Speaker 1: Welcome to Desperately Devoted.
Speaker 2: Think of us as your favorite neighbors as we chat
Speaker 2: about life and relationships, all.
Speaker 3: While we revisit the iconic show Desperate Housewives together.
Speaker 2: I'm Terry Hatcher, I'm Andrea Bowen, and I'm Emerson Tenny. Well,
Speaker 2: welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to Desperately Devoted. Today, we
Speaker 2: are desperately devoted to another person that we're so excited
Speaker 2: is here on the show today. We have another incredible
Speaker 2: cast member who I think, more than anyone this season,
Speaker 2: has deeply surprised us in their character. As we've been rewatching,
Speaker 2: I think, like many of the other husbands, there's your
Speaker 2: first first hint on the show. He added so much
Speaker 2: depth and weight and quality to the storytelling that I,
Speaker 2: for one, feel like when the show was actually on
Speaker 2: in its first run, I feel like, in hindsight, the
Speaker 2: husbands did not get the attention that they deserved, and
Speaker 2: this person definitely falls into that category. I feel personally
Speaker 2: so fortunate that I've been able to keep in touch
Speaker 2: with him. He's an incredible actor, an incredible person, and well,
Speaker 2: without further ado, please welcome Ricardo Shevira.
Speaker 1: Yay, thank you for being here.
Speaker 4: We're so happy.
Speaker 5: It's great to see you guys, and thanks for having me.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm happy to do it very much.
Speaker 2: So we just have to jump off and just say that,
Speaker 2: like Carlos more than anyone, I mean, all the husbands
Speaker 2: really helped tell the story of the journey of all
Speaker 2: the wives, like you couldn't do it without the handholding
Speaker 2: of both of the people in the couples. Now, our
Speaker 2: jumping off point has to be how did you get
Speaker 2: involved and how were you cast? And do you have
Speaker 2: stories about that? I mean, we would love to hear.
Speaker 4: Okay, So I was only out of graduate school.
Speaker 5: Let's say I'd finished my graduate training program two thousand,
Speaker 5: So I was only out graduate school like three three
Speaker 5: and a half years, and I had booked several really
Speaker 5: good jobs, but nothing of this magnitude. And so I
Speaker 5: was actually up in Seattle working at Seattle Rep.
Speaker 4: Doing a play that was a the was a co pro.
Speaker 4: So it was.
Speaker 5: December January doing the play up in Seattle, and then
Speaker 5: like May June July doing it over in Kansas City.
Speaker 5: So when I got home to Los Angeles after finishing
Speaker 5: it in Seattle, you know, I was kind of settling
Speaker 5: back in and pilot season was in full swing and
Speaker 5: a buddy of mine was very much a character actor
Speaker 5: plays like a lot of like criminal types and things
Speaker 5: like that. He shows up to my apartment because he'd
Speaker 5: been watching it, and he shows up in a suit,
Speaker 5: and I just started.
Speaker 4: Laughing and I was like, what job did you not get?
Speaker 5: And and he's like, man, whatever, you know, and he's like, actually,
Speaker 5: you should read for it. He goes, I think it's
Speaker 5: right for you. And it was the Carlos character for Househouse.
Speaker 5: So I get it and I read it and I'm like,
Speaker 5: he's right, okay. So I call my and they're like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, yes, we've we have chased this up
Speaker 5: and down. Scott Jenkincher was kind of handling the casting
Speaker 5: at the time, along with the Oh god, who was
Speaker 5: it Jenny Lewry Johnson's office.
Speaker 4: I think so.
Speaker 5: And so they're like, we've pitched this to Scott and
Speaker 5: you know, Scott loves you. He gave you your SAG card,
Speaker 5: which he tapped hard lead me, like when I first
Speaker 5: got to La. So he was like, you know, he
Speaker 5: just doesn't think you can be suave enough.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, realting he doesn't think you
Speaker 2: can be.
Speaker 5: So and I no, no, no, it's Scott and I
Speaker 5: go back and forth on this all the time.
Speaker 2: But it's really interesting, like how I mean, that's just
Speaker 2: I know, we're not like dishing on him or anything,
Speaker 2: but it is interesting how people get it in their
Speaker 2: head about something that you are, and how it often
Speaker 2: falls back in our court that you have to go
Speaker 2: prove somebody different, I think.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 5: I think what it was is a lot of the
Speaker 5: things that he had me on auditioning for up until
Speaker 5: that point where a lot of like blue collar civil
Speaker 5: servant type for you know, like policemen, detectives, things like that,
Speaker 5: and this was a character that was, you know, a
Speaker 5: very high fluten character, a money kind of guy, you know,
Speaker 5: the white collar crime, business sector, all that stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and so I think his thought was like, this is
Speaker 5: not what Ricardo does. And so when my reps told
Speaker 5: me that, I was like, get me the audition, and
Speaker 5: they were like, oh, I said, no, no, no, do it.
Speaker 4: I have a point to prove.
Speaker 5: So they got me an audition and it was on
Speaker 5: a Saturday morning, which Terry, I mean, you know, a
Speaker 5: Saturday morning audition is the kiss Nobody's showing up.
Speaker 1: My audition was also on a Saturday. I wonder if
Speaker 1: we auditioned on.
Speaker 4: Because it was then.
Speaker 2: I had an audition once on a Saturday. My Saturday
Speaker 2: audition was the first movie I ever did, was called
Speaker 2: The Big Picture and it was with Kevin Bacon and
Speaker 2: Christopher Guest was directing it. And on Friday they had
Speaker 2: fired the girl playing my part. They were already shooting,
Speaker 2: and so on Saturday they read like five actresses with
Speaker 2: Heaven Bacon on a Saturday, and then on Monday they
Speaker 2: picked somebody to go to work, and then I went
Speaker 2: to work and started filming, and that's how I got
Speaker 2: that movie, and that was my first movie. But it
Speaker 2: was a Saturday. I never remember anything Ricardo, so I
Speaker 2: don't know why that's.
