Wilmer Valderrama

We know him from That 70’s Show, NCIS, Encanto and so much more. But there’s so much we don’t know. It’s not often someone can get Bethenny to lose control of her emotions…but Wilmer does. Find out why she did and what happened!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Wilmer Valdorama is an actor, producer, TV personality, best known
for his role as Fez on that seventies show from
moving to the US not knowing a single word of
English to now becoming a successful businessman. We dive deep
into this interview with Wilmer. This is just be with
Wilmer Valdorama. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm excellent, I'm always good.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
How are you good?

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Are you in?

Speaker 3 (00:38):
La I am in? La I am in la I
am Thankfully I wrapped the show for the season, so
I have a little downtime and then we have like
allwering writer's try coming up, so that might be a
longer extended victship for a while.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
But I remember the last one, and I remember my
opinion being that reality television show and its explosion being
like result of that a reaction to that.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, it was crazy, it was done.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
It was an alternative programming of all different sorts. And
then animation started coming.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Oh yes, I'm like entertaining a reverend animation and you
are your you do voices for animation. You did encanto right,
which I did. I don't know do most people know
that or do you get like a more sort of
incognitle life when you do those projects.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
That's a great question. It's a great question.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
I think I tend to get in front of them
as if they were like a primetime show or like
a blockbuster release, and I try to promote as hard
as it possibly can. So I think most people know
that animation is something I love very much, and I
you know, and I just find I find it very refreshing.
It's a really fine medium to tell stories. And since

(01:53):
I was a little boy, I've always thought it'd be
I'd be so cool to be an animated character, you know.
So yeah, So when I my first thing was I
partner up with Walt Disney to do this little preschooler
show on Saturday Mornings called Handy Manning Okay, And I
played Handy play Manny And it was a little handy

(02:13):
man with a team of talking tools and we just
went around Shee rock Hills, Riggs in anything that was
broken and along the way you appreciate culture. It was bilingual.
It was like the first of its kind, and it
did incredibly well. So and I just got hooked. I
got hooked at that, you know, coming to a sound
booth and like playing with the lines over and over

(02:33):
again and like being able to just do it right there,
like me, do it one more time, I'll do it
like this. I'm doing it like that, which was just
a very thing.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
So it's more free than regular acting.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, because regular acting, you're crafting a visual interpretation of
something that was put on a script as a narrative
blueprint for or an audience to enjoy a certain genre,
a certain adventure, a certain you know journey, and even
on television, you know, you you have a certain time

(03:06):
and strain on like how you're going to tell this,
and every actor has a different contribution very amount second
boys over. But when you're performing live action, I mean
there's is just like a million more elements to the
art form that has to be engaged as a perfect storm.
When you're doing animation, you can be as imperfect as
you want to be, Like you can blove the line

(03:27):
eleven times. You can't enacting right. Enacting you got to
get it into takes right.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
But and uh, all the expense, like all the different
expense that think the time is more critical and versus
just like being in a booth, it's like more Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Think so, I think so I think it's a little
bit more.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
It's a little bit more liberating in the sense that
when you're doing you know, a feature, you're doing television,
you have that location for a certain amount of time.
They have computed that somehow this scene would take a
you know, about two and they move to the next,
the next one, so you can get everything in within
the ten hour or twelve hour block, and so that

(04:07):
so that becomes that. But for like example, when I
did you know, when I did in canto, as an example,
I would do the same line probably twenty five times,
with all kinds of different colors and momentums and volumes
and all that too, because sometimes you're not in the
same booth. Most of the times, you're not in the

(04:28):
same booth with the rest of the actors, so you're
kind of playing with yourself.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Oh interesting, I never have even thought about it, and
I was wondering, is it much more? What's the so
you get a movie, a normal movie or a normal
TV show versus an animated TV show, what's the time
commitment for you? What's the difference in the time commitment.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
And it's magical when you do a voiceover, because when
you do a voiceover. You know, you commit to a
three hour session, a four hour session. Sometimes you can
do a six hour if you're like really busy, like
I sometimes I have to get in a lot of
and the hours that I got in, and then you
can do multiple episodes in one recording.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Oh you can bang it out, okay.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
In television it takes eight days to shoot one episode,
and it takes a full day to maybe shoot three scenes.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Okay. So if you did a movie and you got
paid five dollars for a movie, as you're in it,
it's you and you're an actor versus animation, you're the
star of both. How much if you got five dollars
on a regular movie, what would you get on an
animated movie? Like, how much difference is it in pay?

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Probably about two dollars?

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Oh interesting, Okay, at any level, even if your tom
cruise around for the most Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Okay for the most.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, an animation too, Like I mean it's a really
good I mean you even go down to like the
toy story of it, all right, I mean in the
in the second and third movie, maybe everybody gets a
bump and then maybe there is some box office performance
budget that goes into making it animation is like every
dollar counts, right.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Okay, interesting, I've never heard that or known that, so
obviously I know who you are, and I talk for
some reason, I've talked to a lot of people who
have like one thing that stands out is the biggest
thing in their career that they're kind of always caring
whether they like it, they don't. They go back to it,
like whether it's Tory Spelling or you know, I just

(06:19):
talked to David Arquette, who like screams his and his
id indelibly, and Tory Spelling who's now leaning back into it,
or me with the housewives, like having a podcast called Rewives.
So what do you think of that? I know, without
even asking you that that certainly hasn't been your most
lucrative opportunity, but it's the thing you're the most famous for,
right because you probably were making no money when you started,

(06:41):
and everyone thought you guys are millionaires and you were
just famous but not rich because I know what TV
paid back then, and you were kids.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Right, Yeah, I mean, so I guess we can reference
back to.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
I would say the seventies show was obviously the big
one for many reasons because it was. It was like
the perfect blend of of innovation, you know, genre, you know,
bending and like we were breaking the mall of sitcom.
So it was going to work or it was going

(07:11):
to be a catastrophe. And also we were such an
interesting experiment because back then at prime time, you were
against Friends sign felt you know, spencing with me, you
know eventually Will and Grace. So we were like this,
you know, this young up and coming cast that was
somehow the found of voice within the eighteen to forty

(07:33):
nine demographic. We weren't getting the household numbers like Friends,
but we were absolutely dominating the eighteen and forty nine
as you know, and most people would would you know,
the eighteen forty nine is the like the holy grail
for works, right, because that's the advertising that se you know,
corporates are going after that audience. So if you can,

