Image via Netflix
Carlos Santos risked it all to be where he’s at. The actor plays Chris in Netflix’s acclaimed series Gentefied, whose second season premieres on Nov. 10. The dramedy provides a closer look at gentrification, deportation, and immigration while giving viewers an authentic and intimate look at what life is like for young Latinxs in the United States. The America Ferrera-produced series centers around the Morales cousins Chris, Erik, and Ana, as they struggle to save their family-owned taco spot in Boyle Heights, a Los Angeles neighborhood bogged down by incoming developers who are set on white-washing their community. The family has to fight off gentrification all while also trying to stop their grandfather’s deportation.
The bilingual comedy features up-and-coming Latinx stars like former Buzzfeed viral star Julissa Calderon, Animal Kingdom’s Joseph Julian Soria, and Santos, who used to be a host on MTV. Pop culture-obsessed Latinxs of a certain age might recognize the Puerto Rican actor as the host of the Spanish version of TRL, Mi TRL, which premiered in 2006. At that time, he was basically the Latin community’s Carson Daly. (I told Santos that I attended a few tapings of the show when I was in college, and he called our Zoom reunion a “full circle moment.”)
A video of Santos interviewing Beyoncé on Mi TRL recently resurfaced on social media in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, since the singer jokingly said she sometimes pretends to be Dominican. To some people, interviewing artists like Beyoncé might have been the peak of their careers, but Santos had different goals. He left Puerto Rico with dreams of being a comedian but took on hosting and commercials gigs to make ends meet in the meantime. Landing Gentefied was the start of Santos’ work finally aligning with his plans. He’s now entering Season 2 of his first major TV role and is also fresh off the success of this year’s Vacation Friends, a Hulu original movie starring Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, and John Cena. On Gentefied, he plays Chris, a chef who returns to his family after living in Idaho and they now view him as a sell-out. He says Season 2 challenged him in new ways as an actor, but after years of waiting for this opportunity, he was ready for it. Complex caught up with Santos ahead of the show’s new season and he shared details of the sacrifices he made for his career, what it means to be part of the 4.5 percent of Latinos in television, and his ultimate dream of one day joining the Marvel universe.
So can you talk a little bit about MiTRL and everything that has happened since?
It’s been quite the journey. I worked for MTV for four years. Hosting was a great detour that I took. I ended up doing it for almost seven years because before MTV, I did LATV, which is a local television station out in LA. That was the first time I started to get experience with hosting and then that led to MTV Tr3s, but I had to make a decision. I knew that my path was going a certain way that I didn’t want it to go. So I took a chance, I took the risk and I literally shut it down and I started from scratch.
I decided to come back to LA and anything that was hosting or interview-related, I said no to it. I was broke for a couple of years. It was really tough, but it was a risk that I was willing to take for my career and nobody understood me. Nobody really understands or believes what you can do, what you’re capable of. Only you can be certain. I made a decision in 2009 that I wanted to stop and transition away from hosting and it took me 10 years to the month I got Gentefied. In the meantime, I’ve worked at the Upright Citizens Brigade, I’ve been doing comedy and sketch, improv and stand up, and commercials that have definitely been a source of income that saved my life.
That takes a lot of courage, though. Was it scary for you at that moment?
Well, it’s a little bit of a mindfuck, because you’re struggling at that point. When I first moved out here, that’s the only thing that was available. I knew deep down that if I kept doing that and if I kept trying, I would just keep pushing myself away from what I wanted to do and so I quit it cold turkey. When I was hosting, the one thing that was fun about it was anytime it was comedy-related. So that was really the clue I needed to make a shift. Straight hosting for me, I respect people who do it, I don’t want to take away from a fantastic career opportunity and a craft that’s really fantastic. But for me, just to be fulfilled, I needed to move on and focus on comedy and acting.
Let’s talk about how you landed Gentefied. Did you know somebody that was working on the show or did you have to audition like everybody else?
