My label is to play bad guys of Latin origin in American movies. I'm happy with that label. I prefer to play that than to play a city boy. The bad guy is always something very tempting for the audience.
In L.A., my house is surrounded by churches, and there are no cars, so it's really nice to just walk around before I go home to check my emails from Spain, which have been coming in all night.
I'm inspired by throwing out any darkness that is inside of me. For me, art cures.
When I'm playing as an actor, I don't want to interfere at all with the director. I'm just an actor. I'm totally respectful.
After waking up, I take my vitamins and eat fruit or, sometimes, bread with garlic, which is good for your health.
After directing movies, I respect any director in this world, because making a movie as a director is tons and tons of work.
I often go to lunch meetings with my agent, a gallerist or a casting director, but if not, I stay at home and prepare my own food because I love to cook. I'm great at pasta, fish and nice salads.
Since I am from Spain, once the morning has gone, I like to take a nap while falling asleep to black and white movies. It feels less lonely. There is a comfort in hearing their voices, like when you're a child and your mother tells you a story before bedtime.
There's a movie called 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age,' where I'm playing the King of Spain. It's a small role, but it's really, really interesting, the way I constructed it.
I see what's behind everything the director wants to do.
If you see 'The Shining' with Jack Nicholson, you remember him not only because he is Jack Nicholson and because he does a wonderful job, but because he is a threat. The bad guy is someone people will have in their minds forever if it's a good bad guy.
It's hard for the American industry to see a Latin actor playing something that is not a gardener or someone in a cartel. It's hard to find the material that tells a story of a Latin or European Spanish guy that is not a bad guy.
I think that's part of acting - to still get nervous and control that fear. I don't know how to get rid of that.