(07:55):
if you can, if you have the attention of that
demo and you're one, two or three in this sale
of like the people that actually you know, invite as
many other people in the demo, then you have an
opportunity to grow and that show becomes very profitable and
therefore you could have an opportunity to ringegotiate and get
a little bit more for your money.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
And I think so for the viewers, for the listeners.
People often in the press talk about the household overall
number because it sounds big. On The Housewives used to be, oh,
three million. Nobody cares about the household numbers really at
the network, they're like, oh, but in the demo, and
they even take it even tighter, like it's eighteen to
forty nine and then twenty five to forty five. And
you're getting women, so there could be some edgy audience

(08:35):
where you've got it, but they're not really purchasers. So
they want the purchasers of the household. And he's talking
about and even going deeper, Wilmer was on a show
that had the younger audience, So they're going to keep
them in the store to watch the other stuff that
they're selling them. So you want the young audience because
you're going to keep that audience for their whole lives
and also sell them other shit on the network.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Sorry, that's right, No, that's right.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
I mean, thank you for clarifying that.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
For the listeners, I mean, and furthermore, to just kind
of complement, would you've started with that then it becomes,
you know, a networks mandate to fulfill certain demos so
they can offer a different portfolio to all their advertisers, who,
by the way, not only funding the network and funding
the company, but also funding the content.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
You know.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
So in many ways, it's like this interesting ecosystem that
has to work together.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now it all got incredibly.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
You know, complicated as soon as different economy skills that
are introducing. I mean, we were talking about the right
strike and we were talking about you know how alternative
programming you know, SORE or as as entertainment that was
learning the same demos that were just as profit but
they you know, the budgets were not as ambitious when

(09:50):
it came to making this alternative programming. I'm talking about
either docu fillows, reality shows, you know, documentaries and all that.
So they were getting more for their buck because they
were investing less in the content. And as it started growing,
you know, we you know, it became a blend of
like how much can you offer to whatever reviewer you get?
And then the arrival of streaming right, which absolutely offered

(10:14):
everything else right because now streaming was spending as much
as they possibly could to just acquire a subscriber. It
had nothing to do with advertised there was no song.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's a strange thing to like realize there's no ratings,
but there are downloads, and it's a strange construct for
thinking about the way they do their numbers. And do
you feel what has been.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Well?

Speaker 1 (10:36):
There's a couple of questions I have for you. So,
first of all, your experience with streaming versus network television.
Are you equally satisfied? Is it equally as exciting or
it's not because it's like a bigger ocean.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, no, it's it's I'm so glad you asked that,
because I wear two hats, right as an entrepreneur and
a producer, and then as a performer and just an actor,
you know, and in many ways, and as a producer
and for my company. Is it's an incredible opportunity to
say I can create an idea and I can have enough.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Gates that I.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Can knock on to uh to walk in and hopefully
find a home for the project. As an actor and
as an actor, accounts tricky because there is tons of
stuff being made, but not technically like what you would
probably need or want to do to to pay to
be the stepping stone to your next job, right, Like

(11:36):
you can't just like sign on to any TV shows
even though there's like two hundred TV shows casting you
kind of you know. So it's like it becomes this
conversation of you know, uh, you know those critically acclaim
or high concept or you know, great writer, great direct
to shows become you know, like a the pic of
the literal type of situation. You know.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
So it's so it's like give and take with that.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
But I will say, uh, all in all, there is
a new generation of performers, actors, writers and directors that
are finding their voice and all these mediums. So I
think in a different way, it's just evolution and it's
part of innovation, you know.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
I remember the introduction of cable.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
When you think about network and when cable got introduced,
First of all, cable was the place that most network
actors wouldn't even go, right because they're like, yeah, they
don't have the same budgets, they.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Don't have the right you know, caliber content. And then and.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Movie actors go into TV was a big thing now
you see.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
And exactly, yeah, yeah, the network actors wouldn't go to cable.
And then cable started producing some innovative stuff because they
had nothing to lose, and therefore cable became a big
thread for the network business because now advertisers were like, whoa,
it's interesting. They're a critically a claim down here, you know.
So it's like the evolution of the changes and now

(12:54):
they both got a hit on them because yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
And people used to not want to go to the
valley from Beverly Hills, but low and hold that happens.
It's evolution. So because remember eight one A was not
used to be like, you're not gonna.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Be a final We're living in the A one A,
you know, yeah, years a lot of land over there.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
You want it to be A two one three?

Speaker 4 (13:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Okay, So I have a couple of questions because I
just I just asked my assistant for pen because you
made me think of so many different things. So hold
on being attached to because now I have a Now
it's such an interesting conversation because I now and I
wasn't even intending to talk to you about this, but
this is something I haven't talked about, and I think
it's interesting in this industry is that it's about like

(13:49):
so now there's more, there's more, distribution, and it's like
choosing whether you want to be do you want to
be distributed in Walmart? Do you want you know, do
you want to be distributed in Walmart and do volume
and get some more people, or you want to be
distributed Hulu and be more niche or you know, Showtime
or HBO Max and you know, there's all that discussion.
But I'm finding that I don't even think the average

(14:09):
consumer is really even understanding what we say when we
mean distribution. So in in brands, like what's happened in
the pandemic, is that with brands, any brand, T shirts, soda,
whatever you're doing, there's a direct to consumer model. Now
that's why so much retail has changed. So people are
just going direct and selling their sneakers directly to the
consumer online. There's no middle person. So now we're getting

(14:32):
closer to that with entertainment, and now we're talking about
places where I used to live, like Bravo. And with Bravo,
let's say that I'm on a Bravo show. Let's say
I'm on a Bravo show. Coca Cola wants to work
with me, or some luggage company wants to work for
They have to call Coke. They have to call Bravo,
ask Bravo, pay Bravo to ask if I'll hold something,
and then and that happens. We want to launch a

(14:53):
show six months from Sunday. I got to do a
traditional week of media, go through the Dog and Pony Show.
It's slow, it's not, but it is now. I can
right now go on YouTube today or Instagram. I can
entertain in any way I want. I could sell anything
I want. I could talk about anything I want. I
could be funny and wacky and do my own three
minute show and I don't need a middle person. So

(15:13):
that's why like places like that are becoming more interesting
because kids aren't watching a forty five minute show on
cable or even streamers. They're watching their phones. So I'm
really fascinated and interested in the direct to consumer model
because I want. I used to say to Andy Coche,
get the cameras because I have things something, you know.
So I have the camera right here, it's my phone.
I could shoot it right now, put it up. There's

(15:34):
my television show. And I love that. I finally equated
it to products, and I really get it now. This
is the direct to consumer model boom right right, throw
it up.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
And honestly, when you then you start talking about storefronts, right,
which is metaphorically is the same that we're experiencing and
content right fronts AKAA, Netflix, Amazon, you know, Disney Plugs, Hulu,
you know all of these streaming platforms that are out
there competing and for the same consumer. Yes, I mean
they don't find what their market product is, what is

(16:08):
their hero product?