I knew Marvin (Lemus, Gentefied’s executive producer). I met Marvin because I’m in an improv group called Spanish Aquí Presents. I knew Marvin back when Gentefied was a web series. When they announced [the show] that year in 2019, I was like, “That’s dope. I’m really happy that Netflix picked up the series. I hope that at least I get to audition.” But I didn’t come into the process until very late. They were looking for very specific people, which is my pocket. Whenever they can’t find somebody, then I come in. Listen, I am honored to be people’s third and fourth choices, that’s my pocket. I’m happy to show people that I can do it. So towards the end of the casting process, I came in and auditioned. I originally auditioned for Erik, which is the one that JJ Soria played. There’s no place in this world where I would play that. JJ just kills it completely.
Eventually, I came back and I auditioned for Chris and it just clicked. The whole process was really special, the callbacks, the producer sessions with America Ferrera. It was a little bit of a battle because I didn’t have enough credits because I had only done a handful of co-star and guest star [roles]. I had been on Last Man On Earth for a little bit. I’ve been on Two Broke Girls. The way the industry works, the networks feel like you need to be vetted by credits, which is the famous catch-22 situation that every actor has to deal with.
It’s like when you need five years of experience for entry-level jobs.
Right, you can’t get work because you don’t have experience. You don’t get experience because you don’t work. The producers were on board with me, but I think Netflix, the studios per se, always want to bank on people that have enough credits. I was in an interesting position where I just leaped over and was auditioning for a series regular role. The role and the process of auditioning with the producers and the creators was so fantastic that I think that I knew it was a perfect fit. So it really became me trying to prove to Netflix that I could do it, which I had no issue with.
When I say that I really had to fight for the part, I really mean it. I worked for it because I ended up going back five or six times because Netflix was like, ‘We’re not sure, bring him back for another round.’ My agency and my manager were like, ‘Keep bringing him in as many times as you want. It’s not a fluke. He can show you as many times as you need.’ The funny part is that by the time I did get it, it was very anticlimactic. But, it’s really special because it feels like the best-case scenario for me to have a role like Chris, to be working on a show like Gentefied, to be working with all these people and with the actors. A lot of times, you can’t really have it all in terms of a project, something always has to give in terms of the experience. I’m spoiled in that sense that I was able to have that first experience and to continue this with the second season of Gentefied. And obviously, it took a long time, so I’m just really grateful.
How was it for you to see the reaction from fans about the show?
My expectations of the show were non-existent because as an actor, the sheer nature of just getting to do a show was enough for me. To see people have such a deeply emotional, almost soul reaction to the show was really gratifying. When we were shooting it, it felt like we were doing something special. At the same time, when you’re doing this long enough, you realize that anything can happen. Sometimes you work on projects that feel cool and then they end up not going anywhere. Sometimes you get to do things where you’re like, ‘Oh, this is embarrassing,’ and it becomes something fantastic. I’m at a point in my life, in my career, where I’m not surprised about anything, but I was truly grateful that I noticed that people really were touched by it in a very special way. Credit to the creators, Marvin and Linda [Yvette Chávez], for putting this together. And Netflix, for allowing them to tell the story how they wanted to tell it. It just proves that when you get people who have the authority to tell the story to tell the story, then it resonates on such a deeper level for people when they watch it. You can’t fake the funk, you can’t fake it.
You can’t. People will call you out if it’s not right. What was it like when you found out you were getting Season 2?
Everything has been so complicated. We premiered in February 2020. Less than a month later, we went into lockdown so everything was up in the air. At that point, we didn’t know how long this was going to be, but we didn’t find out until May. Usually, you find out earlier, but because of the pandemic, everything got a little jumbled. I’m happy to get a second season. Based on the reaction, it made sense for us to get a second season. I was really excited but at the same time, it’s like, is it even going to happen if everything’s shut down? Too many emotions to process, but I definitely was super happy when they made it official.
