

Wildcoast also partners with enforcement agencies, like the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Sharing MPA Watch data on human activity provides resources agencies with insight on how to effectively manage and enforce these marine reserves.

Similarly, I work throughout coastal San Diego County to install and maintain signs informing the public on marine area regulations. These efforts allow marine life to safely reproduce and migrate beyond the boundaries of the areas, in addition to supporting local communities that rely on a lush ocean, both recreationally and economically. One such economic benefit is that of ecotourism in La Jolla. The success of San Diego’s busy kayak and dive shops is intricately tied to the vitality of the ocean resources their passionate guides showcase to both residents and tourists from around the world.

Recently, I had the pleasure of exploring the beauty of my favorite marine protected area. As I paddled around the Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve off of La Jolla Cove in a bright yellow kayak, I was greeted by pelicans overhead and hundreds of leopard sharks below. The famous caves and cliffs around me were filled with cormorants and sea lions resting after their missions out to sea for the catch of the day.

My joyous paddle reinforced the invaluable nature of these ocean reserves. Serving as sanctuaries for myriad species and bolstering the success of our vibrant ecotourism economy, Marine Protected Areas are indispensable to our coastline and economy. It is our collective responsibility to champion conservation efforts that will safeguard them in perpetuity.

I invite you to take a moment during your next trip to one of San Diego’s marine areas to understand the posted regulations of these flourishing underwater parks. The fate of a thriving ocean is in our hands, and the time is now to ensure its preservation for generations to come.