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Bring them in bagship store.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Right like you're an HBO like you go Game of Thrones,
be able to watch Game of Thrones.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yes, they get you in to it.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
And back in the day when Netflix got had House
of Cars, you're like, whoa, I'll watch House of Cars
right like it was the beginning and that.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Was the window display. That was the window display. So
then you look down that scroll to that line to
the right and if you watch this, you also watch it.
It's amazing. Yeah, so we're.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
Saying by the dress, you also need the shoes, right like.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
It's so I think to your point, which which is
a very very interesting bringing up this way, the direct
to consumers become so much more, so much more in
demand that that all these companies have had to create
a corporate merger to basically corporate the same audience because

(17:00):
unfortunately they're you know, if you're asking our fans and
our supporters and the audiences to tune in to multiple
tabs to find their shows in the world when they
can just like you said, they can go to Instagram
and watch five tens, you know, twenty channels aka individuals
putting out content and then have their fix of entertainment

(17:21):
and go back to their day. Now we have to
now as entertainers, now we have to compete with that
medium that doesn't Like, as an actor, I'm not necessarily
great at making social media content, right Like, I'm not
out here like performing on Instagram, right.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Like, because when you feel like you're missing out because
you used to be on either two channel two, four, seven,
five and then later nine eleven, thirteen, but like there
were three channels, so you were doing that one thing,
competing with that one group, and you understood the beast.
Now you're over here and you start to do really
well on Instagram, but you don't know how to do TikTok,
and then you're over and then then you've missing out

(17:58):
because you're over on YouTube. You've got to be on Netflix,
like it's all different. But that's all these different pockets
of audiences. And you could be organizing buttons and be
famous on TikTok and nobody knows who you are on Instagram. Literally,
it's crazy that.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
So it kind of leads me into my next mental topic,
which I've had this many conversations now and now everyone's
like audiences. We got to get to the audiences, and
it was all about demos. Now it's about communities. Now
it's about theater into communities.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
You're going more micro because I'm saying it's fine your medium.
Like let's say, mister Beast is making fifty million a
year on YouTube, so like he found his medium and
he's okay to be just there. So you're talking about
even more micro than your medium. Now you're on YouTube,
but who are you on? What lane?

Speaker 4 (18:44):
That grow?

Speaker 3 (18:44):
So to your point that micro is in your mainstream.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Exactly, and that's TikTok. There are worlds on TikTok. I
walked into the beauty room and landed in there, and
it has been extraordinary for me because I just happened
to walk into the right room I could. I walked
into the mac and cheese room, I walked into the
beauty room.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Right right, and and the point is you understood your
strength in those categories, and therefore you could really really
effortlessly perform, create, develop, and explore.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
You know what that destination.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Has for you As a production company, uh CEO and founder.
I have multiple pillars in my company and multiple departments
that work as its own individual companies for the same
division of saying, you know, we don't longer need to
fit most like we know to. You need to just

(19:38):
cater to the stories and the people that share the
same interest as we do. Because that's because, like you said,
you know, life is too short. Like wow, pitching the
same show to thirty different networks that you got to say,
I made this for Netflix, I made this for CBO.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
No.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, And if you try to please that, it's the
same thing as marketing products. If you try to please everybody,
you end up pleasing nobody, which you can when you're
in one lane is dip into something else to see
if they're going to take that. Now you've got two
things they're interested in. So for me, it was beauty,
and then I realized, unexpected, they're interested in luggage. Reviewing
luggage like random.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
So, but it leads into it leads into lifestyle, right, yes,
List said, so for me, it's been about I love drama,
I love comedy, right, it started out that way.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
I just I love comedy.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
I did it for almost ten years, and then I
switched to drama and now I've done there for almost
thirteen years and so so successfully been able to enjoy both.
And I think my success is the fact that my
success comes from the fact that I've been able to
enjoy both. Because if you show up to work, you're

(20:44):
going to keep the light on, right, But the most
important thing is if you continue to enjoy that opportunity
in that road, then you're going to most likely continue
to travel it and you'll find work and you'll find.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Opportunity right right. So it's kind of like that's the circuit.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
So these are your anchors. NCIS has been an anchor,
and that seventies show brand has been an anchor. Which
what has been your most economically successful venture as an entity,
like the seventies show experience or the NCIS or your
production company. What has been the best business venture?

Speaker 3 (21:18):
It's interesting, I mean, now that I'm thinking about it,
I would say both that seventies Show and NCIS have
been both incredibly fruitful for me. I think that going back,
and I took a long break from television after I
finished seventy Show, and I was only able to do

(21:39):
that because you know, back then, the fees for television
and the money and budgets for television were a lot.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Greater than they are now.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Okay, you know they've cut you know, they're like, can
you do it for this much interestings have to take
pay cards and start again. Some of their quotes are
not being honored, right, So I have to kind of
start myself from scratch on both shows and able to
put myself to this place. So I would say that
network TV is still iconically the place where could be

(22:09):
the most lucrative when it.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Comes to your business, because I hit it right both times.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, I was very fortunate.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
And then in between I had some great runs, right, Like,
I did a lot of different stuff and showed up
in different places, and you know, I did a Minority
Report for one season on Fox, and then I did
Awake on NBC for another season, and uh, and then
I did From Dustill Down with Robert Rodriguez and that
was like a great series for three years, and that
was also an interesting medium where Robert directed and all that.

