I arrived in Los Angeles on the Monday, had a call from my agent to say they wanted to see me for 'Dallas,' made an audition tape at my friend's house in L.A. the same day, and had the job the following Monday.
Juan Pablo Di Pace
The stage is that immediate rush of energy you get from the audience. Also, doing something in chronology - something that starts and finishes the same night. In television, you work toward the one scene, you shoot it, and then you have to forget about it because you have to worry about the next scene.
I wanted Jesus in 'A.D.' to be very, very, very human - to have those qualities of vulnerability and doubt and pain and sadness and loneliness. Once the resurrection happens and we see that Jesus has risen, it's almost complete, right? It's all about the joy and the smile and the happiness and the closeness to the disciples.
Religious or biblical can sometimes be a little soft, but 'A.D.' doesn't shy away from the violence of the time, the political intrigue. The story is really about the resurrection of faith, which is how the disciples went about keeping the word of Christ. So, they found all kinds of trouble and problems and torture and persecution.
I never lost my dreams in my 20s, and I know that sounds corny, but it's incredibly important to never let go of what you really want in your life.
Every time I stepped onto the stage as Jesus, it felt like someone was pouring some honey into my body. It was amazing, an amazing feeling. And then when I had to let go of it, it was hard.
Sometimes I feel that in religious content, religious drama, it's almost told like a tale, like an account of facts, and in 'A.D. The Bible Continues,' it's drama, it's real drama that we like to see on TV today, seeing the characters struggle and doubt and be completely in conflict with each other, kind of like 'House of Cards.'
After 2012, there's been a shift in humanity, society and economics. We're witnessing a transition: everything is changing really fast - with that comes a wanting to see and believe, and faith and spirituality come into play. I think the world is now more spiritual than it ever was because people are searching for answers.
I think everything's fair in art and how you perceive a character.
For 'A.D.,' when I got the script, I was really moved, because even though it told a story that I knew all my life, it was told in a different way. It was told from a very personal point of view.
I got the call to play Tony Manero in 'Saturday Night Fever' in Madrid, a role I'd always wanted, as it's such a well-constructed show, and my background is in musical theatre. I'd been travelling back and forth between London and Spain for auditions and had been borrowing money from friends to do it.
The beginning of my acting career was in London, England.
'Mamma Mia' and 'Dallas' have proved to me that the things you dream about can happen. I don't ask myself, 'How did I get here?' but instead, 'I deserve to be here. I was right to think this would happen.' I'm a firm believer in the power we have in our minds to want something and pursue it in a sane and focused way.
It makes me really proud to be an Argentinean, to have the pope be Argentinian. Pope Francis has been incredible. My mother used to know him when he was in Argentina.
There's a lot of actors that I admire because they can just switch one second into the character. Then, they go back to jokes, and then they're doing something really dramatic. I can't do that. I have to really focus.
I spent ten years in London; I trained there. But because I started in English, it kind of feels the most natural to me, to act in English, which is a strange thing. My language is Spanish; I grew up in Argentina. I speak to my family in Spanish, but if you were to ask me what language I connect with, it'd be English in some weird way.
I have five, six, seven things I do before those lines are in my brain. I say them like I'm a robot; I sing them. I put a pencil in my mouth, and I say them. I cook. I play with a cushion and say them - so they really are inside of me.
I struggled in London for a very long time. 'Be prepared to struggle a lot' - it's a European mentality. The American mentality is positive and 'You can do it' and 'Everything's possible.' In Europe it's an older, more realistic way of thinking. You feel like you're having to prove that you can do it.
Everyone thinks they know Jesus because they've got a personal relationship with him.
I'm like the black sheep of my family.
I remember watching Robert Powell many years ago. He did 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and I remember thinking that was probably my favorite. Once I got the role, I didn't want to watch anything, because it only influences what you do.
You realize that as much as you want to socialize with the people on the set, or you want to, after a day shooting, joke around or whatever. Somehow, with playing Jesus, this doesn't happen. You actually need to decompress and be on your own and prepare on your own. It never happened to me before.
