Speaker 1: Back in twenty twenty, when the TV show ted Lasso premiered,
Speaker 1: I was hooked, and I especially remember that a few
Speaker 1: episodes in a new character showed up an energetic, super
Speaker 1: optimistic footballer from Guaala Lajara, Mexico. I remember him because
Speaker 1: I was sure that either he was or had been
Speaker 1: a soccer player in real life. I don't know. There
Speaker 1: was just something about the way he moved with the ball,
Speaker 1: his speed. Hey you, hey, I'm from just thank you
Speaker 1: for opportunity.
Speaker 2: You're a spirit fellaw Danny. He's going out there and
Speaker 2: you get the striped spot for it.
Speaker 3: Just like that, you say, I do it, coach, ply die.
Speaker 2: With ted Lasso.
Speaker 3: The main reason why I got the role is because
Speaker 3: of my football soccer skills.
Speaker 1: Growing up, Cristo Fernandez dreamed of being a professional football player,
Speaker 1: trained and planned because soccer was his life, but getting
Speaker 1: there wouldn't be so linear. Turns out it was acting
Speaker 1: that would eventually lead him to playing professionally.
Speaker 3: It's also a reminder that everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you think, why is this happening to me? Is
Speaker 3: the worst of the worst, But I mean I could
Speaker 3: have kept going, maybe without the injuries, maybe I would
Speaker 3: have ended up playing Whatatemala or in another second division
Speaker 3: in Mexico. But turns out there was a bigger blessing
Speaker 3: for me and ted Lasso was that.
Speaker 2: I mean, it was my first professional acting job.
Speaker 1: That's so crazy to think about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is crazy that, like, your first.
Speaker 1: Big role is in such a huge show and a
Speaker 1: show that brings together who you are as a person,
Speaker 1: your soccer skills and your acting skills. Like it feels
Speaker 1: like a total trifecta.
Speaker 2: It's a dream come true, like I could have never Yes.
Speaker 1: From Futuro Studios am Fernande Chavarri and This is American Football,
Speaker 1: a show about soccer culture in the US and its
Speaker 1: underdog roots ted Lasso. The hit Apple TV show was
Speaker 1: co created by its main character, comedian Jason Sideikis, and
Speaker 1: some might say that it helped popularize the sport of
Speaker 1: soccer in the United States. He plays an American football
Speaker 1: coach as in NFL Football, who moves to the UK
Speaker 1: and runs an English soccer team AFC Richmond. And the
Speaker 1: thing about it is this show came out in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty during a frightening uncertain time full of death and
Speaker 1: doom scrolling. This is peak pandemic. Ted Lasso provided the
Speaker 1: world with a perfect easy comfort watch full of humor, positive,
Speaker 1: unlovable characters the people were craving. Cristo plays one of
Speaker 1: those lovable characters, named Danny Rojas, a Mexican guy for whom,
Speaker 1: in true Latin American fashion, football is life.
Speaker 2: Football is life.
Speaker 3: When we were shooting Season one, I came and did
Speaker 3: my scenes for the first time, and then I said,
Speaker 3: football is live. And then some of my castmates were like,
Speaker 3: I have a feeling. Everyone's gonna tell you football is
Speaker 3: life a lot. And then there everyone left, and then
Speaker 3: Jason was there with his mustache and was like, well,
Speaker 3: better to be known for football is life than are
Speaker 3: you the murder from CESI, New York.
Speaker 2: And I was like, ah, yeah, it's true.
Speaker 3: And when people approached me, like I'm lucky enough that
Speaker 3: I'm known for positive things.
Speaker 2: Football is live. No no no no no no no no.
Speaker 3: No no no. Danny Rojas is a Mexican football soccer player
Speaker 3: from guall A Llajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Speaker 1: Just like me, The fictional character of Danny Rojas was
Speaker 1: all smiles, radiating positivity as he parachuted into the UK.
Speaker 1: How much did you influence how the character became everything?
Speaker 2: That's why Dannie Rochas and I are the same guy.
Speaker 1: Tell me more, Tell me more.
Speaker 3: Initially, Dannie Rochas was the ahole egocentric dude from the team.
Speaker 1: Here's a clip from Christo's audition from that version of
Speaker 1: Danny Rojas.
Speaker 2: Danny, can I ask you something? It's ry kilos, mate.