Speaker 4: Well for me.
Speaker 5: My experience up to that point had been like the
Speaker 5: couple Saturday auditions I had gone to, Like there was
Speaker 5: one I went to and nobody even showed up, so
Speaker 5: it was just like, okay, you know, so I got
Speaker 5: a Saturday audition, great, and I'm not swabbing enough, so
Speaker 5: this is going really well for me already. And then
Speaker 5: I get there and it's Juny I think it was
Speaker 5: Junie Larry Johnson.
Speaker 4: It was JUNI was there in the room, Scott was
Speaker 4: in the room.
Speaker 5: And Mark Cherry was in the room, and so I
Speaker 5: was like, oh, our main person is here on a Saturday.
Speaker 5: And so I was like, oh okay, and you know,
Speaker 5: I said, okay, well let me present the material. And
Speaker 5: I presented the material and Mark's over there looking at
Speaker 5: a very old headshot of mine, which I was like,
Speaker 5: I just got no headshots.
Speaker 4: Why did they have an old head shot? I don't
Speaker 4: understand this. And all of a.
Speaker 5: Sudden, he just so many things and then he just
Speaker 5: kind of looks up and he does this little look
Speaker 5: and he's like Ricardo and I just, all of a sudden,
Speaker 5: I was like, oh, I just got this.
Speaker 4: I know, I just booked this role. Yeah, I knew
Speaker 4: it right there, Like.
Speaker 2: So sad I was, by the way, that was a
Speaker 2: really good impression of him. I could see him sounding
Speaker 2: exactly like, you did it really well.
Speaker 5: So so and and then they had the next time
Speaker 5: I met with them, and it was a work session
Speaker 5: with the director Charles McDougal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: But here's something that a lot of people don't know,
Speaker 5: which is when I went through this when I want
Speaker 5: to hear this process. I actually did the entire audition
Speaker 5: and I also taped the entire pilot with the Spanish accent.
Speaker 3: Wow, and at what point did that change?
Speaker 5: So we shot the whole thing and they were they
Speaker 5: were getting ready to we were getting ready to go
Speaker 5: into shooting the season, and they made a decision and
Speaker 5: Michael Edelstein was part of this. I think he was
Speaker 5: the primary on it. They wanted me to come in
Speaker 5: and reloop via Adr in all those.
Speaker 4: Scenes, and we recorded all the lines.
Speaker 5: Without the accent, and Edelstein gave me a call and
Speaker 5: he was like, look, it's not that we don't like it.
Speaker 5: It's not that we don't think that you can do it.
Speaker 5: He's like, but seriously, do you want to do that
Speaker 5: for five, six, eight seasons? Should this thing go that far?
Speaker 5: He goes, I just don't think that that's a good idea.
Speaker 5: He goes, I really think that we should use her
Speaker 5: natural voice.
Speaker 4: And so I was like, okay.
Speaker 2: So it was more like, you think it was more
Speaker 2: about the longevity of having to stay in that voice,
Speaker 2: or do you think.
Speaker 4: It was I think it was a little bit of that.
Speaker 6: I think it was also like, you know, I think
Speaker 6: they were just questioning me in general at that point,
Speaker 6: like maybe they weren't sure about her. So And it's
Speaker 6: kind of funny because I think I remember somebody telling
Speaker 6: me that, like it's like you don't really realize how,
Speaker 6: you know, like on the.
Speaker 7: Cutting forward you or like on the on the on
Speaker 7: the fence, we were about you like maybe possibly recasting
Speaker 7: if I couldn't do this in a natural voice that
Speaker 7: they felt suitable for.
Speaker 4: The character, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8: So, and then on top of it, they set aside,
Speaker 8: I think a whole day, eight or ten hours to
Speaker 8: do the ad R. And this is like, I mean,
Speaker 8: there's significant scenes in the pilot, you know, between you know,
Speaker 8: the the Gabby character and my character and my mixing
Speaker 8: in with everybody else went in and did it all
Speaker 8: of it.
Speaker 2: Wow, what do you I think? I consider myself a
Speaker 2: very good looper. Also, what do you attribute that time?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 5: When I was in graduate school, my speech teacher she
Speaker 5: always said that I had a really good ear for
Speaker 5: being able to like, you know, catch intonations and and
Speaker 5: and mimic and do that kind of stuff. And then
Speaker 5: it was just simply a matter of like, Okay, we're
Speaker 5: using that ear and then watching the screen and watching
Speaker 5: the mouth, you know, watching watching the mouth movements on
Speaker 5: the screen, and then.
Speaker 4: Just time me, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I feel I feel like mine came from
Speaker 2: my dance background, which just allowed me to have such
Speaker 2: a deep cellular understanding of rhythm and the musicality of something.
Speaker 2: And I feel like it just made me be able
Speaker 2: to listen to a line and then like understand exactly
Speaker 2: how I was of it was.
Speaker 4: Ry is time, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So it's there's a timing aspect that's going on there,
Speaker 5: and for some reason, it just it's never been an
Speaker 5: issue for me. I can use it, get in and
Speaker 5: out of adr sessions really fast.
Speaker 2: So they changed the accent, you did the looping, And
Speaker 2: then I'm wondering this question I'm going to have, which
Speaker 2: I know the girls have because I think our takeaway
Speaker 2: of the first season and I'm not I'm sure you
Speaker 2: probably haven't watched it in a in a while, but
Speaker 2: we've just seen every single episode. I did not remember
Speaker 2: Carlos being as violent and abusive. I mean, I was
Speaker 2: going to say, yeah, when when did you know that
Speaker 2: Carlos was such a bad guy in this first season.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're such a lovely guy. Carlos is really
Speaker 3: rough and problematic.
