Currently one of the final five celebrity contestants on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars,  Cristián de la Fuente has has a busy year.  He recently had recurring roles on Lifetime’s Side Order of Life and CBS’s The Class, and on ABC’s Ugly Betty.  He also guested on USA’s Psych.  Next up for the versatile performer is this summer’s wildly anticipated In Plain Sight on USA. 

In Plain Sight is a crime drama set and filmed in New Mexico, and stars Mary McCormack as Mary Shannon, a US Marshal attached to the Federal Witness Protection Program.  Mary protects and manages relocated Federal Witnesses from all over the country, helping them to reestablish their lives.  While her job leaves little time for her involvement, her boyfriend Raphael Ramirez, played by  Cristián de la Fuente, gets the rawest deal of all, as she uses her job as an excuse to avoid commitment.

Cristián recently took time out to discuss his role and the character he will play on the new series with MediaBlvd Magazine, and others.

Question>  We’re very much looking forward to the show and to your role in it.  I was wondering if you could start by telling us in your own words what is the premise of In Plain Sight?

Cristián de la Fuente>   The show is about Mary’s life, a beautiful role played by Mary McCormack.  She’s an agent from the Witness Protection Service.  The show tells the story of how she deals with her personal life, where nobody knows what she does for a living, and her professional life, where she has to protect a witness every episode.  Pretty much, that’s what the show is about.

Question>  Mary has mentioned that she really feels a strong connection to her character and feels like she’s a lot like her.  How do you feel about your character, and do you feel there are a lot of similarities or not as many?

 Cristián>  I think every TV show or every movie it is very important, the casting process.  That’s why executives, they don’t create a character, they sign actors that have some connection to the character.  I think they did a great job here because Mary really feels like her character, Mary also.  In my case, Raphael is pretty much like me.  The only difference is I’m an actor; he’s a baseball player.  The way we see life, the sense of humor that we have, how we approach relationships and how we approach life is very similar.  Plus, Raphael and me, we’re both immigrants in this country and we both have an accent, so it’s really funny.

Question>  What drew you to the role of Raphael?

 Cristián>  You know, when I read the script and I saw the sense of humor, the way Raphael was written and his personality, it was really appealing to the way I see life.  Also, I’m very proud to be a Latino in this country and to play positive role models on television.  There are enough drug dealers and killers and thieves played by Latinos.  It’s great being able to play a successful baseball player on a television show.

Question>  How different is this character from other characters that you’ve played? 

 Cristián>  Well, this character has something very special that is very different from other characters.  I think here is where David Maples, who is the Writer and Executive Producer of the show, did a really great job and took a chance that I’m always going to be thankful for.  Many times, in roles that I’ve played, the character is already written and then I have to play that character.  Here, this character, started with an idea that David had in mind and then he started writing the character with my personality.  I didn’t have to hide my accent, I didn’t have to change my sense of humor, I didn’t have to change anything.  The character has a lot to do with myself.  I was very happy that I didn’t have to fight my accent or the fact that English is not my first language.  He was able to introduce that in the show, and be part of my character.  Sometimes I get misunderstood and Mary doesn’t understand me or I try to say something and it comes across the wrong way, which are things that happen to me in real life.  I’m very happy that happens also to my character.

Cheryl Burke and Cristian de la Fuente on the April 28th, 2008 Dancing With The Stars(ABC/KELSEY McNEAL)

 Cristián>  It’s really funny because I’m a Latino and I’m supposed to enjoy all the Latin dances and not like the ballroom, classic dances.  But, last week, I did the foxtrot and for me, it was a lot of fun.  It’s a dance that I have enjoyed the most and I think that was reflected, also, in the scores that I got from the judges.  I was having a lot of fun.  I like them all, but probably the hardest one for me was the rumba because it was a very slow song.  I think the problem was that the music that we had for the dance wasn’t appropriate, so I don’t think I didn’t like the dance; I didn’t like the song that we had to dance to.

Question>  We’ve seen you in quite a bit of stuff lately.  You’re kind of all over the place.  Do you have any favorite parts that you’ve played or favorite roles from the various things that you’ve been doing lately?

 Cristián>  Well, I think acting is like life in a way and like relationships, you know?  I’m never going to forget my first movie because it was kind of my first love.  It’s like your first girlfriend, your first movie or your first big project.  That was the movie that I did with Stallone, Driven.  Then, as life also, then your favorite one is your last one because it’s the one that you have more recently done and the one that you were able to put everything that you learned in life to play.  My favorite will be Driven because it my first and then In Plain Sight now because I’m very happy that I was able to be part of this show.

Question>  How different it was working on a comedy like Ugly Betty versus more drama-driven shows you’ve done in the past?

 Cristián>  I’ve tried to always put a little comedy in drama.  The good thing about Ugly Betty is it was 100% comedy.  I had a lot of fun.  I think I have a way of looking at life that is with a sense of humor.  Even the worst things in life, always when you look at them, after weeks or months, there is some humor in them.  It was always good to do comedy.  That’s why I really like, also, In Plain Sight because even though it’s a drama, it has a lot of humor in it. 

Question>  Do do you think we’ll ever see the tango on Dancing with the Stars? 