(22:39):
So I was able to really dance with all these
different genres. And then, you know, and I was doing
some films and and and and independent films that really
were allowing to show the industry that I could do
more than what they've ever you know.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Assumed from the beginning.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
So a lot of chapters, I had to really reinvent
myself for the opportunity that was coming next. And now
I'm staying at a place where I'm blessed that my
fans and my supporters have followed me at every job,
because that's also very important for now Market City before
a studio to be like, oh this is you can
bet on this horse if you're going to put them

(23:14):
on the show, you know. And with NCIS there was
a lot of crazy changes, and I was able to
really create a great partnership with the writers and the
showrunners and most importantly, you know, my cast, to create
a different dynamic for a show that's been on for
twenty years. You know. So now the show is still
number one, It is still amazing.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
It's amazing, and you never had to you never had
to be type cast or do a rint that you
were the seventies show kid. You sort of made great
choices to like be able to be both, which many
people are still stuck in what they were and people
don't see them differently. So I feel like I don't
want to say you were lucky, because I don't think
you were. I think it was proactive. It sounds like
you're very intentional. But I think that's definitely a feat

(23:58):
where you can really enjoy the fact you can enjoy
the campiness of that seventies show because it doesn't define
you and it's not all that anyone's ever seen you as,
which I think is really nice, you know, like thank.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
You, no, thank you.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
I actually to your point, and we're going to really
kind of break it down. I got to say I
knew because I ripped the page from a lot of
my colleagues and a lot of friends who played similar
characters like mine in the eighties and the nineties, and
I realized that if I was going to have a
shot at actually making this a career after that seventy show,

(24:34):
I knew that I had to start the reinvention two
to three years before I ended that. So every summer
I would do a movie every summer, I would do
something else chess. Yeah, yeah, because I knew that it
wasn't about everything is for the fans, They'll get me wrong,
But in that moment, it was about the industry understanding

(24:57):
that there was life seven, show ninety name than that, right,
you know what?

Speaker 1 (25:02):
I did the same thing on Housewives, and Housewives is
a harder rint to do. You need you need like
a bucket of alcohol to rinse off the housewives. But
I was starting that rint real soon second season.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
What was your what was your what? What was the
when did you see the writing on the wall that
You're like, hmm, I got to really jump off and
understand the platform that I'm at and what it gives
me an uh signal and frequency, and how I can
use that and motivate into the next chapter of my life.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
When was that moment?

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Well, I was obviously much older than you. I was
in my late thirties and I was broke, so I
you know, didn't when I started. I didn't have a
lot of options, but I could. I've never made a
big brand plan in my life, but I'm always playing chess.
It's the way my mind works like that. Pieces moves
to that piece, and that's you know, and you're aware
of the pieces, but you're also aware of the board.

(25:53):
So when I was on Housewives very quickly, like in
the first season, second season, I was thinking to myself,
like almost secreting, and I'm going to get a spinoff.
I don't know why I thought it, just like I
was thinking about a spinoff already and pushing that. And
then also, you're in a bucket with a bunch of
different people and they're all women, and we're getting similar
but different opportunities. And when I became breakout and I

(26:16):
was getting quote unquote better opportunities down to something dumb
from a showroom wanted me to come in for free
clothes to hosting the Today Show. I was keeping my
stuff close to the vest. I was in my own lane.
I was trying not to overshare what I was doing
because I saw that being a problem. I saw women
were getting jealous. And when I got to the Today
Show to host it, they said, oh, this cast member

(26:37):
of yours said why not me, I'm better than her.
I'd be like I saw it was cutthroat, and so
I read and I wrote this in my book. I
was in my own lane. And by the way, it
wasn't always popular. I was gay keeping certain things. I
wasn't telling everybody everything I was doing and where I
was going because guess what, I was running my own game.
I'm not your family, Okay, I was running my own game. Yeah,

(26:58):
I was running my own game early. And it's not
show friends, it's show business. And I was not I
never have screwed anybody over, but I was running my
own game. It was my rodeo, and I was going
to the end zone. So and the decisions always changed.
And I wasn't showing up like all housewives want to
show up everywhere together and five women together. I wasn't
showing up on these red carpet events of four other women.

(27:20):
If I had to go, I would go. But even
when I came back to the housewives for all that
money the second time around, I definitely was separating. I
wasn't doing press together. I didn't want to be clumped in. Sorry,
not sorry, just what I didn't want to do.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
You know, That's that's the secret, sauce.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
I mean, look, if there's one thing that people could
walk away with and for this specific section of where
conversation is don't tell anyone anything you're dreaming about.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
I don't connect dots. It's my number one role. I
do not connect dots about anything.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Exactly what I was going to say.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
I don't say where I had.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
Lun like somebody hasn't figured it out, and then you
say something that it finally plays for them, and then
that dream has now been blue egg because somebody will
do whatever they take to get it from you.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yep, And even something stupid like we're oh, I had
lunch there today. Give some extra piece of information to
somebody I don't know, Oh, or I know Jen and
she knows your dad, and then some weird thing comes
out about someone's cheating about like I just don't. I
don't play games like I tell my best friends everybody everything.
But that's it. Like the rest is like, I don't
tell anybody anything. I am private to a fault. I

(28:26):
don't care. That's just yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
And you know what sad.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
You know, you find that you can build real industry
relationships and friendships when people don't know what you're up to.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
That and when they know you'll never tell anybody anything,
they tell you. I'm a vault. That's a big one too, exactly.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
That's big good royalty and respecting this thing is really
really rare, you know. And I had to start years
before I finished seventy shows. So every year I would
do a different type of independent movie that only the
industry would see.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
I would go to can Film Festival with a movie.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
I would go to uh Sun Dance Film with the movie,
and the industry we're seeing me in different carriacters, exactly.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Getting it wasn't about the money, it was about the
street cred. I got the same thing with my brand
Skinny Girl deal Forbes cover was like, boom, now we
have street cred. Now we are separated. We could do
our own thing. We're not clumped in you know. Yeahul,
but you went back in because you did went on Netflix.
And I went back in because I went back and
the money was too good, and that, you know, it
required another navigation of not just rinsing, but being from

(29:28):
a different perspective. It's just it's wild. You have to
like think about those things. Sometimes going backwards is going forward.
Sometimes you have financial reason. It's very very interesting. And
you've also you know, you're not obviously not a kid,
and now you're an activist and you're charitable, and you
really are a voice in the Latino community. So like

(29:50):
you have, you have a lot of personal responsibility that
you take on, that you put on yourself to message
things like this for your daughter about the fact that
you came to this country did not speak English. Is
that true.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, I didn't know how to even know how to
say hi.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
It's pretty bad. I didn't really realize, uh one, the responsibility,
but to the opportunity to really expand on it when

(30:28):
I was doing seventy show. In fact, I think most
people didn't even know I was Latino. They thought I
was Indiana Ers or or some other ethnicity, you know.
So in many ways, I feel like you played to
my advantage in where I was able to create a
character that was so ambiguous that kind of I welcome
most you know, we're just seeing how funny the character