Speaker 3: I do three cents of ten, then I do a
Speaker 3: forty five second one arm plant.
Speaker 2: While I use my other hand for the gram. Then
Speaker 2: I do twenty five kilos for my Bodes and Trice.
Speaker 3: Turns out they really loved my audition as the egocentric
Speaker 3: but they thought of something different for me and they
Speaker 3: made Danny Rojas the charismatic dude. All the roles we
Speaker 3: all actors influentiate them. The characters are based on us
Speaker 3: as the actors. Because at the beginning, Dannie Rochas was
Speaker 3: just joyful and there's lots of energy.
Speaker 4: The product you must like to get into business with
Speaker 4: is joy.
Speaker 2: See mucho mucho joy.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I can get you paid for that, though.
Speaker 2: I like to give away joy for free.
Speaker 3: But then in season three. He also showed that competitive aspect.
Speaker 2: Congrats bro, I am not your bro.
Speaker 3: We are no enemies which I relate to, and so
Speaker 3: that's why I say that we're the same guy. My
Speaker 3: mother always said that Christoval only breathes, sleeps things, speaks
Speaker 3: football soccer and like many young kids in Mexico.
Speaker 1: But also some of this might have to do with
Speaker 1: Cristo's excessive amount of energy.
Speaker 3: My Grandmammy used to take care a lot of me,
Speaker 3: and apparently because I was very hyperactive, she told me, come,
Speaker 3: let's go and kick and I started to kick it
Speaker 3: and that was it for me. I fell in love
Speaker 3: with the ball and from there on that was my
Speaker 3: favorite sports. And I did the school for football soccer,
Speaker 3: then the forsas Vaska's we say in Mexico, and then
Speaker 3: I started professionally when I was fifteen in Gua Allajara
Speaker 3: in Tecos.
Speaker 1: And even though his parents were a little wary of
Speaker 1: his dreams to become a professional soccer player, Cristo says
Speaker 1: they were supportive of his passion.
Speaker 3: They've always seen how determined, how when I say something,
Speaker 3: I just go and do it. They've always seen how
Speaker 3: much I give of myself to whatever I say. So
Speaker 3: high school, I did it at night and kept playing
Speaker 3: once twice per day, and then didn't study university for
Speaker 3: almost two years.
Speaker 1: In those two gap years, Cristo could focus on playing
Speaker 1: soccer and give the sport all his attention. At least
Speaker 1: that was the plan. But see, there was this music
Speaker 1: school near his house that he would pass by on
Speaker 1: his way to soccer practice, and Cristo says he got
Speaker 1: a little curious, so he started taking classes to learn
Speaker 1: how to play guitar, piano and how to sing. His
Speaker 1: teammates thought it was a little weird. Cristo told him
Speaker 1: it was just a way to kill time and burn
Speaker 1: off some of that extra energy he's always had. But
Speaker 1: it was definitely more than that. An artistic side of
Speaker 1: him that he'd had since he was a child began
Speaker 1: to come out.
Speaker 3: That was the little artist book that I think I
Speaker 3: started without knowing.
Speaker 2: And my sister says that I've.
Speaker 3: Always been crazy, like always speaking and making up stories
Speaker 3: since we were kids and playing.
Speaker 1: And while he was loving his time at the music school,
Speaker 1: he was going hard on training on the field because
Speaker 1: football was still his big goal. But just as his
Speaker 1: professional career was lifting off, his ambitions were derailed. It
Speaker 1: happened in a training session before his profess debut. Christo
Speaker 1: says he ran down the field and was so focused
Speaker 1: on defending the ball that he collided with three teammates,
Speaker 1: falling to the ground and momentarily passing out. When he
Speaker 1: came to and tried to stand, he couldn't keep his balance.
Speaker 1: He had torn his meniscus and lost cartilage in his
Speaker 1: left knee. The injury was so bad it cost him
Speaker 1: his first division contract at nineteen years old.
Speaker 3: I had to make sistential prices when I realized things
Speaker 3: didn't go the way I want. But more than the injuries,
Speaker 3: it was my mentality. I didn't see myself good enough
Speaker 3: or great enough, and those insecurities I think those were
Speaker 3: the ones that define me and ended up giving me
Speaker 3: those injury moments more than the actual injuries.
Speaker 1: After the break, as one dream vanishes, another one comes true.
