We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cesar Valderrama. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cesar below.

Cesar, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I had many amazing teachers that really sparked my interest in the craft, but it wasn’t until I meant Mr. Buresch in high school that really saw my potential and pushed me to hone in my skills and learn to adapt. In terms of how I could have sped up my process, I wish I was more active with the world, that way the life experiences that I am learning now has made me tap into my emotions tremendously quicker.
Dedication is always the key to a performance. No matter how hard the task seems, no matter how challenging the obstacles are, dedication will always prevail, so long as you want it.
Unfortunately, I was my biggest obstacle. I would constantly doubt my abilities and would often not study hard enough to truly understand the motivations behind the characters intentions, which made me to believe that either the role wasn’t meant for me or let the performance suffer.

Cesar, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started watching Law and Order as a little kid, and honestly at first, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but then I really took a deeper look and realized it was the acting that really captivated me. Since then, I loved performing in afterschool activities, auditioned for school musicals and then eventually I started writing my own scripts and decided to grab a team to tell my stories. I believe the evolution of my path has totally changed from when I was a child to now. Before I only envisioned myself as an actor, and then somehow college sparked my newfound love for writing and directing, and it made me understand acting from a different perspective. I now have a bigger understanding of what a director looks for in an actor when they are guiding them to tell a story in the most truthful way possible. I understand from a writer’s point of view that every word means something and shouldn’t be said unless it progresses the story and the character themselves. Combining all three viewpoints, I have a much stronger understanding of my motivations, my obstacles, and my reasonings. This has also made me stronger in collaborating with my fellow crew members and actors as well, because a lot of this I learned on the go. When I didn’t know, I asked for help, when I couldn’t figure out a solution, I wanted input from others, with collaboration it makes everyone feel as if they too helped shaped the outcome of the product. That not only motivates people in their performance, but it also makes them feel wanting to go on set and ready to solve more problems. It creates a sense of unity that is sometimes difficult to find because egoism always gets in the way of people’s mindset. I always try to stay humble, and what I know I know, and what I don’t know I will try to learn and experiment. I finally have a feature film on the way coming out to the public soon called “The Angel Of My Life.” This is a film that I wrote during the pandemic, and this is a film I am most proud of because not only is it a bilingual film showing my Latinos people, but also the LGBTQ+ family as well on screen. I am a huge advocate as well on trying to get the minorities out there to share their stories and to be represented out there as well. None of this would be possible without the help and collaboration of my entire team and actors, they all helped out in a remarkable way, and I cannot be more than grateful for that. When you hire me, you have someone with tons of experience being out there on the field, who constantly thinks outside the box and embraces solutions because there is always a way, you just got to use all the knowledge that you have inside that creative head and think.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, it’s when I see the faces of my friends, family and the audience members with that look of amazement when they feel. Whether it be anger, sadness or happiness, but either the show itself or I was able to move them in a way that triggered an emotion, makes everything worth it. It always reminds me of the first time I watch a film or play that moved in a way that I never thought was possible. That these people who I never knew made me fee for them, complete strangers yet for some odd reason they weren’t because I was able to connect with them. That sense when your performance is capable of doing that, makes everything worthwhile.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

You heard me speak about it earlier. My goal is to definitely continue showing more diversity not just in the acting industry but for directing and writing as well. As a kid there was only a handful of actors who were Latinos that I could look up to, as well as gay actors. I want to increase that number by not only adding myself to the pool, but creating new stories that involve people in my community as well, that way more doors and opportunities are presented to other Latino and gay actors out there as well. If I can be that vessels to help our stories being told out there so that the world knows our journeys, then that will also fulfill me in changing the industry. Before I was hesitant to identify myself as that in the acting world because I felt as if I would be typecast to my look as a Latino or be known as just a gay actor. However later in my life someone helped understand that yes that is apart of my life and that I should embrace those attributes as that sets me apart from other actors as well.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: cesarsaladthefirst
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cesar.valderrama33
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CValderrama100

Image Credits
Hans Abbott Julian Mejia