Actor and dancer Cristián de la Fuente has made it through several elimination rounds on the wildly popular ABC's ballroom-dance competition series, "Dancing With the Stars," where de la Fuente is paired with professional ballroom dancer Cheryl Burke.
The show airs competitions on Monday and eliminations on Tuesday.
Cristián hails form a conservative Chilean family where education was top priority. He attended the Universidad Catolica in Santiago, where his major was civil engineering.
He subsequently became an officer and pilot in the Chilean Air Force Reserves.
The handsome de la Fuente also nabbed a great co-starring role on the anticipated upcoming USA Network series, “In Plain Sight” alongside Mary McCormack, debuting Sunday, June 1st at 10:00/9:00 p.m. CDT.
Cristián will play the role of Raphael Ramirez on the character-driven network.
Monsters and Critics was fortunate to have a chat with him the other day.
With regards to Dancing with the Stars. What is your most favorite dance to perform and what is your least favorite?
C. de la Fuente It’s really funny because I’m a Latino and I’m supposed to enjoy all the Latin dances and not like the ballroom, classic dances. But, last week, I did the foxtrot and for me, it was a lot of fun. It’s a dance that I have enjoyed the most and I think that was reflected, also, in the scores that I got from the judges. I was having a lot of fun.
I like them all, but probably the hardest one for me was the rumba because it was a very slow song. I think the problem was that the music that we had for the dance wasn’t appropriate, so I don’t think I didn’t like the dance; I didn’t like the song that we had to dance to.
Do you think we’ll ever see the tango on Dancing with the Stars? It’s such an intricate dance.
C. de la Fuente This week, we have the Viennese Waltz and we have the samba. I’m really working hard because if we survive this week, we survive the bloody Tuesday – that’s what we call it – or torture the Latino Tuesday, because you have casual Friday’s and torture the Latino Tuesday. People don’t know, but in dress rehearsals they always kick me out. I’ve been kicked out of the show three times already. Thank God not for real. If we survive this week, I’m pretty sure we would have the tango next week. I’m really looking forward to it because I was born in Santiago, Chile, but very close to Argentina. Tango, for me, is a beautiful dance about life and death. It’s a very passionate dance. I’m really looking forward to it.
You mentioned you’re Latino, yet there’s a big difference between the Latin population in California and the Southwest (New Mexico) where you filmed In Plain Sight, versus the East Coast, where you have lots of Cubans Puerto Ricans and lots of South Americans. It seems a little more cosmopolitan. Are you more comfortable in Miami or Los Angeles?
C. de la Fuente You’re completely right. A lot of people think that Latinos, we’re all the same and we all look alike or we all have the same background. What you’re saying, it’s true. We are all completely different. At the end of the day, even though we’re really different and Cubans can be louder and Argentineans could brag more and probably Mexicans, they’re happier in the way they see life, they like to sing and the food, everybody has different qualities which represent them.
At the end of the day we have one thing in common, that we’re Latino. Any place that there’s a Latino, I’m always going to be comfortable. We have a thing that even though we’re all different, at the end of the day we all support each other. We’re all immigrants in a country that is not our country, and we have that thing in common. That bond is always very strong.
Tell us about “In Plain Sight.”
C. de la Fuente The show is about Mary’s life, a beautiful role played by Mary McCormack. She’s an agent from the Witness Protection Service. The show tells the story of how she deals with her personal life, where nobody knows what she does for a living, and her professional life, where she has to protect a witness every episode. Pretty much, that’s what the show is about.
How do you relate to your character?
C. de la Fuente In my case, Raphael is pretty much like me. The only difference is I’m an actor; he’s a baseball player. The way we see life, the sense of humor that we have, how we approach relationships and how we approach life is very similar. Plus, Raphael and me, we’re both immigrants in this country and we both have an accent, so it’s really funny.
Cristian
What drew you to the role of Raphael?