Speaker 3: I ended up in Guilford, which is a little town
Speaker 3: outside London, and there were no Latinos at all.
Speaker 2: Probably just want.
Speaker 1: To know the one place in the UK where there
Speaker 1: were no Mexicans. That's where you're like, that's where I'm
Speaker 1: want to go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1: It's American Football. I'm Fernando Charvai. After his injuries, Cristo
Speaker 1: was heartbroken and at a real crossroads in life. The
Speaker 1: thing he had been pursuing since he was a kid
Speaker 1: now felt like an impossibility. Cristo's parents pleaded with him
Speaker 1: to go to college and study something anything.
Speaker 3: So I started communication because in my head I thought
Speaker 3: that was an easy career, and because some people told me,
Speaker 3: you see films, and I thought like, I'm gonna watch films.
Speaker 1: Turned out he had to do a lot more work
Speaker 1: than just watch films. But anyway, as he was going
Speaker 1: to college in his hometown of Wallajata, he did continue
Speaker 1: to play soccer as a hobby.
Speaker 3: And one day I helped someone with some student films
Speaker 3: and they told me, ah, can you help me with
Speaker 3: another one?
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh yeah, cool, Yes, I liked this.
Speaker 3: And then I started helping everybody with their student films
Speaker 3: aside from doing my own. And that's how I became
Speaker 3: like the actor guy that helps.
Speaker 1: That's how I became the actor guy.
Speaker 2: I love that. Okay.
Speaker 1: So he's twenty two now and his injuries have healed.
Speaker 1: He says he likes going to college but still has
Speaker 1: a nagging what if in his mind, what if he
Speaker 1: were to make soccer more than a hobby again. So
Speaker 1: he paused school for about a year to play semi
Speaker 1: professionally for Guayama FC in Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2: And I gave everything.
Speaker 3: That's the first time I pushed myself to get out
Speaker 3: of my comfort zone, to get out of Guadallahara, my
Speaker 3: beloved to Galla.
Speaker 1: And the team did okay enough to almost qualify for
Speaker 1: the concac CAF Champions League, but once again things didn't
Speaker 1: go as planned.
Speaker 3: If we had won, I could have gone to another
Speaker 3: tournament that then could have given me other opportunities. But
Speaker 3: we've lost, and I was like, this is it? Like
Speaker 3: I just gave football soccer.
Speaker 2: A lot, and I'm not doing it anymore.
Speaker 3: It's too painful. I cannot be here all the time.
Speaker 3: For those out there, like who watched Ted Lasso, I
Speaker 3: relate a lot with the Roy Kent storyline where he
Speaker 3: finishes his career, But then what's afterwards?
Speaker 2: What's after football soccer? Right?
Speaker 4: Roy Kent's been the best player on every time he's
Speaker 4: been on since he was a kid. I lot being
Speaker 4: Roy Kent. I don't know if I can handle just
Speaker 4: being some loser has been called Roy just the game
Speaker 4: to me, so I've ever known who I am. It's
Speaker 4: all liab.
Speaker 1: For Cristo, what came after soccer was finishing college and
Speaker 1: then freaking out his parents yet again by telling them
Speaker 1: that he now wanted to pursue another long shot career.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful I discovered something that I love, but also
Speaker 3: that gave my parents another heart attack, because then I
Speaker 3: don't want I'm not going to play fools.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's fine, and then we're like, oh, thank god.
Speaker 3: But now that I'm studying communication, I realized I want
Speaker 3: to be an actor. And they we're like, oh, yes,
Speaker 3: ideas me, Christo.
Speaker 2: All these kids.
Speaker 3: But my dad told me intelligently, do whatever you want
Speaker 3: to do if you want to be an actor. Okay, Cristo,
Speaker 3: but just get out of here and study. And I
Speaker 3: was like, okay.
Speaker 1: Cristo says he worked in restaurants, he did some photography work,
Speaker 1: and even did about a two year stint as a
Speaker 1: life insurance salesman to save enough money to go to
Speaker 1: acting school.
Speaker 3: I always say that I don't know if I'm talented
Speaker 3: enough in anything I do. And I don't care. That's
Speaker 3: for people to the side. But I am a hard
Speaker 3: worker man because that's what my parents taught me. And
Speaker 3: I was brave enough to get out of my comfort zone.
