TV Jots

What’s In Store for Raphael?

The second season of In Plain Sight, USA Network’s most recent runaway dramedy hit, begins this Sunday, April 19, at 10pm ET, with the premiere episode “Gilted Lily.”

To help the show’s many fans get ready for the latest adventures of U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack)), series star Cristián de la Fuente recently took the time to answer writers’ questions, all the way from his native country Chile. How’s that for dedication and graciousness?

Continue below to learn what’s on the horizon for de la Fuente’s character Raphael Ramirez during the new season, as well as a bit about the actor’s background. If you think Raphael is a great guy, just wait to you read how great the man who brings him to life is, too.

How did you come to get this part and why did you decide you were going to take it?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: I auditioned for it, and my agent sent me the script, and I read it and I loved it. But Raphael was first written as Devin and was supposed to be an American. And I called my agent and I said, “You know, I love this role. Can you call them and see if they could see me, because you know I think I can play this role?”

Besides, nowadays if you look at all the baseball players, probably 70 percent of them have Latino names. So, then it’s not a big stretch to go from Raphael Ramirez to Latino.

But I said, like, maybe let’s try to give it a shot. And then I got this job, and then they changed it from Devin to Raphael because it had to be more believable than me named Devin. I don’t think it would have worked.

What do you like most about your character?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: Raphael, I think, goes against all the stereotypes. It’s like he’s not the typical Latin lover. He’s not the typical Latino. As a joke always I think we’ve made history in television and film, because on the last episode of the first season, on the season finale, I think it’s the first time that you see a Latino character with a lot of kilograms of drugs and instead of starting dealing them, he threw them away.

I think that’s the first time that’s happened in TV, that Latinos are not portrayed as drug dealers, but people that you know they have good hearts and they want the best for their family and their loved ones. And I think that’s the beauty about Raphael. He’s really in love with Mary and he’s a nice guy, and I think he’s going to do always the right thing, and it’s great to play those kinds of roles nowadays.

Do you ever get to offer input on your character?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: We do a meeting before the season. We meet with all the writers, and there are a lot of things about myself that are in the character. And one of the things that I really appreciate and I’m very thankful for from the show and especially from David Maples, the creator, is that in many jobs that I’ve done, they always say, “Okay, you have to take care of your accent.” And I can work on it. I can go to an accent coach and speak more Mexican or speak less Mexican or speak normal or try to even do a neutral.

In this case, In Plain Sight, David was like, “No, you can embrace your accent.” And even though there are some episodes that other characters— Like, especially Brandi, played by Nichole Hiltz. She makes fun of my accent and she doesn’t understand some of the things that I’m trying to say. I was able to embrace that and to let it go and be more natural instead of trying to hide it. That’s something that I really appreciate from the show and from David especially.

What has been your favorite scene to film so far, either past or future that we haven’t seen yet?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: Well, from the first season, there was this scene in the last episode when I go to Mary’s house and I’m drunk. And I’m trying to convince her to have a better relationship with her sister, with Brandi. That scene I think especially was challenging because to play drunk is tough, and also it was very emotional.

And on this season, there was a very beautiful scene in one of the episodes towards the middle of the season where I proposed again, and where I explain to Mary why I want to marry her and why I feel the way I feel towards her. I think that was really nice, mostly like the scenes when the character is vulnerable. I think those are beautiful scenes that you can really open yourself and do a better job.

What’s the biggest difference between the first and the second season, either with the show on the whole or just in your character and your relationship with Mary?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: Well, with my character, he’s going to switch his career. He’s going to start working with something different. And in the relationship with Mary, we’ll get to a point that Mary’s going to have to decide if she wants to get married to Raphael or not. So, I think those are two big changes that is going to happen to Raphael in the relationship and to Mary also.

Where are you hoping to see Mary and Raphael’s relationship go? Are we going to see him kind of run out of patience with her indecision with things?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: Mary’s very hard to deal with — Mary the character. Because Mary McCormack, I love her.

I also love the other one in different ways. But Raph would like to marry her and have a family, but it’s tough. Mary is hard to get, and she’s a little bit afraid of commitment. In the ideal world, which doesn’t exist, not even in fiction, Raphael would like to marry her and have children and be happy. But he’s going to try to do everything in his power, and hopefully Mary’s going to try to do something, too.

Mary is very headstrong, confident, independent. Raphael really loves Mary, but do you think that marrying Mary would ultimately be good for Raphael?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: I don’t know what’s really going happen in the future because one of the things that David likes to do is keep the show like real life.

We kind of have an idea what’s going to happen tomorrow, but we really don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and the same thing happens in the show. We kind of have an idea what’s going to happen in the next episode, but we have no idea really what’s going to happen.

I think Raphael really wants to marry Mary, but in order for that to happen, Mary would have to change. And I don’t think she’s really willing to do it. Because many times in relationships — and that has happened to me myself in personal life — we fall in love with somebody, and there are things we don’t like about that person and hope that they’re going to change at sometime and it never happens.

That, at the end of the day, is the reason why you end up breaking up with them. So, I learned that the things that you don’t like about somebody, they have to really be so little that you’re willing to live the rest of your life with them.

That’s what needs to happen. At this moment, the things that really bother Raphael about Mary are not that big, and at the end of the day, he knows that she’s this beautiful, sensitive woman under that tough uniform and the tough job and the tough personality. So, if she allows [herself] to be loved, then I think they can be really happy.

How did you get started in acting?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: I got started 17 years ago in Chile, where I am right now. Thanks to the technology, I’m having this conference from Chile.

I’ve always wanted to be an actor, and my dad wanted me to be a civil engineer because actors don’t make money here in Chile. They don’t ride in limousines and live in big mansions. Actors here, we live in normal houses, and sometimes there are actors that have to ride the bus because they don’t have a car. You do this because you love it. It’s not, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to get to make $20 million a picture.” So my dad was really afraid of me being an actor.

But then I got to a point that I decided, “Why am I going to be an engineer if that’s not what I really love to do?” And that’s when I decided to go to a network and apply for a job doing a show, and I was part of the show. And then after that, they offered me the option of studying [acting] all the afternoons while I was working in the mornings, and I did that. And that was how it really started.

Did your father ever turn around and become proud of you? What does he think now?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: I think one of the biggest compliments that I had from my father was the day that he died. He was in his bed, he was sick, and they asked him, “Do you want me to turn the TV off?” And he said, “No, I want to watch Cristiàn and then I want to fall asleep.”

So, he watched my show, then he turned off the TV and he passed away. So, I think that, at the end of the day, was the biggest compliment that I can have from my father.

Do you have any new projects coming up?

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE: Not yet. My biggest project after the show is done is vacation with my wife and my daughter, try to spend some time with them, because, thank God, I’ve been working a lot.

And then start looking for the next one. Try to see if we can squeeze in a movie or two and keep our fingers crossed and hopefully have a third season of In Plain Sight. But that depends on the viewers. So, hopefully, they’ll watch the show, they will like it, and then we’ll have a third season.