Speaker 4: And that.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I mean, so there's a lot of
Speaker 5: things that I can kind of talk.
Speaker 4: Let's see, how do I ward this? You know.
Speaker 5: The thing is is I don't I don't necessarily know
Speaker 5: that they were really sure what they wanted to do
Speaker 5: with the character in the beginning, and so it's very easy.
Speaker 4: It's nothing, It's very easy. It's just you can.
Speaker 5: Writing in black or white, which is then a two
Speaker 5: dimensional character is a is a simpler way to go
Speaker 5: than trying to write the gray strands between the black
Speaker 5: and the white. That actually flushes out a character and
Speaker 5: gives a character their three dimensionality. So I and I
Speaker 5: think that that's kind of where they were with this character.
Speaker 4: They didn't know, they.
Speaker 5: Didn't know what to do with him, because I think
Speaker 5: they didn't know what to do with me as an actor,
Speaker 5: you know, I mean, I was kind of that that
Speaker 5: unknown variable in the cast.
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 5: I didn't have a lot of credits, you know, I'd
Speaker 5: just gotten out of graduate school, and they didn't know
Speaker 5: a lot about me. I think they were trying to
Speaker 5: suss me out in the same way that I was
Speaker 5: trying to suss them out. And then and then add
Speaker 5: to that, you know, there was a certain a certain
Speaker 5: male actor who I will not name, who liked to
Speaker 5: go around season one saying, well, you know, any of
Speaker 5: us guys can get killed at any time. And so,
Speaker 5: you know, for a young actor right out, you know,
Speaker 5: only a few years out of graduate school, I'm walking
Speaker 5: around going like, oh my god, I'm lose my job,
Speaker 5: so you know, and then and then on top of it,
Speaker 5: you know, and I'm just gonna be very frank here.
Speaker 5: It's like to be sitting across a dining room table
Speaker 5: in that first big dining room table scene that we
Speaker 5: did in season one, you know, opposite a Terry Hatcher
Speaker 5: and opposite of Marsha Cross, and it's like, I'm sitting
Speaker 5: here going like what the fuck am I doing here?
Speaker 5: Excuse my French, but it's like it's like.
Speaker 4: How did I am? Is this imposter syndrome? Like what's
Speaker 4: going on?
Speaker 2: I think it's really charming that you've felt that way,
Speaker 2: because I have to say, I am completely with you
Speaker 2: on every job I've ever had, I am waiting to
Speaker 2: be fired, including this one. Like I mean, so I
Speaker 2: was living in the same insecure headspace that you were.
Speaker 2: I have that too, I really do.
Speaker 3: Every time my manager calls, I'm like.
Speaker 2: So wow, that's by the way, are you talking about
Speaker 2: the scene when B says Rex cries when he ejaculate. Yes, Yes,
Speaker 2: what an amazing, amazing scene.
Speaker 5: That one and that whole first season. The writing was
Speaker 5: just off the chart, so good.
Speaker 1: You know, have you rewatched any of it?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 4: And if I'm being really really transparent, I've watched I've
Speaker 4: watched none of my scenes ever.
Speaker 5: Oh wow, I've never I can't watch myself.
Speaker 2: That's okay.
Speaker 5: That just goes back to like theater, so like because
Speaker 5: like you know, when I'm doing a play, I don't
Speaker 5: get to see the performance, right of course, you know,
Speaker 5: so I cannot watch myself at all. It's it's even
Speaker 5: distracting to see my little corner here on my screen
Speaker 5: that has me in it.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Well, let us just tell you you're so good. I mean,
Speaker 2: you're you know what I was saying in the intro
Speaker 2: That really came up for us as we've been reflecting,
Speaker 2: because you know, you heard a lot about the Housewives
Speaker 2: and the show was a big success, and then there
Speaker 2: was lots of like pr craziness. But what you didn't
Speaker 2: hear about is, you know, people talking about how great
Speaker 2: the husbands were. I mean, they did, but they didn't
Speaker 2: really in the way that they should have. And the
Speaker 2: show would have been nowhere without you, guys, and it
Speaker 2: it you you were, you were so good in it.
Speaker 2: So I mean, we're just happy to tell you you
Speaker 2: look and act great on screen if you've never seen well.
Speaker 5: So what I would do is when I was home,
Speaker 5: because you know, i'd be playing back at home to
Speaker 5: San Antonio, Texas, where my son was very little at
Speaker 5: the time, and I was trying to get back there
Speaker 5: to be with him and his mother. And so what
Speaker 5: I would do is we would have a screaming of
Speaker 5: the show on Sunday night, and I would sit in
Speaker 5: there and watch everyone else's scenes, and then, you know,
Speaker 5: knowing the script, when I knew that my scene was
Speaker 5: about to come up, I would go into the other
Speaker 5: room and I would listen to it, but I wouldn't
Speaker 5: watch it. Well yeah, and then and then I'd get
Speaker 5: critiques from from his mother or her friends or sisters
Speaker 5: that were you know, there watching it, and they'd let
Speaker 5: me know whether I did a good job or not
Speaker 5: a good job, and I would go with that and
Speaker 5: you know, figure out how to approach the next episode.
Speaker 2: So do you remember struggling with the level of intensity,
Speaker 2: Like there was a scene that I'm recalling where you
Speaker 2: grabbed her wrist and you were trying to get her
Speaker 2: to sign like a post not a postp not posting
Speaker 2: up a piece of paper, and then you like were
Speaker 2: yelling in her ear like but then there was also
Speaker 2: you know, a scene where you're in the bathtub with bubbles,
Speaker 2: like being silly, Like do you remember for having like
Speaker 2: a particular moment where you would say to Mark, like,
Speaker 2: I think we've gone too far, like I can't be
Speaker 2: this violent?