Speaker 1: And what's more, out of the comfort zone of what Alajara, Mexico.
Speaker 1: The Guildford School of Acting in Surrey, England.
Speaker 3: So I went abroad, didn't know anyone. The weather was horrible,
Speaker 3: food is not great. I ended up in Guildford, which
Speaker 3: is a little town outside London, and there were no Latinos.
Speaker 3: I all probably just want.
Speaker 1: The one place in the UK where there were no Mexicans.
Speaker 1: That's where you like, That's where I'm going to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But that pushed me in every single way to
Speaker 3: just give my best and the fact that I saved
Speaker 3: so much money and my parents sold a car and
Speaker 3: helped me with that too, and I put all of
Speaker 3: my savings and for me, it was like I have
Speaker 3: to give my best shot, give everything for this crazy dream.
Speaker 1: Christal graduated in twenty eighteen. He didn't have a work
Speaker 1: visa though, so he had to leave and come back
Speaker 1: to the UK every six months. He worked under the
Speaker 1: table at a Mexican restaurant and in his spare time,
Speaker 1: he shot short films with borrowed equipment from the school
Speaker 1: and went on additions.
Speaker 3: I actually almost got a role in the Royal Shakespeare
Speaker 3: Company in the UK, but the only reason why I
Speaker 3: didn't get it at the end was because I didn't
Speaker 3: have a work visit.
Speaker 1: But he still felt like the UK was where he
Speaker 1: had the best chance of success, and he was right
Speaker 1: because serendipitously, he saw casting call for a show being
Speaker 1: shot in the UK that just so happened to be
Speaker 1: about his other favorite thing in the world.
Speaker 3: Soccer, Dannie Rogus is for me, it's a reminder of
Speaker 3: always remember the good things, because even if you're doing
Speaker 3: the things you loved the most in life, sometimes you
Speaker 3: can get stressed. But Dannie Rojas loves football. For him,
Speaker 3: football his life, and sometimes football you never know what's
Speaker 3: going to happen.
Speaker 2: It can be a bit hectic.
Speaker 3: You sacrifice so many things, but it's always good to
Speaker 3: remind yourself why you're doing these things.
Speaker 2: Are you doing it for your family? Are you doing
Speaker 2: it because you love it?
Speaker 3: And for me, I'm grateful that I got chosen for
Speaker 3: this big show that became so successful, but that meant
Speaker 3: so much for so many people. The fact that I
Speaker 3: can play a Mexican Latino and that really represents me
Speaker 3: because in what a lahare. If you go at my
Speaker 3: mom's house, my mom will cook for you and tell
Speaker 3: you I see that day and let me give you
Speaker 3: food and drinks and make you feel at home.
Speaker 2: And that's Danny Rogue has too.
Speaker 3: And one time I was at a coffee shop and
Speaker 3: someone just grabbed my shoulder and I was like, oh
Speaker 3: my god, and then grab my hand and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, and then started to cry and tell
Speaker 3: me with tears how much Danny Roe hasn't at last
Speaker 3: on Football is Life And like that hit me and
Speaker 3: that became a reminder that whatever we do in life,
Speaker 3: it can mean so much to someone, and you don't
Speaker 3: know how much you can impact someone's life.
Speaker 1: After the break, fiction becomes reality. It's American football and
Speaker 1: Fernande Charvalis. So far, there have been three seasons of
Speaker 1: Ted Larsa, with the third one ending in May twenty three,
Speaker 1: and after that season wrapped, Cristo started thinking about soccer
Speaker 1: again outside of a TV show. Because not only was
Speaker 1: Ted Lasso a blessing for his acting career, it reignited
Speaker 1: his passion for his first love football.
Speaker 3: As things kept going and I was fulfilling dreams as
Speaker 3: a football soccer player without being a football soccer player.
Speaker 3: So sometimes people were like, ah, but can you actually play?
Speaker 2: Do you actually play? Do you really play? And maybe
Speaker 2: they were.
Speaker 3: Not saying it with bad intentions, but that kind of
Speaker 3: like hit me and stayed on me. And I love challenges.
Speaker 3: I cannot be relaxed and quiet. I'm very hyperactive.
Speaker 1: I guess you're still that kid that needed to be
Speaker 1: kicking that ball from you, Abuela.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that played with Maya Wilita Mami.