 Cristián>  This week, we have the Viennese Waltz and we have the samba.  I’m really working hard because if we survive this week, we survive the bloody Tuesday – that’s what we call it – or torture the Latino Tuesday, because you have casual Friday’s and torture the Latino Tuesday.  People don’t know, but in dress rehearsals they always kick me out.  I’ve been kicked out of the show three times already.  Thank God not for real.  If we survive this week, I’m pretty sure we would have the tango next week.  I’m really looking forward to it because I was born in Santiago, Chile, but very close to Argentina.  Tango, for me, is a beautiful dance about life and death.  It’s a very passionate dance.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Question>  You have experience now in film, with the television series, with the reality TV and also even with producing.  What is the best experience for you or which one of those aspects of the business do you prefer or like the best?

 Cristián>  Everything that I’ve done is different and everything has its own magic.  When you do TV, like In Plain Sight, you have one week to eight days to do 45-minutes of television.  You really have to work hard to be able to do it and to come up with the best possible product.  When you do a movie, you have three months to do an hour-and-a-half, so you have more time and the final product sometimes is better quality.  Not always, but you have more time to get the scene done and to do a good job.  In reality, it’s just crazy, the adrenaline that you have being on live television because there is no time for mistakes.  Also, when you get judged by the judges and you get critiqued or get your scores, it’s not a character that’s been attacked; it’s yourself.  You’re more vulnerable. Everything that I’ve done has its own magic.  I’m very happy to have been able to do all of them.  Even sitcoms, when you do it live in front of an audience.  I’m always looking for challenges and I’m always looking to learn more and be able to do as many things as you can.  By the end of the day, the more things that I can do is the more experience and more tools that I have for the future to do a better job. 

Question>  On In Plain Sight, Raphael and Mary sound like pretty different people and they have pretty different professions.  Can you tell us how they met and how they get along so far in your experience?

 Cristián>  The characters of Mary and Raphael are, as you say, completely opposite.  Not only in their jobs, Witness Protection Service and baseball player, but the backgrounds, the ethnicities, the language, the way they approach relationships, everything is completely different.  They have this on-and-off relationship where Raphael wants to get really serious.  As a good Latino, he wants to have his girlfriend or his wife; he wants a name to the relationship.  Mary tries to avoid it because she can’t commit; because of the nature of her job, she can’t really commit to a relationship. Even though we’re completely opposite and completely different, that would prove the rule that opposites attract.

Question>  There’s a big difference between the Latin population in California and the Southwest where you filmed In Plain Sight, like New Mexico, versus the East Coast, where you have lots of Cubans and lots of South Americans.  It seems a little more cosmopolitan, the Latin flavor, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.  Where are you’re more comfortable in the United States, in Miami or Los Angeles?

 Cristián>  You’re completely right.  A lot of people think that Latinos, we’re all the same and we all look alike or we all have the same background.  What you’re saying, it’s true.  We are all completely different.  At the end of the day, even though we’re really different and Cubans can be louder and Argentineans could brag more and probably Mexicans, they’re happier in the way they see life, they like to sing and the food, everybody has different qualities which represent them.  At the end of the day we have one thing in common, that we’re Latino.  Any place that there’s a Latino, I’m always going to be comfortable.  We have a thing that even though we’re all different, at the end of the day we all support each other.  We’re all immigrants in a country that is not our country, and we have that thing in common.  That bond is always very strong.

Question>  The  show is set in New Mexico, in the Albuquerque area, is it actually filmed there or is it filmed in L.A.?

 Cristián>  No, no, the show is based in Albuquerque, in New Mexico, and we shoot it there.  It takes place there.  Everything is done in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Question>  You’re the first person we’ve ever interviewed who has been named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People, let alone multiple times.  Did that affect your life in any way?  What do your friends and family think about that?

 Cristián>  I’m very lucky that there’s not a lot of Latinos in the States, and I was number 51.  Number 50 has been sick many times, so I’m always the replacement.  I’m always stunned by the People Magazine issue.  I’m very lucky.  I’m probably going to start buying lottery tickets because every year I get on People’s 50 Most Beautiful it’s a lucky one.

Question>  In your USA online interview about Raphael you mentioned someone named Brandi.  I wasn’t sure who that character was and how she’s going to play into the show.  Could you let us in on that?

 Cristián>  Brandi is Mary’s sister.  She’s a very troubled girl that doesn’t get along very well with her sister.  She has a problem in her life that nobody knows about.  Because I start getting close to her, Mary suspects that we’re having an affair, but at the end of the day we’re really trying to help each other and be there for each other as friends.

Question>  You’ve been a part of such a popular reality TV show and you’ve also got the new scripted drama coming up, and in the past year we’ve seen a lot of reality TV.  Do you think that’s kind of the future or is that really where the networks are going?  Is that going to replace the scripted dramas or is there a place for both?

 Cristián>  I hope that there’s always a place for both.  I’m an actor and I’ve been an actor for 15 years, so that’s my passion.  The fact that I got into Dancing with the Stars, it was not really because it’s a reality show, it’s more because it was a challenge that I could have in my life.  I’m not a dancer and I wanted to prove to myself how good I could be at something I was really bad at.  I’m still working on that.  People like to see reality in a way, so I think why there’s the success of Dancing with the Stars and reality shows.  I hope that if reality TV keeps growing, it’s nice reality TV; it’s not reality where we have to see people suffering, crying, making fun of people or putting people down.  I think we have enough of that in the world and we shouldn’t have mean TV.  I think as long as it’s feel-good TV, I’m happy that it happens.