Speaker 4: Did that?
Speaker 5: Or Latino character for Latino actor or Latino male actor.
Speaker 5: These are tropes and stereotypes that were used to that's
Speaker 5: how those characters are written or had been written. So
Speaker 5: but also I think the industry has gotten away from that.
Speaker 5: When you're dealing with comedy. That's the easiest way to go,
Speaker 5: I think in terms of writing, because it's so definitive,
Speaker 5: so and it's and it's and it's something that everybody
Speaker 5: can access. You know, we all know that Latino guy
Speaker 5: that is like hot headed or whatever, or the guy
Speaker 5: that's very passionate, very dunhuanish. So those are and those
Speaker 5: are stereotypes that have been around for centuries.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's so interesting because we've talked about the
Speaker 1: ways in which the show has aged and the ones
Speaker 1: in which it's aged well or its relevance is still
Speaker 1: really felt for us, and then we've talked about certain
Speaker 1: things that have come up that we think, oh, that's
Speaker 1: clearly dated. It feels marked of that certain time. So
Speaker 1: it's interesting to hear you add that perspective about it.
Speaker 5: If you guys are going to keep which which I
Speaker 5: hope you do first off, because I think this is great.
Speaker 5: But if you're going to continue going down in season two, three, four,
Speaker 5: I mean, there's going to be some humor that you're
Speaker 5: going to see that it's like.
Speaker 4: Now completely dated, and.
Speaker 5: There are some things that back then I even voiced
Speaker 5: my concerns about when like I but I mean again, Terry, like,
Speaker 5: it's not season one, no way, I would have never
Speaker 5: done it.
Speaker 2: But in the whole in the whole series, do you
Speaker 2: have I mean, both for good and bad. Do you
Speaker 2: have like favorite moments, like the most fun something that
Speaker 2: you had an experience with a fellow castmate or the
Speaker 2: particular time of writing for Carlos, Like, even in any
Speaker 2: of the seasons, is there something that stands out that
Speaker 2: you think super fans would enjoy hearing about it?
Speaker 5: It's like, I what I loved was and like there
Speaker 5: were you know, the ladies always had their poker knite, right,
Speaker 5: there was one time one season where we did a
Speaker 5: guy's poker knite and I was like, I wish we
Speaker 5: would have done more of that. Yeah, and then I
Speaker 5: think that was a season that was a season that.
Speaker 4: Do Gray Scott was with us.
Speaker 5: Okay, so and then the one of the other things
Speaker 5: was when my character had to become roommates with James
Speaker 5: Denton's character. Who I mean, James and I still keep
Speaker 5: in contact. I absolutely love him to death, and.
Speaker 2: I just went, we just got to go to dinner
Speaker 2: the other night. So the next time you're in LA
Speaker 2: that's a it's a it's a it's a it's gonna
Speaker 2: be Edelstein. These two girls meet you and James that
Speaker 2: I would love it.
Speaker 5: I would love it, you know, but but he they
Speaker 5: put us together like I was staying at his house
Speaker 5: and there was just like like I had a girl
Speaker 5: over or something and there was just this real awkward
Speaker 5: moment between both of us, and we just loved working together.
Speaker 5: I mean, he and I have kicked around like so
Speaker 5: many times like we should do some sort of theatrical
Speaker 5: show together, like a new version of The Odd Couple
Speaker 5: or something. I just I think the world of him
Speaker 5: and I'd love to work with him on anything.
Speaker 4: He's just a jet.
Speaker 1: I had a memory come up for me when we
Speaker 1: were at dinner, and I'm wondering if you remember this
Speaker 1: first season when we were promoting the show they had
Speaker 1: they had some event kind of like an upfront for
Speaker 1: ABC in Toronto, and they sent you and me, do
Speaker 1: you talk about an Odd Couple?
Speaker 4: Do you remember that? I absolutely remember that. I was
Speaker 4: going to bring it up to you. I so remember
Speaker 4: that because I was like, this is weird, Like she
Speaker 4: you little, and I'm like, you know, and I was
Speaker 4: like I know.
Speaker 1: We were like, we're here to talk about this show,
Speaker 1: Desperate Housewives. Neither one of us are housewives obviously, but
Speaker 1: it's great and these are our roles and you should
Speaker 1: watch the show. And I have really fond memories of
Speaker 1: that with you.
Speaker 5: That was for what that was for CTV or something
Speaker 5: like that in Toronto and Canada.
Speaker 4: Yeah, something something like that.
Speaker 1: But we went, we were tourists in Toronto together, and
Speaker 1: I remember that very fondly.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And you're and you and your parents were there too.
Speaker 4: Right, My mom was with us. Yeah, that's right, I
Speaker 4: remember that. Ye. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well along those lines like experiences like that, did you
Speaker 2: feel like in high like, how did Desperate Housewives change
Speaker 2: your life? Change your career for the good or the
Speaker 2: bad or whatever? Like, how how has it resonated in
Speaker 2: the last fifteen years?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 5: My god, I mean it was absolutely life changing for me,
Speaker 5: you know, you know, I was I was a struggling
Speaker 5: Oh and that maybe not that struggling. I mean, at
Speaker 5: that point I was working pretty consistently, but you know,
Speaker 5: recurring roles and guest stars and some you know, some
Speaker 5: small roles in films. But this was like a huge
Speaker 5: turning point for me, you know, in terms of my career,
Speaker 5: in terms of money and all that stuff. I mean,
Speaker 5: it just it really kind of put me on the map,
Speaker 5: I guess, you know, for for casting. But then it's like,
Speaker 5: you know, I was also on the show for eight years,
Speaker 5: you know, and and what that did in terms of
Speaker 5: the family that was created. I e our crew, you
Speaker 5: know which you know I still keep in touch with
Speaker 5: so many of our crew members from Housewives.
