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

Fernando, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When I first got interested in this I started by buying every single book I could on acting and filmmaking and reading them, I would read them everywhere including my engineering classes. I had to be very self-motivated since I wasn’t at a place where I could actually pursue that yet. I would take notes put post its and do whichever exercises I could by myself. I also have an acting bible where I write everything I could learn from books, online classes and masterclasses in an accessible and short form.

One thing that could’ve sped up my process is confidence in my work and my skills, believing in myself, and not diminishing my achievements. And I think Uta Hagen once said “you don’t have to like yourself, you just have to know yourself” so also understanding that would help. Another thing is being there, being present, not relying entirely on books as having the theoretical knowledge is good but the ability to exercise it in a practical way is ideal, being there with people, I already had the knowledge I just needed to embody that physically, since a lot of what acting is is being there in the moment and not overthinking everything rationally.

Skills that I would consider essential are, for one, and I think the most important allowing yourself to be vulnerable, the best art comes from vulnerability, it’s specific, it is raw and it comes from instinctual behaviour not planned, you prepare but once you’re on stage or on set you let the work you did speak for itself. You have to allow yourself to sit in moments that might be uncomfortable and always be inclined to jump out of your comfort zone. Take things personally when it’s within acting. And a little more of a technical skill would be learn how to do quality self tapes, since that’s how you present yourself before actually getting the job, sometimes they are very last minute, sometimes you have 3 in a day.

One of the biggest obstacles I had was getting unmotivated when I didn’t get immediate results, focusing on the end line instead of the work at hand. You might not see results immediately but trust that your mind and body are being nourished. Another obstacle was misrepresentation, some teachers at my school had a very misguided idea of me, I’m not afraid to ask questions but I won’t ask any if I don’t have one, some teachers took this as disinterest. I have a very social personality and like to get to know my peers and joke around, to which those same teachers took as disinterest again. So if I was too charming I was being distracting but if I was quiet and paying attention I was disinterested. At the end that taught me to just focus on the hard work, art and how to be comfortable with myself regardless of harsh criticism or prejudice that individuals might have. But always be polite, treating people with kindness and don’t take things outside of acting personally.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was originally getting a degree for Engineering, and I felt like a part of me was missing. I’ve always loved movies, loved acting, obsessed with behind the scenes and actor’s journeys. So I started looking up into making that my reality, this industry I knew I was so passionate about. I sat down with my parents and told them I wanted to be an actor, of course initially they didn’t take it seriously but they were willing to humor me. I did an acting summer intensive in Los Angeles while I was still getting my engineering degree. Went back to Mexico and finished university. Now another obstacle arises, my university wouldn’t allow me to graduate unless I did an extra year specialty, I wanted to do said specialty in Mexico City so I could study acting during the day and finish the specialty during the evening. Then Covid hit, which meant I had to finish the specialty online, and no acting, since acting I feel is something you have to learn in-person and practicing with other people, so online wouldn’t work out. After that I was wandering aimlessly and out of nowhere an opportunity to move to New York and study acting here came up, I made an impulsive decision and not even 15 days later I was in NYC.

What I’m most proud of is my obsessive personality and that I’m very stubborn so as soon as I set my sights on this I had to make it my reality since I couldn’t really imagine my future anywhere else other than in film and tv. It’s allowed me to put in hard work with every audition I take, staying motivated even when it’s dire or quiet. And the drive to keep going, working on what’s next, as soon as I finish an audition I focus on the next one instead of dwelling on unbooked auditions, the passion for movies is what keeps me going and it’s what gets me to the finish line.

I knew I picked the right career path because the only place I’ve ever felt at home or at peace was on a film set. It’s like a church to me, a sacred place and a sanctuary among the chaos.

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

Being able to express yourself or your feelings creatively, I’m either experiencing something too intensely or too little, so I’m constantly writing to make sense of how I feel. Being able to explore that and getting to know yourself through your art or other people’s art is very rewarding. Also developing projects or auditioning, just that constantly doing something makes me feel like I’m doing something right. There’s so much creative inspiration out there for you to tap on and the feeling of that outpouring of vulnerability that piece of your soul you put into any project you work on, a finished script, or a good audition turned in or finishing editing a project you directed is so rewarding, that it makes up for the gruelling times this profession is so famous for.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’m working until I can say I’m proud of myself, that’s my goal. Other people being proud of you is nice but what I want is knowing I have it my all and I succeeded from it. Knowing I am where I am because of who I am. Because of all the hard work I put in payed off.

As for more tangible goals, I would say to collaborate with people I really admire, like directors Luca Guadagnino, Coralie Fargeat or Jt Mollner, and I say this with the biggest smile, I want to be in a movie directed by Taylor Swift, I just find her so inspiring, I like her art a lot, it has helped me put words into how I feel when I can’t particularly verbalise it. Her work as a director I really like, I see her Variety directors on directors video frequently and there’s so much passion, self-assurance and knowledge that translates into her art and she does it with so much humility and a drive of love for learning and I admire that a lot. Her work ethic as well, she’s constantly working on something, wether it’s an album, a re-recording, a script she wrote, a short film or music video or feature film she’s directing. So that’s my goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm16583265/
• Instagram: @fer.igz
• Twitter: @fernandIniguez
• Other: I also have TikTok but that’s more of a thing that you have to stumble upon magically without looking for it. You don’t find it, it finds you.

Image Credits

Bronwen Sharp

Umakant Jani