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'This Character Changed My Life': Actor Krysta Rodriguez On Netflix's 'Daybreak' & Broadway

(CBS Local)-- Krysta Rodriguez bet on herself after she got bored of playing the same roles on television.

She spent a year barely working in the entertainment industry in order to figure out the specific roles she wanted to play. Rodriguez, who went to NYU, bet on says the decision paid off when she got cast on the new Netflix post-apocalyptic show "Daybreak."

"I get to do something completely different and lose myself entirely in it," said Rodriguez in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "I get to somewhat be the feminist hero of the story and that was a big surprise. I did not expect that. This character changed my life and the trajectory of where I want to go with my roles. I took almost a full year to get super specific about what I wanted to do and I feel proud of what has cropped up out of that. It was a scary thing and I'm pleased and relieved at how it has shaped and turned out."

In addition to her television show, Rodriguez is still flexing her theater muscles in New York. The actor has learned many valuables lessons from her time on and off Broadway.

"I was in a very big notorious flop," said Rodriguez. "It didn't lend to many great experiences. That was kind of a mess and my second show was Spring Awakening and that was almost two years to the day in the same theater and that could not have repaired my Broadway aspirations more. It was such an amazing and beautiful experience. I'm grateful that I started that way because I could appreciate Spring Awakening."

Rodriguez says she wants to continue acting on stage and on screen and also wants to produce. There are several women that Rodriguez points to as inspirations.

"Reese Witherspoon is killing the game in that," said Rodriguez. "She was one of the first and she was at the forefront of it. Her production company is called Type A Films and she's really astonishing to watch. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey were bosses before women were bosses and they're reclaiming that. I've really admired the women that have claimed that as a positive and have been unapologetic about it."

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