Speaker 4: I mean it was you and I both.
Speaker 2: I feel like we're a lot with the crew, like
Speaker 2: I was really good for I mean, DDA went camp
Speaker 2: with me and I know you've done that. What's that
Speaker 2: amazing walk you do in Spain?
Speaker 5: We did and I did the Camino Santiago together three
Speaker 5: years ago and a half years ago.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I've always wanted to my friend just
Speaker 3: walk to the Camino and she's writing a movie called
Speaker 3: Camino that's like a period piece set on the Camino,
Speaker 3: and I as I've always wanted to say, so Emerson.
Speaker 4: So I did it.
Speaker 5: I did it with d Da Coscas, who is our
Speaker 5: key grip, one of our key grips on the house.
Speaker 5: So I was like three three you were.
Speaker 2: Camping with Emerson and I don't know you were you
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 5: And then and then since then, my son and I
Speaker 5: have been talking about doing it together, but every time
Speaker 5: every summer that it comes up, I ended up booking
Speaker 5: a job.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I got to work. Sorry, I got to
Speaker 4: go to work. Sorry, I got to go to work
Speaker 4: again even this summer.
Speaker 5: But I think when I finished said job that I
Speaker 5: have coming up uh he and I will finally go
Speaker 5: and do it. So we may not get to do
Speaker 5: the main one, the Camino Francis, which takes about about
Speaker 5: thirty thirty one days to complete at thirty three if
Speaker 5: you go all the way to the ocean. But there's
Speaker 5: another one called to coming to put a Medieval, which
Speaker 5: is the shortest one, but it's also the hardest one
Speaker 5: because you go through the history amountains.
Speaker 1: So yeah, wow, well you mentioned your upcoming job. Can
Speaker 1: you tell us what you're working on and what's what's
Speaker 1: exciting you and your work?
Speaker 5: You're picking up on things O whether you're so smart.
Speaker 4: Yes, I've been doing a lot of theater lately.
Speaker 5: This coming twenty twenty six, I will be making my
Speaker 5: Broadway DEBUTU were congratulations.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 4: You can buy tickets. I would I would love for
Speaker 4: you guys to try and find a way.
Speaker 2: To mon I'm totally going to come to over weekend.
Speaker 1: I'm I'll have a little baby, but I will make
Speaker 1: my way there.
Speaker 2: You can't curdy out of myay.
Speaker 4: It is it is It is the new David Lindsay
Speaker 4: Bear play. It's called The Ballusters. He wrote to Good People,
Speaker 4: and he also wrote rabbit Hole, which was turned into
Speaker 4: a movie with Nicole.
Speaker 3: Actually, my dad's wife produced rabbit Hole.
Speaker 4: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm very familiar with his writing.
Speaker 4: He's a brilliant writer. That is so exciting, so great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is really exciting. But not to but not
Speaker 2: we can't. We've got to remind people to go. Also
Speaker 2: see what I saw and loved doing. Is it ballad?
Speaker 2: Is how you pronounce it ballad?
Speaker 4: Which is it's on Amazon Prime?
Speaker 2: And then before that, I loved seeing you in Truth
Speaker 2: Be Told and Selena. You were so great in Selena.
Speaker 2: Like you've done a lot of work since Housewives. You're
Speaker 2: always well, thank you.
Speaker 4: It doesn't feel that way.
Speaker 1: It seems like it that's the actor's played. It never
Speaker 1: feels that way.
Speaker 5: I'm when I'm sitting around for like three weeks, you know,
Speaker 5: everybody in my family's like, there's nothing worse than unemployed
Speaker 5: actor just walking around, you know, any space that we
Speaker 5: reside in.
Speaker 4: But to speak to something, you know, Cherry, I still
Speaker 4: I thank you before and I'm going to thank you again.
Speaker 4: Right now, because you wrote me just one.
Speaker 5: Of the absolutely more beautiful, airing and complimentary emails when
Speaker 5: you watch all of that first season of Selena. It
Speaker 5: was just so kind of you to do that and
Speaker 5: to compliment me like but to say things like you know,
Speaker 5: like you know just how much growth you'd seen in
Speaker 5: me from where I was working on the Housewives to
Speaker 5: this and it was just a very very beautiful and
Speaker 5: kind email.
Speaker 4: So I just again I always want to say thank
Speaker 4: you for that.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad that you got the opportunity to dig
Speaker 2: into something so beautiful and deep and haunting. I mean,
Speaker 2: what an incredible story that was. But and you know,
Speaker 2: playing a real life character too, that's that's that's a
Speaker 2: lot to take on too. And you did it excellent.
Speaker 2: You were you were just excellent. It was it was beautiful.
Speaker 2: So but but going back to the show, the other thing,
Speaker 2: so and in the first season, and by the way,
Speaker 2: if more stories come up that you think our audience
Speaker 2: will want to know about funny things that might have
Speaker 2: happened to you on the set, we're all about that.
Speaker 2: But we were surprised by how violent and sort of
Speaker 2: abusive Carlos was and we were also was surprised that
Speaker 2: Gabby got away with having it with basically being a pedophile.
Speaker 2: I mean, we were just like, what is happening? I mean,
Speaker 2: if you had reversed it and Carlos had been sleeping
Speaker 2: with a fifteen year old oh h or a sixteen
Speaker 2: year old girl, I mean, that would have shut the
Speaker 2: show down. And somehow Gabby was able to be sleeping
Speaker 2: with a sixteen year old boy who, by the way,
Speaker 2: liked his cheerleaders, took baths with a rubber ducky Like
Speaker 2: we we pulled out all these lines of like, you know,
Speaker 2: where he was so clearly a child. Did you do
Speaker 2: you remember having thoughts about that in the moment or
Speaker 2: as you reflect.
