Actor discusses challenges and aspirations

I went into this soap opera 100% ready to fail.

And if it were a failure, my character, right?

I'm not talking about the soap opera. If it were, if I couldn't deliver something people liked, I'd use that as fuel to learn and come back even stronger next time, you know?

I get it. So, so that's it. In my head, it was like, "Man, if if it succeeds or not, it's the, it's the path that God made for me and that's what I— and that's where I want to be, you know?"

Not just some famous person's kid. Yeah, I've, I've seen a lot of people join soap operas and and not manage to deliver, you know, a-a-a-a performance that the audience liked or anything.

Because sometimes even good performances aren't liked by the audience, right?

It's kind of dif—yeah, art is kind of difficult, it's all opinion.

So, like, that's it. I-I-I, I, I didn't know, I had no idea what— what my reception would be like.

Yeah, and I try not to think about it. I never think about it.

I just go, "Man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do my best, I'm gonna do everything I can, the way I think," you know?

But the opinion I really listen to most is my parents', you know.

Mm-hmm. Like, every scene that comes out, I send it right away in a DM to my dad and mom.

Y-yeah, honestly, that's the opinion I listen to most, like, I, I really do.

Of course, right? Two people with thirty years of careers, thirty years of success.

I don't think there's anyone better for me to listen to than the two of them.

That's how it is, right? A mom's a mom, man, there's just no getting around it.

I remember, man, I remember, like, years ago, when I did my first audition, yeah, I sent it to her.

And, like, man, it was a horrible test. These days, I look back and think, "Man, my God, man, that was so bad, so bad."

And she’d already say, "Man, you’re a genius.

I’ve never seen anyone like you in my life."

And she’s still like that to this day, man.

Yeah, s-she’s never pointed out a single flaw.

She’s always like, "Man, wow, you’re so good.

Man, you’re my inspiration." Giovanna Antonelli saying that to me.

Like, okay, okay, Mom. Thanks. But my dad, no, my dad is brutally honest.

I’ve said this before. Then he said, "Oh, okay, then I’ll stop pointing out the things that are, that are wrong."

I said, "No, man, for God’s sake. If I relied on my mom, that’d be it, man, I’d already be DiCaprio. I wouldn’t need to change a thing."

Yeah, but that’s it, man. My dad is a little more critical, let’s say.

But it's always constructive criticism, obviously.

Because online, man, people want to criticize you.

And, like, most people who criticize you don't even want to, don't want you to grow.

They just want to talk trash. Without any basis, either. That's their opinion, right?

Yeah, but my dad, man, of course he wants what's best for me and he's sharing his perspective from thirty years in the profession.

So it's something very, v-very, very enriching for me.

Man, for me to have w— to have won, won, I don't know how you say that word.

Yeah, to get such an interesting role, in my very first soap opera, in a prime-time soap opera, a soap opera that's a hit.

Man, I-I-I didn't expect this, this soap opera to be this way for me, you know?

I was really prepared for it to fail. I was really prepared to fail, like that.

Because that's how it is, man. Yeah, I don't know. I-I-I didn't, I didn't have that.

Nowadays, I have a confidence I didn't have before.

Now I've seen that, man, okay, I can do it, I can do it, I'm capable, you know?

When I started, I f— I thought I was capable, I went all in, put myself out there, you know?

And it w— I mean, I think it worked out, I don't know, right?

The comparisons always happen, but I don't care.

Yeah, that's how it is, yeah, people, I don't know where people got the idea that, like, if you're the child of I-don't-know who, you'll become something.

Like, man, you can be the child of whoever you want, or you can be bad or you can be good, like, that doesn't exist.

Especially in art, man. I, I think art, yeah, it doesn't, it-it has nothing to do with your DNA.

It has nothing to do with that, man. I think art is about the experiences you've had in your life.

And what I put into my art, what I'm putting into Felipe, is the experiences I've had in my life.

You know? The things I'm feeling right now.

So I'll never be like my parents. Neither better nor worse, because I'm—I'm doing my own thing, the thing that's inside me.

And what's inside me isn't inside any—anyone else anymore.

And what's inside them, their baggage, likewise, isn't inside anyone else anymore.

Man, my biggest dream is to keep working in this field for the rest of my life, to keep being able to act and, and be recognized for good work.

So, that's my— that's my biggest dream, wherever I may be.

I'd love to do that. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I've never, I've never acted with them like that, you know?

So I don't know what it would be like. It must be strange to act with someone you're so close to, but not in a professional way, right?

Someone you're intimate with. Yeah, but I-I'd really love to, really, really, really.

I hope that, God willing, we will, we will, have some project together down the road.