I’d seen these friends, so when we started talking they asked me what I was doing in New York.
“I’m studying,” I answered.
What a lie! I simply didn’t want to get into the details.
“Okay, forget about school,” one of them replied. “You have to stay here.” Her assertiveness surprised me, and right away she added, “See that guy standing over there?” She pointed to one of the actors. “He is leaving in a week and I don’t know what to do. Do you want to replace him?”
Without thinking twice, I said yes, and that is how I started out in the theater world.
REACHING FOR A STAR
MY FAMILY AND my friends in New York could not believe it when I told them I was moving to Mexico, but they were all very happy for me. They knew it would be good for me to go back to work. And just like that, out of nowhere, I had to go back to being extremely intense and focused on my work. I had just one week to prepare for my theatrical debut. Yes, in one week I learned the choreography, the lines, the blocking, everything. I was back to being the disciplined soldier of my Menudo days, but I enjoyed it so much because it brought back the euphoria I had not felt for a whole year. It was crazy to dive into doing something that was totally new for me, but the truth is that the experience with Menudo had taught me how to work at a fast pace and keep up with all the hard work. And as the saying goes, De los cobardes no se escrito nada (Nothing has been written about cowards), so I let go of any fears I might have had and plunged headfirst into this opportunity that life had thrown my way.
I adapted to life in Mexico very naturally, with no major difficulties. Not only did I already have friends and professional connections. I also had the good fortune of moving in at first with another old work colleague. His parents and sister took me in as one more member of the family, and thanks to that I never felt alone. I loved living with them, but after a few months, when I was a bit more settled, I felt it was time to become more independent and I rented my own apartment.
There’s a tradition in Mexican theater: Whenever a show reached its hundredth performance (or two hundredth, or three, or four, successively), some famous actor, director, or producer would come onstage and present the cast with a plaque to recognize the achievement.
When I began to work on Mamá Ama el Rock I wasn’t aware of this tradition, and I didn’t have a clue what a big deal it was. So when our time came to receive the award I just decided to focus on doing the best show possible. The rest of the actors, however, were extremely nervous, because they knew someone important was sitting in the audience that night. They all wanted to put on the best show in history, and when the curtain went up, the tension was palpable.
I, however, went on like normal, completely calm. I played my role as best I could, and I went home to bed. Had I known that a famous producer was watching us that night, I would have probably been just as nervous as everyone else. But since I had no idea, I was totally calm. The next day the producer called me and said he wanted to meet me personally. We spoke for a while and he ended up offering me a role on a famous soap opera called Alcanzar una estrella (Reaching for a Star). I accepted, and that’s how this new chapter of my life began: soap operas. The soap had great success, not only in Mexico but also all over the world, its achievement not unlike the hit shows High School Musical or Glee , which years later took off in the United States.
I ended up joining the cast in the second season, which was called Alcanzar una estrella II (Reaching for a Star II). The story was set around six young boys who were in a band called Muñecos de Papel (Paper Dolls). I had the role of Pablo Loredo, one of the members of the group. The soap was so successful that later a film was made, called Más que alcanzar una estrella (Beyond Reaching for a
“I’m studying,” I answered.
What a lie! I simply didn’t want to get into the details.
“Okay, forget about school,” one of them replied. “You have to stay here.” Her assertiveness surprised me, and right away she added, “See that guy standing over there?” She pointed to one of the actors. “He is leaving in a week and I don’t know what to do. Do you want to replace him?”
Without thinking twice, I said yes, and that is how I started out in the theater world.
REACHING FOR A STAR
MY FAMILY AND my friends in New York could not believe it when I told them I was moving to Mexico, but they were all very happy for me. They knew it would be good for me to go back to work. And just like that, out of nowhere, I had to go back to being extremely intense and focused on my work. I had just one week to prepare for my theatrical debut. Yes, in one week I learned the choreography, the lines, the blocking, everything. I was back to being the disciplined soldier of my Menudo days, but I enjoyed it so much because it brought back the euphoria I had not felt for a whole year. It was crazy to dive into doing something that was totally new for me, but the truth is that the experience with Menudo had taught me how to work at a fast pace and keep up with all the hard work. And as the saying goes, De los cobardes no se escrito nada (Nothing has been written about cowards), so I let go of any fears I might have had and plunged headfirst into this opportunity that life had thrown my way.
I adapted to life in Mexico very naturally, with no major difficulties. Not only did I already have friends and professional connections. I also had the good fortune of moving in at first with another old work colleague. His parents and sister took me in as one more member of the family, and thanks to that I never felt alone. I loved living with them, but after a few months, when I was a bit more settled, I felt it was time to become more independent and I rented my own apartment.
There’s a tradition in Mexican theater: Whenever a show reached its hundredth performance (or two hundredth, or three, or four, successively), some famous actor, director, or producer would come onstage and present the cast with a plaque to recognize the achievement.
When I began to work on Mamá Ama el Rock I wasn’t aware of this tradition, and I didn’t have a clue what a big deal it was. So when our time came to receive the award I just decided to focus on doing the best show possible. The rest of the actors, however, were extremely nervous, because they knew someone important was sitting in the audience that night. They all wanted to put on the best show in history, and when the curtain went up, the tension was palpable.
I, however, went on like normal, completely calm. I played my role as best I could, and I went home to bed. Had I known that a famous producer was watching us that night, I would have probably been just as nervous as everyone else. But since I had no idea, I was totally calm. The next day the producer called me and said he wanted to meet me personally. We spoke for a while and he ended up offering me a role on a famous soap opera called Alcanzar una estrella (Reaching for a Star). I accepted, and that’s how this new chapter of my life began: soap operas. The soap had great success, not only in Mexico but also all over the world, its achievement not unlike the hit shows High School Musical or Glee , which years later took off in the United States.
I ended up joining the cast in the second season, which was called Alcanzar una estrella II (Reaching for a Star II). The story was set around six young boys who were in a band called Muñecos de Papel (Paper Dolls). I had the role of Pablo Loredo, one of the members of the group. The soap was so successful that later a film was made, called Más que alcanzar una estrella (Beyond Reaching for a
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