Speaker 5: No, I mean because I mean it was kind of
Speaker 5: so sexualized, number one, you know, I mean obviously, but
Speaker 5: also you know, Jesse didn't even though he was a child,
Speaker 5: he didn't look the part of a child, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean, like, and I think that was part
Speaker 5: of what that.
Speaker 1: Was recast, right right, We've spoken about that, is that
Speaker 1: the original actor looked a lot younger, he looked a
Speaker 1: lot more like a teenager.
Speaker 5: That's it, that's it, And I think that's where they
Speaker 5: could not get away with exactly.
Speaker 2: So okay, so you just it sounds like you spent
Speaker 2: a lot of that first season being like, I'm a
Speaker 2: fairly new actor. I'm gonna I'm I hope I don't
Speaker 2: get fired. I'm going to do the best with whatever
Speaker 2: they give me. And that's all I'm doing.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: Okay, So our crew, you know, our camera crew, so
Speaker 5: Rory and Paul and all.
Speaker 4: Those guys, and Lowell Peterson.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they secretly that first season would take me aside
Speaker 5: and like basically teach me or instruct me on how
Speaker 5: to go about working in front of camera and the jargon,
Speaker 5: the vernacular, everything, because it was just I'd done some
Speaker 5: work in front of camera, but not a consistent level
Speaker 5: of work, you know, where it's like you know, daily, weekly, whatever,
Speaker 5: and so I just didn't I didn't have it, you know.
Speaker 5: But the one thing that I did have was I
Speaker 5: had my my theater background.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: There was It's a story that got back to me.
Speaker 5: It was an episode that Larry Shaw was directing and
Speaker 5: it was in the Soli's house that was on Wisteria Lane,
Speaker 5: and it was in that front living room, which was
Speaker 5: a practical living room, so it wasn't on a set,
Speaker 5: so it was really hard to kind of manipulate the space.
Speaker 5: And Larry was having this really hard time with the
Speaker 5: with the scene for whatever reason, and he was like,
Speaker 5: I just don't know how to block is on a block.
Speaker 4: And I wasn't hearing this.
Speaker 5: I was just there right working the scene, to which
Speaker 5: Lowell leaned into him and said, let Ricardo block it.
Speaker 5: And Larry's like, what he goes, let Ricardo block. He
Speaker 5: will block it for you, just let him do it.
Speaker 4: And so and so.
Speaker 5: I give a lot of credit to Lowell for that,
Speaker 5: but I think it's just because of my theater background,
Speaker 5: I understand how to work.
Speaker 4: In space, you know.
Speaker 5: And so it was little things like that that I
Speaker 5: knew that I brought to the table that that would
Speaker 5: work for me. But I still had to kind of
Speaker 5: get get an education. I mean, The Housewives really was
Speaker 5: my education for on camera work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's such a difference obviously in theater you have
Speaker 1: so much more time in a space, you have tech,
Speaker 1: you have all the time to be on your feet
Speaker 1: and in your body, and then of course on a
Speaker 1: set it's really quick. And we've talked about this with
Speaker 1: Terry and and and her approach, and Jamie had had
Speaker 1: said that she always showed up completely off book and
Speaker 1: ready to go because she wanted to really maximize that
Speaker 1: limited time we had to rehearse, and and that was
Speaker 1: super impactful for me as well. Did you and Eva
Speaker 1: take Did you feel like you guys had an approach
Speaker 1: to having, you know, some extra time to rehearse or
Speaker 1: did you feel like you just were kind of shown
Speaker 1: up and just getting right into it.
Speaker 4: It depended from day to day.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And and who was trying to catch a flight
Speaker 5: after a sat so or who was trying to get home? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I hear you were you were you in
Speaker 3: Eva both not based in LA.
Speaker 4: Or that I was not based in LA.
Speaker 5: I mean I was based in LA but my we
Speaker 5: had a house in San Antonio and that's where my
Speaker 5: wife was, that's where our son was, that's where her
Speaker 5: family was, and my family was. But I also kept
Speaker 5: an apartment in Los Angeles. But I would fly back
Speaker 5: and forth and I pretty much did that. It's actually funny.
Speaker 5: The first season, this is another thing that probably a
Speaker 5: lot of people don't know about. Actually the first two seasons,
Speaker 5: I was CouchSurfing for the first two seasons, living on friends' couches,
Speaker 5: trying to save money. Yeah, because because here's this young
Speaker 5: actor who didn't have a ton of money, and then
Speaker 5: all of a sudden was like, Okay, oh my god,
Speaker 5: I'm getting this great paycheck. I didn't want to let
Speaker 5: go of said money. I'd like to put it into
Speaker 5: like college funds for my children and all this stuff.
Speaker 5: And I was like, Okay, how do I do that?
Speaker 4: Hey, will you let me stay on your couch? So
Speaker 4: that's that's what I did for my first time.
Speaker 2: I do think, like, I mean, I had a similar
Speaker 2: you know, I just think you can't take away like
Speaker 2: where where your roots are. And I wasn't raised with,
Speaker 2: you know, a ton of money, and so I've always
Speaker 2: been pretty frugal with the money that I've made because
Speaker 2: I somehow always feel like someone's going to take it
Speaker 2: away from me or you know. I mean, it is
Speaker 2: weird to sort of make up these paranoid stories, but
Speaker 2: you do hear that they happen to people. So I
Speaker 2: was I totally get that, and I also get it's
Speaker 2: like you'll hear authors say this, Like an author will
Speaker 2: write a fiction novel that ends up on the New
Speaker 2: York Times bestseller list, but then they'll tell you I
Speaker 2: don't have another book. And I think actors can feel
Speaker 2: the same way, you know, like, you know, A, am
Speaker 2: I going to get fired while I'm doing the job
Speaker 2: that I've been hired for? And then b will I
Speaker 2: ever get hired again?