Not to say it like this, but it probably worked in your favor that so many people were home streaming so much TV.
To put things in perspective, it did allow people to kind of sit around and watch it. I was definitely hit up by people that told me that they watched it like four times because they just wanted to. It just allowed people to really sit and enjoy the content because that’s what we were all trying to do, just absorb content.
The show covers topics like gentrification and immigration, so how was it for you to be able to tell this story as Chris?
I think my way into the character for Chris is that he is a guy that came from outside of the community. He grew up in Idaho, that’s why they called him a coconut. [Ed note: “Coconut” is a slur that has been used to describe a brown person who is deemed to be “white on the inside, brown on the outside.”] That feeling of trying to belong is literally my entire existence coming from Puerto Rico out here. I have been in LA for over 15 years so I’ve absorbed everything. When I moved, I started working for LATV. It was an entirely Mexican crew. I’ve been a part of it for so long. I went to Fresno State after my freshman year of college in Puerto Rico. So that feeling of wanting to belong or wanting to be a part of something has always been at the forefront of my existence and having to validate who I am and trying to find these groups of people that I could call my second family is literally what Chris is going through. That’s why it felt so real and so visceral in terms of the way that I approach the character. I didn’t really have to fake too much of it. I know exactly what he is going through.
With gentrification, this is something that we’ve been watching for a long time. I trusted that the subject matter was going to be treated with dignity and with as much veracity as possible because it was coming from the right place. We keep saying as a group that we’re not trying to have answers for the problem of gentrification. Either way, we’re just trying to start a conversation and we’re trying to humanize [it], we’re trying to put a face to people that are going through that because it is a tough, very nuanced conversation to have about gentrification and all the effects that it has on a community.
What do you think the fans are going to love the most about Season 2, without sharing too many spoilers?
I think that fans are going to go right into getting answers for all the cliffhangers we got from the first season. It’s handled very creatively and it goes in a direction that I think people don’t know they’re going to want. I really respect Marvin and Linda now as showrunners for the second season because they really weren’t afraid to really just go into it. The episodes start and they just don’t let up until the end.
I’m really excited because they trusted my character with a lot more emotional responsibility and Chris is dealing with a lot. There’s a potential love interest involved now for Chris, the whole daddy issue problem, his career, his path, he’s starting to juggle all that, at the same time as they’re trying to deal with Pop being deported. I’m super honored that they would trust me with that because I feel like I got into it in the first season, but Chris I think was more of comic relief. It doesn’t go away in this season, but I definitely get trusted with some more and I’m really happy that I got to explore that for Chris because now we get to see more of the deeper, more vulnerable states or the things that are more vulnerable for Chris.
Since it’s Latinx Heritage Month, what does it mean for you to be able to be part of the 4.5 percent of actors that are representing Latinxs in TV/Hollywood?
Well, it’s terrifying that that’s such a small percentage because I’m equal parts grateful and obviously blessed that I’m able to be working. But when I hear that, that means that I could very well be on the other end of it, I can be in the 96 percent very easily. It’s not like 50/50. These are some startling percentages. I know that I’ve been working my ass off for so long that I’m just in a good place in my career where I’m able to effectively continue to work or continue to be seen in a positive light in the industry, in the eyes of casting people in the industry. This is fairly new that I’m on this playing field. This is very recent since 2019 since Gentefied came out. It’s given me the opportunity to be seen in a better light in terms of somebody that can be cast on projects. I feel very special, but it’s also scary to think that it’s such a low percentage.
What is your dream role for your career?
My way into the acting industry, not just comedy, but with acting has been adventure movies. The movies that have influenced me [were] Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, and Ninja Turtles. Right now with the way Marvel is going, I think it would be fantastic to be a part of the Marvel universe. I heard word on the street that they’re casting for a certain werewolf. I just want to point out that when I was in fourth grade, I was so obsessed with werewolves that I would carry around fangs. Teen Wolf was a huge movie for me. I definitely would love to work with Marvel in some capacity. And these properties are coming back, so it would be fantastic to be able to be in a position to be considered to just in any way, shape or form be a part of it.