(30:50):
was and the shenanigans they will get into, and that
became almost universal and colorless, and that really helped. So
then then when I started hearing young peop people say hey,
you know, not until I saw you in television, I
saw myself, which it started like in the early two thousands,
I was like, oh wait, what's going on.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
You know, Ah, you didn't know you were going to
be the representation of anything.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
You just know.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
I was just trying to keep the light on.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Okay, Yeah, I just got to the country four years ago,
five years ago, seventy show, which.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Is crazy, by the way, how you came to this
country to be like, explain that. How old are you?
So I was.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
I was about to turn fourteen, So I was thirteen
years old, and I came to the United States in
nineteen ninety three. I was born in Miami because my
mother and my father had married in Miami and then
back in the early eighties. I was born in nineteen eighties,
so that around that time, the dollar in a boliad,
which from Venezuela, were almost one in one because of

(31:47):
you know, oil and all of that stuff happening in
Latin America, specifically with Venezuela. So my parents kind of
moved back to Venezuela and we started working in the
agriculture industry. So my mom and my dad met in Miami,
had me in Maryland, my sister, and then we decided
to move back to Venezuela, and so we were in
Venezuela for about ten years. And then there was a

(32:08):
nationally there was a military coup on the government and
that didn't succeed with a young general by the name
of Google Chavis and didn't succeed. So we you know,
so my dad saw the writing on the wall now
and he was just like, we probably need to get back,
as this is not a good signal, you know.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
And and he was very smart.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
He sold most of the stuff we had in Venezuela,
minus our little hut, a little house in the little
town that we lived in. And then we came back
to the United States and I came back to Miami,
and none of us don't want to speak English, you know.
My dad's a little bit, but my mom still doesn't
speak English because she was like dedicated to raising children,
you know. And then we came to Los angelest And

(32:52):
the way it all happened was I was always singing,
dancing and acting since I was six years old in
Venezuela because we lived in such a small little town,
there was nothing to do. There was one movie theater
and they only played and they played a robo couple
year round, you know.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
So so literally like that was like my own inspiration.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
But when I came to thes abuelans, I decided, because
I didn't know how to speak English, I decided that
I would go back to theater and singing and dancing
because it was going to force me to read. It
was gonna force me to speak out loud and fake
conversations on stage that I didn't have the courage of
having outside of the stage. So then the more I

(33:30):
did theater, the more I feel in love with it.
And then more I came hearing and you should give
it a try, and you're pretty good, funny, you're pretty silly,
and I was like, oh okay, and I had a
crazy accent. So it's a perfect storm of things. I
was showcased a couple of a couple of interacting classes
and I got representation. This teacher is a last boyd
you know, who decided to teach me for free because

(33:51):
I couldn't afford the classes. She basically said, I think
you're ready to adition for commercials and stuff, and and
she introduced me to an agent. He said, we're not
gonna represent you. We're going to send you out and
see what feedback we get.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
Hip hop, right, yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, And then.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
Basically they will send me out. They will get this
amazing feedback. He's hilarious, such an interesting take for the
stuff that we give him.

Speaker 4 (34:13):
Wow. You know.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
So ultimately, the more I auditioned, and more of the
best feedback I got, and then they kept saying, you know,
but he has an accent. Can he lose his accent?
Because people don't have accents on television. Ah, they wanted
me to lose my accent. They wanted me to change
my name to something that sounding more Latino than we
met at Lama because they thought that doesn't sound Latino
because there typically has to be Lopez.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
You know.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
So it was a whole thing, but I found.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
It, and then they kept sending me out, and then
one day auditioned for this pilot called Teenage Wasteland. I
audition four times and I, you know, I get the
contract and you'll you'll you'll like this part. I got
the contract and I'm in this last audition with my dad.
We don't have the part yet, but to make your
sound case. And the contract says that I was going

(34:58):
to make fifteen thousand dollars for the pilot the first episode.
It's not bad for back then, No, no, no, I
mean talking that was to nineteen ninety eight.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, I made and fifty dollars the whole first season
of Houseise.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, I mean, by the way for alternative for reality.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
That was like good money, you know.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
What I mean, the whole season.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Oh, the whole season, the whole season.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
But I carved. I wrote down you can't take a
piece of my business, which became the Bethany clause, which
is like a famous thing for reality people. So I
didn't know because I was being smart. I was like you,
I mean, I spoke English, but I didn't know a
damn thing and I was reading this thing and I
was just trying to focus. So what happened? So you're
looking at the contract.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Oh no, I love that you offer that.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
Because Danny swayed for reality, really the other became a thing,
you know, yes, but yeah, So the fifteen thousand dollars
were the first episode and ten thousand dollars per episode
if he went to Wow. Now I was eight seventeen,
about to turn eighteen years old. Okay, we have just

(36:01):
gone to America maybe four years prior to that, and
my first job was to just learn how to speak English.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
I was a boy.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
I was a bus boy at a restaurant called Catholic
Visue and Studio City and senior at Mianitaria, and you know,
and my uncle used to was to work there, and
then he got me a little job there. I was like,
you know, the runner of dishes and stuff. And I
was auditioning photo commercials here and there, but not getting much,
you know. So so finally, you know, after a couple

(36:30):
of little gigs that got me the money to pay
for the union and became a screen Actor's Skill member.
I was able to audition for the pilot so fast,
fast struck into the pilot edition.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
You know.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I told my dad that, imagine, if.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
You get if I get this apartment, that's like me
if you get it very good, if you don't get
it very good.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
And I was like, okay, very good.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
And I went in and auditioned my ass off and
I went home, and you know, this is a really
tough time for my family. We were laid in the
rank for you know, a couple of months, and my
dad was like working over time, trying to like not
even break even. And we were just in a situation
where were eating dinner every other night. And by the way,
we weren't sad about it. It was like it was

(37:12):
just what you know, it's like the immigrant way. You
come here it and you know, we eat one day,
we eat the next day or not. You know, it
doesn't mean until you you get it together, because because
we always know that you put in enough hours, you
will get it together, you know. So for us, it
was mathematical. It was nothing emotional. It wasn't boohoo. Latinos
don't complain about you know. Yeah, it's it's like we

(37:34):
got to make money.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
That's so it is, you know.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
So we were doing pretty not good. And I told
my dad Maine if I get it. Then we got
home and I get a phone call from what my
agent who now became my agent, and says, hey, they
want you to come back tomorrow. And I said, okay, yeah,
they want you to come back tomorrow and the day after.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
That and the day after and I've never had done
to cry and I and I.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
Was like what and my mom and you know the
days where you pick up the phone and listen to
the other line, you know, like everybody in the lines,
and and everyone starts screaming because they understood that my
face man, that I got it, and we were just like,
if even if the show doesn't go fifteen thousand dollars,
we can pay the rent. We don't have to go
to ninety nine cents stores. We can go to the

(38:27):
Ralphs like you know. It was this conversation. We're like,
oh my god, like, oh my god, I have to fire,
you know. And I and that was one of the
most iconic moments in my life when I remember looking
outside the window in like que it like a movie,
saw an American flag.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
From the neighbor.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Oh my god, I have chilled right now.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
And I literally said to myself, that's what this is.
That's what this country is. It's this is what it
was built for. So Dreams had a show, I'd be impossible.
So when that happened, I didn't, you know, I wasn't
thinking magazine's interviews.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
Fam.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
I was thinking, like, oh my god, they're gonna.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Pay me for acting this badness. And then I went
and then I shot the show. Before I even shot
the show, I looked in the mirror and I said
to myself, anything and everything that comes out of my
mouth will be the most memorable, the funniest. And I said,
I am going to relentlessly be the best at this character.