Speaker 1: You know, it's not a stable None of these jobs
Speaker 1: are necessarily built around the idea of stability. They're creative
Speaker 1: and they're free flowing, and it does feel like so
Speaker 1: much is not in our control. It's such a mind
Speaker 1: game in that way.
Speaker 5: The one thing that I always expressed to people when
Speaker 5: I'm talking about, you know, this this industry, this business acting,
Speaker 5: I said, the only the one certainty that I know
Speaker 5: is the uncertainty that is this business. That's the absolute
Speaker 5: uncertainty that I have. And when I when I hear
Speaker 5: an actor or somebody in this industry that says, oh no, no,
Speaker 5: everything's gonna be fine, you know, I'm gonna be like,
Speaker 5: it's great that you have that faith.
Speaker 4: It's awesome, but careful, you know, because who is it?
Speaker 4: Don don Chield.
Speaker 5: I was listening to an interview Don Cheadle one time,
Speaker 5: and he was like, you know, it's not like Hollywood
Speaker 5: tells you the phone it's going to stop bringing me.
Speaker 2: It just does, right, it just stops. I'm I'm a
Speaker 2: little bit in that space, I'll admit, and it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's uh, but you can't. All you can do is
Speaker 2: like try to reinvent yourself. Oh, by the way, did
Speaker 2: I tell you that I'm also going to be doing
Speaker 2: a play.
Speaker 4: Did we talk about it when.
Speaker 2: I did? And so I do have the date? So yeah,
Speaker 2: Jason Alexander is directing a brand new play and it's
Speaker 2: going to be like mid March to the end of May.
Speaker 2: So I know that's sort of when your play starts
Speaker 2: to open. But I'm hoping that it'll at least be
Speaker 2: able to get there for a night.
Speaker 4: If there's a way that I can get to you
Speaker 4: is I'll absolutely do it for sure.
Speaker 3: Otherwise, I'm going to have a lot of theater in
Speaker 3: my spring. I'm going to be flying all over the
Speaker 3: United States to see people that I love in amazing plays.
Speaker 3: I can't wait.
Speaker 2: But I'm so excited to have the opportunity. And I
Speaker 2: will say what I was going to say is you can't.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's just no sense in being angry or
Speaker 2: resentful or whatever. Like, you just have to keep reinventing
Speaker 2: yourself and and just try to keep yourself open to
Speaker 2: the universe and keep working on whatever you're in control
Speaker 2: of and until that part comes to you. But but
Speaker 2: I'm so happy that you've been doing so much. It's
Speaker 2: so fun. Like when when when I don't know that
Speaker 2: you're in a series and then I watch something, you know,
Speaker 2: at night by myself in my house and I turned
Speaker 2: something on and I'm like, oh.
Speaker 7: There's Cardo.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yay, here's a here's a question for you.
Speaker 1: I'm just curious, and I think people would love to
Speaker 1: know we were We got to be on the show
Speaker 1: for so many seasons. So much life was lived on
Speaker 1: Westeria Lane. Did you keep anything? Do you have any
Speaker 1: mementos from set or from the show that you still have?
Speaker 1: I have I have a couple of things that still
Speaker 1: matter to me a lot. I have the thermis that
Speaker 1: the Desperate Housewives that Desperate house Guys gave us season one.
Speaker 1: You all gave us a Christmas gift of the Desperate
Speaker 1: Housewives thermos. And I have my warming jacket that says
Speaker 1: my name and things like that.
Speaker 5: Do you have anything let's see there is a thing
Speaker 5: of poker chips, housewives.
Speaker 4: What else?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, there's a blank get two that I think
Speaker 5: like some sort of knitted type blanket that I have,
Speaker 5: mm hmm what else?
Speaker 4: And then I actually.
Speaker 5: I have one of the entire suits and shirts and ties.
Speaker 2: From clothes. Do you remember either in regards to wardrobe
Speaker 2: or any or hair and makeup or or anything of
Speaker 2: like how it seemed like shoe string They just didn't
Speaker 2: have what they might have needed to get the show shot.
Speaker 4: He didn't seem to mind spending money on my.
Speaker 2: Well, why because because Carlos had a lot of expensive
Speaker 2: suits that all went.
Speaker 5: To Carlos's suits.
Speaker 4: I had these, I had these suits, like I mean
Speaker 4: just like really smith Zenya.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they they wanted to do me up, you know,
Speaker 5: really successful. Money you go, which is which is yeah,
Speaker 5: there you go, right, Which is also funny because it's
Speaker 5: like you never really knew what.
Speaker 4: My character did.
Speaker 2: Well, didn't he just like steal other people's money, like
Speaker 2: like shuffle shuffle money around and make money on other
Speaker 2: people's I don't know.
Speaker 4: The term is called the term is called borrow.
Speaker 2: Terry borrow Okay, okay, he borrowed other people's money, yep,
Speaker 2: and then made interest off of that, and then.
Speaker 4: Yes, Ponik.
Speaker 2: White collar crime.
Speaker 4: A Latino made off there. You go.
Speaker 1: So well, we obviously, you know, part of this podcast experience,
Speaker 1: we've gotten to share with people how close Terry and
Speaker 1: I have remained in Emerson and I have gotten to
Speaker 1: be over the years of the show. And what a
Speaker 1: beautiful perk that is that the show provided us this deep,
Speaker 1: beautiful relationship of all these many years. And you've mentioned
Speaker 1: you've been tight with Jamie over the years. Is there
Speaker 1: anyone else from the and of course are wonderful crew.