C. de la Fuente You know, when I read the script and I saw the sense of humor, the way Raphael was written and his personality, it was really appealing to the way I see life. Also, I’m very proud to be a Latino in this country and to play positive role models on television. There are enough drug dealers and killers and thieves played by Latinos. It’s great being able to play a successful baseball player on a television show.
How different is this character from other characters that you’ve played? Is that a reason, also, that kind of drew you to it or is it along the lines of what you’ve played in the past?
C. de la Fuente Well, this character has something very special that is very different from other characters. I think here is where David Maples, who is the Writer and Executive Producer of the show, did a really great job and took a chance that I’m always going to be thankful for. Many times, in roles that I’ve played, the character is already written and then I have to play that character.
Here, this character, started with an idea that David had in mind and then he started writing the character with my personality. I didn’t have to hide my accent, I didn’t have to change my sense of humor, I didn’t have to change anything. The character has a lot to do with myself.
I was very happy that I didn’t have to fight my accent or the fact that English is not my first language. He was able to introduce that in the show, and be part of my character.
Sometimes I get misunderstood and Mary doesn’t understand me or I try to say something and it comes across the wrong way, which are things that happen to me in real life. I’m very happy that happens also to my character.
Do you enjoy your comedy tinged roles?
C. de la Fuente I’ve tried to always put a little comedy in drama. The good thing about Ugly Betty is it was 100% comedy. I had a lot of fun. I think I have a way of looking at life that is with a sense of humor. Even the worst things in life, always when you look at them, after weeks or months, there is some humor in them. It was always good to do comedy.
from Ugly Betty
That’s why I really like, also, In Plain Sight because even though it’s a drama, it has a lot of humor in it.
Which do you prefer best, reality TV, drama or film?
C. de la Fuente Everything that I’ve done is different and everything has its own magic. When you do TV, like In Plain Sight, you have one week to eight days to do 45-minutes of television. You really have to work hard to be able to do it and to come up with the best possible product.
When you do a movie, you have three months to do an hour-and-a-half, so you have more time and the final product sometimes is better quality. Not always, but you have more time to get the scene done and to do a good job.
In reality, it’s just crazy, the adrenaline that you have being on live television because there is no time for mistakes. Also, when you get judged by the judges and you get critiqued or get your scores, it’s not a character that’s been attacked; it’s yourself. You’re more vulnerable.
Everything that I’ve done has its own magic. I’m very happy to have been able to do all of them. Even sitcoms, when you do it live in front of an audience. I’m always looking for challenges and I’m always looking to learn more and be able to do as many things as you can.
By the end of the day, the more things that I can do is the more experience and more tools that I have for the future to do a better job.
I hope that there’s always a place for both. I’m an actor and I’ve been an actor for 15 years, so that’s my passion. The fact that I got into Dancing with the Stars, it was not really because it’s a reality show, it’s more because it was a challenge that I could have in my life. I’m not a dancer and I wanted to prove to myself how good I could be at something I was really bad at. I’m still working on that.
Can you give us insight into Raphael and Mary’s connection on “In Plain Sight”?
C. de la Fuente The characters of Mary and Raphael are, as you say, completely opposite. Not only in their jobs, Witness Protection Service and baseball player, but the backgrounds, the ethnicities, the language, the way they approach relationships, everything is completely different.
They have this on-and-off relationship where Raphael wants to get really serious. As a good Latino, he wants to have his girlfriend or his wife; he wants a name to the relationship. Mary tries to avoid it because she can’t commit; because of the nature of her job, she can’t really commit to a relationship. Even though we’re completely opposite and completely different, that would prove the rule that opposites attract.
How do you handle being labeled one of the 50 Most Beautiful People, let alone multiple times. Did that affect your life in any way?
C. de la Fuente I’m very lucky that there’s not a lot of Latinos in the States, and I was number 51. Number 50 has been sick many times, so I’m always the replacement. I’m always stunned by the People Magazine issue. I’m very lucky. I’m probably going to start buying lottery tickets because every year I get on People’s 50 Most Beautiful it’s a lucky one.
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