For sure, and I feel like we don’t have enough Latino action stars in the world. It’s happening slowly, but I’m super excited for what’s to come.
No. And I’ve been working out, I’ve been doing pushups. I’m ready to go. I’m ready. It’s always been a slow crawl, huh? That’s what it feels like. That’s what I’ve noticed. You do it, you’re around it long enough and you realize that it’s a slow crawl and you don’t realize it until you look back. There are older people in the industry that really went through it and they don’t get enough respect or love because they really went through it in the ‘80s or in the ‘90s. It was definitely a lot harder to be a minority or a Latino in the business. You got to also give credit where credit is due because they definitely had to go through that stuff and made it a lot easier for us. We don’t talk about giving props to people a lot more. People are like, ‘Oh, that old guy, that old actor is just bitter.’ Yes, you would be bitter too, bro. Are you kidding me? If anybody’s allowed to be bitter, it’s this old Latinx actor that’s gone through it. Man, this is like war.
Who would you say are some of your inspirations?
People have inspired me all over, I have such a crazy gamut. I have Puerto Rican comedians that I grew up watching when I was younger, Chavo del Ocho, Chespirito, obviously inspired me a lot. And then, Will Smith from The Fresh Prince, Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell. It’s a huge amalgam of people that are living inside of me. George Lopez, absolutely, has been an amazing influence. Actually, they had the Three Amigos tour and this was a long time ago, which was a combination of either George Lopez, or Carlos Mencia, or Freddy Soto, or Pablo Francisco, and that was like the big-ticket back in the day. This was like 15 or 20 years ago. With my standup specifically, I grew up with people like Freddy Soto, who unfortunately passed away in 2004. Pablo Francisco inspired a lot of my earlier standup because he was very much character and voice-oriented. When I was in college, I actually got an opportunity to open for Freddy Soto, which now I look back on, and it was amazing. I was just a punk kid just starting out and doing comedy. But because I was in Fresno, whenever comedians would pass through the Valley, I got a chance to do like five minutes.
I heard something about a Vacation Friends sequel, is that happening?
Well, it turns out that it kind of broke some kind of record that over the first three-day opening weekend, it was streamed like a crazy amount. So they went ahead and said they were going to make a second one. I’d be happy to come back and do the same character. If they call me, I want to tell the director that I am by the phone waiting for the call. No, I’d be super excited, if at any capacity Maurillio could come back for anything, I’d be so stoked. That was a lot of fun.
You know what’s crazy. I came in, I shot my stuff the week before the pandemic. We were at a hotel called El Conquistador in Puerto Rico shooting the manager scenes, the week before. I started to hear that people were running out of toilet paper. I had one day left to shoot in Atlanta because all the interior shots were shot in a studio. I was on my way to Atlanta that weekend before, and then all hell broke loose. I was supposed to shoot on [March] 17th, that’s when the lockdown started. I had to wait six months for everything to calm down, for them to go back into production. Then I had to quarantine in Atlanta for two weeks just to do half a day of whatever was left from shooting, which is crazy. Anybody that’s followed my Instagram knew I had that mustache all through the pandemic and that’s why. I didn’t know when I was going to go back so I just kept it the same. It takes a while to get it.
How was it working with that cast? That cast was phenomenal.
It was my first big studio comedy film like that with 20th Century. So I was just happy to be able to play, it was fantastic. Playing with Lil Rel and John Cena, and the director Clay Tarver, it was the best. They let me play around, improvising within what was in the scene with the character so that was super cool. I’m glad some of the improvs got in there. It was a great experience. I’m just happy how it came out. I’m only there for the first 10 minutes and it was great. But then it worked, my 10 minutes worked, because here I am having a full-circle moment.
Gentefied Season 2 will hit Netflix on Nov. 10.
