Ever imagine what life would be like to live on Wisteria Lane, the backdrop of ABC's "Desperate Housewives?"

Ever imagine what it would be like if the entire cast was Latina?

Emmy-nominated, New York-born, L.A. based filmmaker Andrea Meller, whose parents emigrated from Santiago, Chile, did just that; and, she used her artistic license to capture the true, behind-the-scenes story of the Latina voice-over actresses who dub "Desperate Housewives" in Spanish.

Inspired by a 2005 New York Times article based on the Latina voice-over actresses, Meller discovered so much more to the story that really hit home for the filmmaker. Compelled to take the story to the big screen, Meller directed and produced "Now en Español," which offers "an inside look at the challenges faced by many Latino actors while offering a warm and engaging portrait of five gutsy women as they follow their dreams (in Hollywood) against all odds."

Through the course of several years, Meller captured the lives of these dedicated and passionate women, including: Marcela Bordes, Marabina Jaimes, Natasha Perez, Ivette Gonzalez and Gabriela Lopetegui.

"It became so much more, it became such a personal story about these women's lives, which to me, ended up working well because it's humanizing them, giving people a face and giving audience members a way to identify them whether they are Latina, whether they are women, whether they are actresses...making them people..." Meller told Latin Post in an exclusive interview.

She added that of all of the ABC shows, including "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost," she chose "Desperate Housewives" because "it represented the American dream, about having a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence. It was also about women over 40."

With one actress born in the U.S. and the rest from Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela, she said: "I lucked out with such a diverse cast."

Ironically, not only do the Latina actresses sound like a Spanish version of "Desperate Housewives," but they resemble them personally and physically--they weren't purposely cast that way, that just happened to be the case.

As a fair-skinned Latina, Meller pointed out: "You would never know this by talking to me, but I am white and you would never know that I was Latina," she explained. "So I have always kind of grappled with Latina identity and what it means to be Latina."

Upon reading the aforementioned NY Times article based on the Latina actresses, Miller was taken aback by the common themes that they experienced, from "You are too dark to be a Latina" to "You are too light to be a Latina and you have an accent and you don't have enough of an accent."

"I was just like 'Oh, my God, these women are being told what it means to be a Latina on a daily basis,'" she said. So then instead of taking a negative spin on the subject, she said, "What a kind of a fun way to use pop culture to identify Latina identity."

While there is more Latin American film and media today, there is still that idea of Hollywood where movies are made and dreams still ultimately lie, Meller added. 

"They all had successful careers in their countries that is what probably enabled them to think that 'oh, I am going to make it in Hollywood because I am doing well in my own country."

Having co-produced a film based on a re-incarceration where the three main characters happened to be Latino men, Meller reassessed her take on Latino representation in film and in the media and wanted to shed light through a positive story.  She commended the importance of the film, but pointed out that "it was just another story of Latinos in the inner city, involving violence and poverty. It's always these kind of pretty depressing stories that we tell."

"This is the chance to broaden the story and not only increase the representation of Latinos on the big screen in the documentary, but to broaden the idea of what it means to be Latino," she added.

Meller was especially proud that ABC had decided to broadcast all of its primetime shows in Spanish -- five shows through dubbing and the rest in subtitles.

"This was a major decision for a major broadcast network to realize that there is this giant Spanish-speaking market out there," she said. 

"To me, it was fantastic and incredible and such a symbol of the shift in demographics in the U.S., but it was up to a point. Ya know? They were offering more things in Spanish, but not necessarily putting more Latinos on-screen."

Yet Miller was thrilled to be able to explore themes of personal and national identity as well as the increasing diversity in Hollywood.

"To me, it became a story about women who are balancing their careers with their families and a story about artists who are really trying to live out their dreams. I really identified with the women as I was filming them."

Most recently, Meller co-directed the Emmy-nominated "Hard Road Home" (Independent Lens/PBS) and directed "156 Rivington" (Sundance Channel).

Her films have screened at SXSW, SilverDocs, and the New York International Latino Film Festival, among others. Her shorter work has screened at the Netherlands Architecture Biennale, the Museum of the City of New York, Storefront for Art and Architecture, and she has worked for National Geographic, MTV, TLC, Food Network, WE and Style.

Meller is a fellow of the Film Independent Documentary Lab and the PBS/CPB and NALIP Latino Producers Academies.

Check out the official trailer for "Now en Español," which premieres on Friday, April 24, 2015, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) as part of VOCES, Latino Public Broadcasting's arts and culture series on PBS, presented by PBS SoCaL.