Di Lorenzo and Davila laugh via Zoom talking to New Times.
"We've been waiting for this moment for a really long time," Di Lorenzo says.
"We've been waiting for this moment ever since we moved to L.A.," Davila clarifies.
While Davila is connecting from New York City, where she recently wrapped filming an indie film, Di Lorenzo sits at her home desk in Los Angeles. The two friends first met freshman year in drama class at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School. After being paired together for several projects, they quickly noted how well they worked together. It was as if they were practicing their comedy stylings from the moment they met.
"The reason that Mimi and I work well together is because Mimi brings the heart, and I bring a lot of the comedy," Di Lorenzo explains.
One fortuitous day during their sophomore year, Di Lorenzo was tasked with babysitting her younger brother, who makes an appearance in the original video. After agreeing to her big-sister duties, the Venezuelan asked her mom if her best friend could come over, too. That night, they dressed up as chongas and recorded a parody of Fergie's "Fergalicious."
After the initial viral success, they continued to post funny videos on YouTube, but ultimately, the content fizzled out — until about nine years ago when they moved to California.
"Out of nowhere, the Chonga Girls video went viral again, and we took it as a sign," Di Lorenzo says. "It was now or never to bring these characters back."
And so they did. They began work on a Chonga Girls video series with the intent of having that online show one day develop into a full-fledged television series.
Before the news of the CBS Studio deal broke, the duo had been touring as the Chonga Girls. They've performed at comedy festivals and theaters all across the U.S., from the New York Comedy Festival to the San Francisco Sketch Fest. In addition to their stand-up, Di Lorenzo and Davila produce original content on their Instagram page, @thechongagirls.
When the Deadline article announcing their freshly inked deal was posted, the two remember exactly where they were.
Davila wore a permanent smile the entire day and was overrun with a sense of love. "The way the community responded to the news," starts Davila, emotion swelling in her eyes. "It felt so good to know that we had all these people behind us. It wasn't just a moment for Laura and me; it was a moment for a lot of people."
Di Lorenzo, on the other hand, was at a shopping mall in Panama. Standing in front of a mirror, she placed a black jacket in front of her torso and then swapped it for a blue version. The decision was a tough one. In the middle of her contemplation, her phone rang. Davila's voice bellowed from the other end, informing her of the news. The actor put down the two jackets, walked out of the store, and just sat in the middle of the mall crying.
"I couldn't find any seats," recounts Di Lorenzo, bringing her two hands up to her temple. "I just sat down on the floor, and I started crying because I felt like all my dreams were coming true."
The untitled Chonga Girls show will star Di Lorenzo and Davila as two friends who move from Miami to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming famous. It's a storyline that is plucked from so much personal experience. The actors, who will also be writers on the series and co-producers, explain how their upbringing in South Florida will influence the show.
With their CBS show, Mimi Davila (left) and Laura Di Lorenzo hope to tell authentic Latin stories.
Photo by Ryan Feng
"One hundred percent," Di Lorenzo adds.
"I'm half Bulgarian and half Cuban," continues Davila, "and I grew up thinking that I was the majority. I never thought about myself as a minority or as different. People that grew up in Miami, we have a different point of view and that's a big reason why we are so passionate about telling this story from that point of view."
In addition to Di Lorenzo and Davila, the project has attached Marlena Rodriguez (Silicon Valley, Clone High) as a writer-producer and Wilmer Valderrama of That '70s Show fame as producer.
The Chonga Girls will tell authentic Latin stories written and produced by authentic Latin people.
"We felt, at first, like a lot of Hollywood Latinos weren't accepting of us because they thought our characters were stereotypes," says Davila. "And it's like, bro, a lot of these people exist. If you actually saw the content we produce, at the end of the day, it's really about me and Laura and our friendship. And that's real."
Di Lorenzo nods along, love in her eyes as she encourages her best friend of nearly 20 years.
Whereas Di Lorenzo studied theater at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Davila went to college in Texas, where she experienced a culture shock that truly shook her.
"The Chonga Girls was also a way of us taking our power back," says Davila, her large silver hoop earrings swinging as she moves her head. "It was our way of saying, 'Yes, we sound like this, we talk like this, we dress like this, and guess what? We're the shit, and we're proud of it.' And I think that really resonated with people."
She goes on to explain the chonga spectrum — there's throwback chonga, modern chonga, those who wish they were chongas, and those who are natural-born chongas.
"Everybody's got a little chongita inside them," Davila adds with a laugh.
"The Chonga Girls is about friendship," Di Lorenzo chimes in, "but it's also about being proud of where you come from and not giving a crap about how anyone else judges you for it. The Chonga girls will be sexy, they will be smart, and they will be loud as hell."