(39:35):
And I just went in there and I just my
first line was ridiculous on the seventies show. And I
remember the moment when they say action and my first
line was about to happen, and I say, in my way,
I rarely do the voice, but I'm gonna do it
here for you. But I literally said, I mean I

(39:55):
said this right because I am not doing English.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
But she has tremendo. Yes, And the audience exploded.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
My co stars like almost bro character and like it
was this moment where the magical moment of hearing the audience,
I just made them laugh. It seems like a check.
I feel like if I keeping this trajectory, I'm not
getting fired. And then I decided I'm going to be
the best. I'm going to be the best at what
I do. And I became a student of every role

(40:28):
on the set. You know, every department had every department
from directors right, and I taught myself to making production.
I taught myself how i've creatively developed something because the
producers Marcy Carcy and Tom Warner were so beautiful to
open the door to teach me stuff. And I took
it from there, but you know, that year I would

(40:49):
able to.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Pay off our debt.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
And then I took my mom to Ralphs and then
you know, and then my dad was letting me borrow
the family car, which was a four TOURUS station wagon
with the hood that was a different color of the car.
And then I used to put the cassette adapter for
the CD rum and that's why I listened to music
on the way to work. And then I finally was like,

(41:16):
my dad's like, you should buy yourself a car, and
I went and bought a ninety nine Mercury Cougar. It
was like briand new relaunch of the model, and I
was like very cool cloth seats and fake wood detail,
and I was like this thing is. And people used
to say, is this a Jaguar and I used to say,
yes it is, because it has you know, the cougar emblem.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yes, it's a coug war. It's a coug War.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Wait.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
I've never needed I feel like Ellen, I've never needed
tissues on the set here because it's a set, it's
my couch. But I'm just saying like you got me,
like the way you first of all that just the story,
but the way you told the story, and I was
sitting here like, and you know, I'm thankful to you
for you know, giving me that gift, like you just
took like you just took me there where I was

(42:06):
like in your house and like feeling that sort of
pride and desperation at the same time, but like not
desperate because you just were still happy. I don't know,
there was something about the way you told that story
that you brought me to tears, would the chills because
it's I can't and it's so amazing how you literally
remember it from a granular, porous perspective.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
I can't forget it, you know, and so much about
those first couple of years of my career.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
I used to described it the other day like this
to a friend. It was like I never give my
back to the room. Even when I exited the room,
I was bowing thank you, you know, and I would
just exit the door. I was so grateful somebody had
believed that I could do it. Wow, because if you

(42:53):
were to really really visualize the little town that I
that I grew up in, and you know, watching I
Love Lucy and watching Chips and watching you know, Charlie's
angels and like seeing that and growing, you know, growing
in this household and thinking to myself, one day, I'm
going to do that.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
And you know, it's so interesting.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
When we first came to America, my dad took us
to Hollywood Boulevard and so I don't remember because we
couldn't see instead of somebody was getting their star on
the Walk of Fame, and I looked to my dad
and I said, Dad, one day, one day, I'm gonna
have a star on the Walk of Fame. And you know,
it still hasn't happened, but I know it's possible. And

(43:36):
you know, and even the bigger promise that even I
forgot to mention in the beginning, you know, maybe about
four to five months before of that audition, my dad's
car gets stolen and he gets stolen from the front
of the house. And if you know, in Los Angeles,
the car is the lifeline to all of it. Like

(43:56):
I needed that car because he was going from mechanics
shep to mechanic SHEP bring in and they would pay
him to transport parts. And he had a for sale
sign on the window and he would drop it with
a for sale sign in the window while he was
hustling with the car until the car sold for a.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Little bit more than he bought it for.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
Then he bought another car, put another for sale sign,
and then you know, sell it off until the car
get a little nicer, a little nicer, and then you
can make a little bit more cash while still doing
and then that car gets stolen. Wow. And that was
the first time I saw my dad, you know, with
a with a with an energy of desperation, and hearing

(44:34):
his voice changed unlike I've ever heard it in my
whole life. Then that moment he had like almost midnight,
when he heard the car take off, and he looked
at the window and he was just gone. I looked
at my day and say, Dad, don't worry because I'm
gonna be this and this before seven show, I was like,
I'm gonna be this successful actor and I'm gonna make

(44:56):
all this money and I'm gonna have restaurants and have
this and we're gonna never gonna this bounce house, and
so don't worry about this. And my dad looked at
me and I was was thirteen, I was I think
I was, Yeah, I was about thirteen, No, No, sorry,
I was I was about six fifteen years old or
something like that, and I said to my dad, No,
it was closer to Yeah, I think it was closer

(45:18):
to I was probably about fifteen or so. It wasn't
month it was. I was fifteen years old. And I
said to my dad, Papa, don't worry, blah blah blah blah,
and you're never gonna need to work again, and you know,
I'm going to take it. And my dad looked to me,
and my mom was she was still pacing around. He goes, okay, me, Oh,
that's very good.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Oh then, and I.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
Felt like he had given me permission to go ahead
and do it.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
That's unbelievable. And they set you up to do it
with the work ethic and that you were a team
and getting on the phone and it was like a
win for everyone. It's outrageous. Wow. So was that your
rose of your whole career?

Speaker 4 (45:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:57):
That was the lift off, you know, that was the liftop.
I think the show wasn't ever a clear hit until
probably the end of season two beginning of season three.
We were like the step childs of television. Like nobody
wanted to acknowledge that we were good.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
Nobody.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
Yeah, Like it was like it was like your you know,
we weren't even critically acclaimed. They were like what is
this right? But the audiences discovered us, you know, and
they switched our times lib multiple times.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
You know.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
We started up between the Simpsons and the X Files
and Sunday nights and that was like the night of television,
and they switched us around. And then finally, you know,
the show found an audience. And then you know, it's
so funny. Nobody could recognize me in real life, right
Like I would be standing next to Ashton and and
people would be like, hey, say say.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
A fest for me, and I'd be like hi.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
You know, people wouldn't recognize it because my character spoke
and carry themselves so different, So they just thought a person,
that thing was a real thing that was alive.