Speaker 1: Is there anyone else from the show that you've kept
Speaker 1: in touch with, you know.
Speaker 5: Every every now and then, And it was more so
Speaker 5: it's it's kind of fallen off a little bit. But
Speaker 5: David Grossman and I had kept in touch for a
Speaker 5: long time. Doug Savant, you know, we've we've kept in
Speaker 5: touch all the I mean all the guys, Mark Moses,
Speaker 5: Doug Savant, myself, James Denton, we have all kept in
Speaker 5: pretty good touch.
Speaker 2: Well, I have to say, I'm so touched by just
Speaker 2: how amazing it you all are. And this, this podcast
Speaker 2: in itself has been fun for me because you know,
Speaker 2: people think of all of us having gotten to work
Speaker 2: together because it was this big ensemble, but the truth
Speaker 2: is you really only got to work within your character storyline,
Speaker 2: and so like you and I never worked together that much,
Speaker 2: Like I would love to work with you, like you're
Speaker 2: so put out out I am, I'm putting it out there.
Speaker 2: I would love to work with.
Speaker 4: You, And She's absolutely right. We didn't.
Speaker 5: We had that one moment where I think we did
Speaker 5: that little small arc between our two characters for I
Speaker 5: think three or four episodes it was like season six
Speaker 5: or season seven or something like that. Yeah, and I
Speaker 5: just it was so refreshing, you know, and I was
Speaker 5: just completely like, Wow, she's like an absolute professional, like
Speaker 5: just knew knew what, like came in ready to go.
Speaker 5: But it was also so giving and so just like mutual,
Speaker 5: Like it was just it was wonderful. I was like this,
Speaker 5: this is really great, and I wish I could have
Speaker 5: had more of that.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, I mean, just a consummate professional.
Speaker 3: I'm so grateful that you're here with us and that
Speaker 3: you were able to give us so much insight into
Speaker 3: your experience on the show and your experience now and
Speaker 3: may I ask.
Speaker 5: Everson, how is it for you, like, because you're watching
Speaker 5: this for the first time.
Speaker 4: Is that correct?
Speaker 3: I'm watching it for the first time, and it's been amazing.
Speaker 3: I was saying, it's been amazing to get to watch
Speaker 3: my mom's body of work and to also get to
Speaker 3: really sperience a show that felt so cultural, culturally relevant
Speaker 3: when it aired and continues to, you know, in this
Speaker 3: stylized world that lays right on top of reality, feel
Speaker 3: so potent even today. And it's incredible. I mean, I
Speaker 3: know you don't watch yourself, but I have to say,
Speaker 3: as a child of an actor, it's incredible to have
Speaker 3: a testament, a physical testament to your parents' accomplishments and passion.
Speaker 3: And it's been really moving and beautiful to get to
Speaker 3: witness that. And I mean, I'm excited for season two.
Speaker 4: It's nice to hear your insight, you know, it really is.
Speaker 2: Thank you, she's a smart cookie.
Speaker 4: Do.
Speaker 2: I think that's another great thing. We all learn from
Speaker 2: each other every every episode, which is so nice to
Speaker 2: have friends and family in your life that you are
Speaker 2: continued to be inspired by and learn from.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Emerson Unlock's perspectives on the show that just I
Speaker 1: don't know that I would have access to without her
Speaker 1: being here a part of it with us, and it's
Speaker 1: so cool.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you.
Speaker 3: It's a big love fest over here and I'm so
Speaker 3: glad to have you here.
Speaker 2: So, Ricardo, our show is called Desperately Devoted. So we
Speaker 2: would love to ask you if there's anything in your
Speaker 2: life as we are getting ready to wrap this up
Speaker 2: that you are desperately devoted to that might be good
Speaker 2: to share with an audience and could be like your
Speaker 2: mental outlook, your exercise routine, what you eat, like, what
Speaker 2: makes you happy? Do you feel desperately devoted to anything?
Speaker 5: I'm desperately, absolutely desperately devoted to my two children for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And then aside from them, I'm desperately devoted to my
Speaker 5: two furry children.
Speaker 4: That are my two kiddies.
Speaker 5: One is he's a big ginger boy and his name
Speaker 5: Ginger Tabby and his name is Sonny. And then the
Speaker 5: other one is just the most gorgeous little calico you've
Speaker 5: ever seen, and her name is cher. So I have
Speaker 5: Sonny and share around my house. Yeah, And aside from that,
Speaker 5: an occasional you know, sip of whiskey and a nice
Speaker 5: I p a and and all my theater works, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing. Okay, Can I just say for our
Speaker 2: audience the idea that really violent, abusive Carlos is desperately
Speaker 2: devoted to his two kiddies. I'm just I'm just putting
Speaker 2: those together, and I just think everyone is gonna love that.
Speaker 2: Everyone is gonna love that Carlos loves his kiddies.
Speaker 5: My hope for you guys is that you go through this,
Speaker 5: you know, hopefully through the gamut, you know, through all
Speaker 5: the seasons, if you're going to do this, because I
Speaker 5: think you're going to see an immense change on this character.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're excited to tell Ryan, well, we're desperately
Speaker 2: devoted to you. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2: We're so great to see. We know our audience is
Speaker 2: just going to love hearing everything you had to say
Speaker 2: because we are desperately devoted to you.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Well, I likewise, and anytime you guys need be
Speaker 5: back for anything, I'm happy to doing.
Speaker 1: We will have more questions for you, So we would
Speaker 1: love to have you back.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks honey.
Speaker 6: By Yeah h
Speaker 1: M hm