Speaker 1: So for two years now, in his early thirties, he's
Speaker 1: quietly putting his head down and training like a pro.
Speaker 1: What he wants is to actually become a pro when
Speaker 1: he finally lifts his head and starts telling people his plans.
Speaker 3: Even my dad was like, Cristoval, please don't like see
Speaker 3: how far you've gotten in with this crazier dream and
Speaker 3: now you're going back to that.
Speaker 1: But they know that once he sets his mind on something,
Speaker 1: there's no changing it.
Speaker 3: I explained my dad how much this dream means to me,
Speaker 3: and he understood and he believed in me, and he
Speaker 3: told me, Okay, if there's someone who can do this,
Speaker 3: it's you. And last year, unfortunately my dad passed away
Speaker 3: in December. Oh Crystal, but became an inspiration for me
Speaker 3: and I know he's watching and supporting me, and my
Speaker 3: mom also in Guadalajare is supporting me.
Speaker 1: By twenty twenty six, Cristo felt like he was ready
Speaker 1: and he started training with Chicago Fire Too, the reserve
Speaker 1: team of the MLS club Chicago Fire, before moving to
Speaker 1: Texas to train with the MLS team El Paso Locomotive
Speaker 1: and after a two month trial period with that club
Speaker 1: and Passo Locomotive has signed a new player who we
Speaker 1: are all too familiar with, Christoph Fernandez, known best for
Speaker 1: his character Danny Rojas in Tadlas.
Speaker 4: So don't just play.
Speaker 1: A professional soccer player on TV, No, he is a
Speaker 1: professional soccer player after signing a contract.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a full circle moment and I'm grateful
Speaker 3: with the coaches and my teammates, especially because since day
Speaker 3: one they let me compete. It's been a process adapting
Speaker 3: myself to the game again, the rhythm. But it's a
Speaker 3: long season, so I invite people to come to bring
Speaker 3: people in family.
Speaker 1: Can I come to a game. Oh please, Yes, I'm
Speaker 1: getting that vibe from the character like meeting you. Now
Speaker 1: that this is a true, genuine version of you. How
Speaker 1: do you put yourself in that mindset? And how do
Speaker 1: you find the good and the positive and keep yourself
Speaker 1: in that way?
Speaker 3: It's easier to go on the root of just not
Speaker 3: putting that positive energy out there. I always try to
Speaker 3: put myself in someone else's shoe, and life is tough
Speaker 3: and life can be hard, but also being kind to
Speaker 3: other people actually opens you doors.
Speaker 2: It actually does.
Speaker 3: What has given me opportunities was to put myself in
Speaker 3: places where I am an outsider, but I embrace who
Speaker 3: I am. I am very very Mexican, yes, and I
Speaker 3: say Grassias. And when someone helps me, someone is good
Speaker 3: to you, you in good to them. And then even
Speaker 3: hearing a past locomotive, I'm grateful they see some football
Speaker 3: soccer talent in me. But I also think that they
Speaker 3: see a nice person because if I was ahole, wouldn't
Speaker 3: yeah give me an opportunity in saying in TEDLASO if
Speaker 3: I could have done an amazing acting job, but if
Speaker 3: I was not a good person, they wouldn't have given
Speaker 3: me the role And that's for anything in life.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, thank you so much for your time, Cristo Fernandez,
Speaker 1: such a pleasure to speak with you, much as folm
Speaker 1: is Fernande. American Football is produced by Futuro Studios in
Speaker 1: collaboration with Iheart's Michael Dura podcast network. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Fernando Charvari. This episode was produced by Levi Sharp. It
Speaker 1: was edited by me and our senior editor, Rebecca Barra.
Speaker 1: She also did the fact checking. Mixing by Brandon Grugel
Speaker 1: at Multitude Productions, legal review by Jonathan Fisher at Fisher
Speaker 1: Legal Arts. Victoria Strada is our production manager Andrescavagero is
Speaker 1: also part of our team. Our executive produce are Marlon
Speaker 1: Bishop and Maria Garcia at Puturo Studios. Executive producers at
Speaker 1: iHeart are Leo Gomes and Arlene Santana. Puturo Media was
Speaker 1: founded by Maria Nohosa. You can listen to more episodes
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. And if you like our show, please don't
Speaker 1: forget to give us a rating or a review or
Speaker 1: just tell other people about it. Yeah, thanks for listening.