Speaker 4 (46:59):
You know.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
That was that was the beginning of that And and
you know, I gave a lot of things and a
lot of and I'm very grateful to my agents. Eventually,
when I I went through h I changed my agents,
standed up at UTA and I had Shaney Rose's Wide
and she put together a beautiful team with Tracy Jacobs
and and the Nancy Gates and Jeff Senelsan and at

(47:22):
the time, Jason Shapiro and and a few more than
I'm for sure forgetting. And I'm sorry because this was
not a credit for Goal, but a group of individuals
that saw me beyond fest and so every summer that
would fight to get me in the room, and nobody
wanted to meet in the room.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Yeah, I bet you were totally typecast. Yeah wow, what
an amazing story. And now you're developing Zora with you
starring and producing, not directing or producing.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Yeah, so I producing it. And uh, I've even started
at Sorrow for Walt Disney, which is you know, I mean,
I magine I could theream of a lifetime, right, Like
the only hero the Latino community really has that iconically,
a character that showed us as like a romantic and
smart and clevered and.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Just funny and funny and so funny is great for
you because it's like you get to be legitimate and
it is a hero and it's respected brand but funny
and like a little whacky, like you could have your
own take on that. As the first thing I was thinking, like,
you know, it's amazing, what a great I would never
thought of that, but like, what a great fit. How exciting.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
It's really exciting, and I think to your point, it
is a role that finally care really tap into all
my weapons.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Yes, marries everything at the same time. It's legit, it's
funny and stupid, it's wacky, it's like, you know, it's respect,
it's like a kid hero, it's Latino. Yeah, it kind
of checks all the boxes.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
And honestly this I went and looked for the titles.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
You know.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
I think it's the more that my my production company,
and I'm really greatful to God in the industry and
my fans. But the production company, you know, has evolved
into something else. It's not a pot deal anymore. It's
a multi department, multi layered what it's called w B Entertainment. Okay,

(49:16):
I'm thinking about changing the name of some point because
I'm kind of becoming allergic to my name in the title.
But but I think at the time it made sense
because that was what they wanted to buy. It was
product from me, you know. But but I think me
me Hoo Productions Productions.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Yeah, it's okay, Hope Productions.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
That's very funny. That's actually Hope Productions. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
But will never forget it. It's kind of cute.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
It just made you know what, I'm seriously and I'm
not even joking.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
I believe you.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
It's just like, yeah, I like it because it also
has a double entendre of like me, Hollywood, Like there's
like layers, you know what I meant.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Totally Yeah makes sense.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Oh my god, that's good.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Yeah. But yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
So the production company started really and I've been trying
to infuse the sense of less, dream bigger in our company.
And now we have had the opportunity to develop tons
of different things for different studios and I and now
I have a first look at OSCBS Studios, which has
been a great home. I have great partners, and netflixs
have great partners of Walt Disney really empower me to

(50:24):
uplift and expand on the idea that our stories, no
matter what color we're can actually transcend culture and can
invite most while still being authentic and rooted into who
we really are and what we've been in America, without
you know, any political agenda, mostly going back to the

(50:46):
fundamentals of entertainment. We just want to entertain people. We
want people to walk away feeling awesome. And we want
them to feel proud of who they are, you know,
no matter what color you are. And then the fact
that I'm able to you know, get in front of
the camera some of the business and also a joy
because I can really uh shape tonally who we are
culturally in America. And you know, there's a lot of

(51:08):
rebuilding that we have to do. For image, a lot
of stuff has been deleted from the books to history.
I mean, you're also see in the banning of a
lot of books and and so a lot of this
conversation really fires me up to do content that's kind
of live forever that you can't just get take off
the shelf and uh.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
And that's I think that's the next phase.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Of our culture, to be able to reintroduce us as
who we really are uh and told by us uh.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
And so so we're producing all kinds of different things.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
We have an alternative department, you know, we do alternative
programming in the sense of uh you know, uh DOCU
follows documentaries and game shows and stuff. And then we
have a scripted department where we do drama in comedy together.
We'll also double an animation and then we uh. Then
we also have a podcast department. I became partners with

(52:03):
Ihearts on a network, So we now own a network
called Michael Tuda Podcast Network, which you know, is available
everywhere that you get your podcast, And in that we're
curating some grave voices and and and really kind of
inviting the community to discover and adapt to podcasting as is.

(52:23):
They are a little late adapters to podcasts, you know,
so we're excited to kind of pioneering that. But we're
also making podcasting uh then not only is for them,
but it's for everyone. So we're really hoping that we
can combine and it's being phenomenal already. So we have production,
we have developed production and distribution through iHeart uh and

(52:43):
we have a pipeline of amazing content that we're going
to do there uh and you know, and and so on.
And then I have a management company, co Allied Management,
which represents Latin American writer, producers and directors from Central
and South America, and.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
We bridge the gap.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
We need more hands on deck because there's a lot
of aboundance and Latino stories that are being developed, but
we're not enough people to run it, not enough direct
so we build a very premium product a management company
do to really curate these voices and really introduce them
to Hollywood and expand on that. And it's been a joy,
I mean, it's and a joy to see this later projects.

(53:22):
And that's besides, like you mentioned, the activism, which has
been also another great jour in my life to partner
up with some great organizations that do really great stuff
that are all just in line with everything we're producing.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
It's amazing. And the two things that really jump off
the page for me is is really the work like
the work ethic like that. The way you've had good
connect this is the same with me. I mean, I
am You're probably to other people have a reputation of
being kinder and jetler, like I have a tough reputation,
but I am tough but fair. Like everybody knows that

(53:57):
it's not always pleasant to do a deal with me,
but that I'm always fair like I that's just who
I'm known as. And I so I have good relationships
with the first book I ever did with you know,
even with Bravo, with everyone, and I just have noticed
that and people have to really listen and understand that
the relationship the minute you start the clock is running
like it's the same relationships then as they are now.

(54:19):
You see the same people up here, same people on
the way down, Like it's just all these relationships that
connect like a web. And how you know, so many
times will someone come to me and say, well, we
should we work with that person, and I'll have had
an unpleasant experience to them. I'll be like, absolutely not.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
That kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
And you have to do you know, yep, you gotta
be good the whole way through, like do it well
or don't do it at all. So I just noticed
that you have really a made really good choices, b
just have an incredible work ethic, but have nurtured all
these relationships and are all coming together into one because
you're doing so many different things in the same pot now.
And then that you're like, you've curated because we're getting older.

