Before she was Flaca, the Smiths-loving inmate on “Orange Is the New Black,” Jackie Cruz was fired from a New York City hot spot.
“I was a waitress, of course,” Cruz told Page Six while promoting Uberliss at the Paramount Hotel on Thursday. “They kind of fired me. It was at Lavo.”
But Cruz, 27, said the restaurant-nightclub giving her the pink slip actually worked out for the best.
“I feel like it happened for a reason. I was working on ‘Orange’ and I worked 48 hours straight,” she explained. “I didn’t call in for my on-call shift and they were like, ‘You know, I just feel like you’re more focused on your career.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah! Of course.’ So I just let it go. I kept getting more play on ‘Orange,’ so I [was] like, ‘That’s fine, I’ll just survive.’ ”
A rep for Lavo commented, “We do not discuss the status of our current or former employees and staff.”
While the New York-born actress says she’s gaining recognition — “everybody’s like, ‘Flaca! Hey Flaca!’ on the street,” she said — she aspires to do something often associated with struggling acts: perform in the subway.
“I’m dying to sing in the subway. With a box!” she said. “Maybe this summer. I don’t know, I’m so scared because these are real people.”
Where will one of Netflix’s biggest stars grab the mic and belt it out for commuters?
“Somewhere uptown. I’m Dominican, so I want my people to hear me, so I’d go uptown. Near the 1 Train … Washington Heights, yeah!”