(55:00):
You're younger than I am, but we're older. You curate
the career career you want And it sounds ridiculous, but
you saying that you're playing Zoro, which is a convergence
of all these things, is funny. Like David Arquette, who's
made a lot of money on different businesses, he's not
just the scream guy and he plays like and you know,
he's like a little chill and like that, so you
think you think he's like, you know not, you know,

(55:20):
really like this business guy. And he owns the rights
to Bozo like you you own the rights to Zorro.
Like it's a convergence of him being funny and being
wacky and he's got this rights to this real entity
of Bozo the clown. And I'm thinking of you as Zoro.
So I'm seeing these people. We're all like, you're all
like auditioning for all this time for like when you
get in your forties and fifties and like now it's

(55:41):
not the dress. R get to have the life you
want because of all these things you've done and this
and I hate to sound like a Karen, but much
of the younger generation wants it now and they want
to know right now. And it's like, you know, stir
the pot, like just like let the butter melt. It's
all come. You just got to handle it right and

(56:02):
like nurture it and it comes together now. So that's
what I'm getting from you. And it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Yeah, I mean, it's a difference between making a full
dinner versus a sandwich right, like, and which is a
snap fast food.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
You're not satisfied, it's just you're eating to eat. Yeah,
you've got like a yeah. I agree. So you're amazing,
really good.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
I appreciate that so much and it means a lot.
And honestly, I was very excited to talk to you
for all the very same reasons. I really do respect, uh,
you know, the choices, the the you know, the force
side to all of these different aspects to your to
your life, into your career, because it really it really

(56:43):
speaks to the sanity that you have to keep no
matter how top for the high level, the frequency is
in which you have to perform to have a grounding
and be able to get past that storm and then say,
get you the sunny days now, because the storm gave
me the ability to say, I can see it coming,
I can avoid it, you know, So it was important

(57:06):
to go through all those those those dry seasons in
low and low seits.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Yes it's a texture and it's the quilt.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Yes, it's a texture exactly.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
It's a texture kind of paves the road and now
you're capable to either go on the freeway or off
road and you'll it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Yes, yes, yeah, well, you know, the thing about the
show has been very successful, which I'm very proud of.
But like, the one thing I wasn't thinking about when
doing it, because a lot of things I do is like,
it's going to be successful. I had this idea and
it's going to be great, and we're going to talk
about this. And what I love the most about it
is just like I I'm not social. I never leave
my house unless i'm like I have to. I leave

(57:42):
my house, my daughters will cross. I'm being paid to
be over here, and that's I'm just very very antisocial.
And it's surprising, but I'm always in pajamas.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
I mean, definitely me.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
You're incredibly beyond beyond beyond. I'm very much an introverted,
like from a leave the house. It's weird and everyone's
shocked by that. But the one thing the show has
given me is like to meet Like I feel I
spent an hour with you. I don't spend an hour
with my own friends half the time, Like I feel
like I know you, so now I know you? Yeah,
so now I know you so Like now that's exciting.

(58:13):
I've met so many people like now I know you,
and I really like know about your life stories that
probably some of your friends don't even know. So I'm
excited to meet you and to have known you and
like all these interesting people that I would never have
known anything about. So I'm so grateful and thank you
so much for coming to like talk to me, and
now I know you. We know each other.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
No, I'm insane.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
You know that this is also exciting because the moment
we see each other in person, it's not as I.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Think, it's a hug, right, yes, one hundred percent, So
I can't wait for that to happen. Love to your family.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
You have one child, yes, I have a two year
all she just turned two of February fifteen. She's a
dance glass right now, so that's that's hilarious every time.
She just started school too, and you know, we're teaching
her English, Spanish and Mandarin. She's really pretty good Spanish
because my mom, you know, it's all day Spanish with her,

(59:04):
so she's pretty by linguent now. But we're trying to
equip her with with you know, with tools that we
never had, you know, and uh, and also she's living
like a pretty similar upbringing like I did. You know,
she's eating the same with my parents, you know, yeah, everything.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
So so it's been really great.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
She dances first and and talks later, you know, so
that that's ultimately that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
And you married, uh, someone in the industry, or I
call it a civilian, yes, yes, yeah, civilian.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
Yeah basically, yeah, basically someone who who's expectations less a
lot more realistic than mine ever were, you know. Yeah,
and so she, yeah, she's a very special human being.
Amanda makes it look very easy.

Speaker 4 (59:47):
You know.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
She gets along better with the dolphin than with human beings.
You know, she loves nature. She's a dive master, she's
a scuba divert and wow and rescue. She's a badass,
you know. And and she really u taught me to
you know, to take deep breads and to look up
and enjoy the green trees. You know, because when we

(01:00:08):
do this and we're just like we're going, we're going,
we're going, we got this. We gotta do everything this
sometimes you kind of straight away of the recent why
you work so hard and why you do this so much.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
That's why that story was really good for me today.
That story was like, you're a good storyteller.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
Like you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
I was there in the living room on the phone. Well,
it's so nice to know you, and I can't wait
to meet you in person. And I appreciate you taking
the time, I really do. So good luck and congratulations
and keep in touch and let me know. I can't
wait to follow you now the second I get off
follow you on my social media to hear.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
What you're Yeah, I'm gonna look for you too again,
so blessed will be able to have this conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
It was actually felt good to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Get a lot of that stuff out of you know,
I don't really talk about this stuff very often, but
it is nice to reconnect with that. So I'm so
glad that you connected with my story because you know,
it's so raw and my brain still you know, those
moments are just so incredibly unforgettable and uh, you know,

(01:01:07):
I'm excited when I get to relive it and say
it aloud to somebody who can relate to it too.
So so thank you for having me in the show
and I continue all the success and I'm always around
if you if you need a cup of shirt.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Thank you, awesome, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
Ke have a good day. Oh my god, do I
love wilmavel drama. He had me crying. This show gives
me so many gifts that I end up becoming their

(01:01:42):
friends and bonding with them and like knowing them and
we're crying and this meaningful, beautiful story. What a great experience.
I adore Wilmer. That was incredible. I am so lucky.
I'm so happy. Thank you so much, Rate review and subscribe.
I'm just I'm literally early on my phone to find
Wilmer and follow him right now, so I can't believe

(01:02:05):
I didn't know him. This is exciting, Wow, amazing. Thank
you so much,