Under the fluorescent lighting of her hotel room in Pylos, in Greece, Jesse Garcia combs through her fatty hair strands after a daytime for “The Odyssey” – the upcoming cinematographic adaptation of Christopher Nolan of the Greek epic.
“I had adjusted hair,” explains Garcia during our video call, a little apologizing. Despite a demanding calendar, he enjoyed his shooting time in Morocco and Greece, as well as Hollywood A-Batters like Matt Damon and Zendaya. While returning to his trajectory, Garcia's trip to Garcia through Hollywood seems to reflect that of the Greek character Ulysses: a man confronted with great challenges that sometimes feel insurmountable but formative.
“It's like nothing else that I did before,” said Garcia of the big budget film, which should be released in 2026.
For the file:
10:25 am April 4, 2025A previous version of this article said that actor Jesse Garcia is 42 years old. He is 46 years old.
The 46 -year -old actor has just wrapped another type of Odyssey – he also plays in a new comedy in Latino Road -Trio on Disney + “Alexander and the terrible, horrible, not good, very bad trip on the road. “Released on March 28, the family film sees Garcia as the loving patriarch of the fictitious family Garcia, played by a casting of stars made up of Eva Longoria, Paulina Chávez, Thom Nemer, Rose Portillo and Cheech Marin.
“Road Trip” follows the film 2014 “Alexander and the terrible, horrible, not good, very bad day“, Which was based on the children's book by Judith Viorst in 1972. Garcia appeared in the first film as an animal Wrangler; In the new film, he plays a chief. “Maybe I was a fight against animals so that I could put myself in the school of the chief,” he said.
Directed by Marvin Lemus, the new film depicts an experience upside down that Garcia knows. “My parents took us to (Durango) to see my father's family every year,” said Garcia. “So we did this road trip very much when we were small children.”
Unlike many of her Hollywood colleagues, who came from wealthy families and have studied in prestigious schools, Garcia was born in an American Mexican family in Rawlins, Wyo., A small mining town with few resources for budding actors. “I auditioned for a play in high school,” explains Garcia. “Of course, I didn't understand it, because I didn't know what I was doing!”
Garcia, an athlete, would devote himself to applaud routines and waterfalls at high school – he then received a cheerleading scholarship at the University of Nebraska, where he studied the practice. This set of skills later helped him choreographed a scene in the 2007 “The Comebacks” sports parody, which featured the former Tony Gonzalez, the former End-End NFL.
“If I had known better at the time, I would have done nice lessons (university),” said Garcia with a little laugh.
At the request of a friend, he moved to Atlanta to find his direction. This led him to take acting lessons What films, An innovative theater class where he learned to write, direct, act and produce original documents under the actor-director Judson Vaughn. “It was a very unique format – it was the basis of the way I work,” explains Garcia.
In 2003, with only $ 2,000 in his pocket and a roommate he found on Craigslist, Garcia did his house. The strong chicano presence of the city overwhelmed it at the beginning, but it was placed in the community. “I did not grow up with a strong Latin community in Wyoming,” he explains. “When I arrived in Los Angeles, I worked in this film entitled” Salkout “with Edward James Olmos (and) began to discover the history of Latinos at”
Garcia won her role as an escape in the 2006 “Quinceañera” film, a film from age directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. In this document, Garcia played Carlos, a gay teenager far from his Mexican family, with his cousin and pregnant protagonist Magdalena (played by Emily Rios). The film gained ground at the Sundance Film Festival, where he won the Grand Jury Prize and the Public Prize. The film was then acquired and distributed by Sony Pictures.
“I think I had a thousand dollars to make this film,” explains Garcia of his independent film, which was an unptity production. “(But) it started my career.”
(CARLIN STIEHL / For Times)
Garcia followed this momentum with small roles in procedures like “CSI: Miami”, “Law & Order: Criminal Inteent” and “Er”. Although he asked his agents to withdraw from the stereotypical Latino roles, generally limited to gardeners and gangsters, he gave in for a role in the film “Days of Wrath”, a “action gangster film”, as he says. Directed by Celia Fox, he presented a stellar list of black and Latinos actors: Laurence Fishburne, Lupe Oniveros, Taye Diggs and Wilmer Valderrama.
But the film, which was to be released in 2008, would never see the day – although it always seeks to obtain rights. “Celia, call me,” he said to the camera.
“I was just a broken actor, then 2008 occurred,” explains Garcia, whose happy behavior of Go-Lucky instantly seems to wash.
The day after the 2007-08 Strike of writers, The roles of the flowering actor have become more difficult to find – a situation which was reinforced by the overwhelming financial crisis of the country. Almost 20 years later, Creatives continue to fight For their artistic talent in the midst of increasing concerns concerning AI and streaming income, while being production slowed down
Jesse Garcia in “Flamin 'Hot”, her first main role in a big studio film.
(Emily Aragons / Promnslight pictures)
His first main role in a great studio film would not produce until 2023, when he was chosen as Richard Montañez in “Flamin 'hot», The story of a concierge has become self -proclaimed “Latin marketing sponsor”, “ who claimed to have invented the snack of flamin 'hot cheetos.
“When I got the hearing for” Flamin “hot”, I read it and I went “, it's mine. … They wrote this for me,” explains Garcia. “I just have to jump through hoops and prove that it is mine.”
The first director and friend Eva Longoria said to de los that Garcia, whom she considers as “her cosmic soul mate”, was “supposed to be Richard Montañez”.
“He did not have one day off, he therefore had this intense approach,” explains Longoria. “He wanted to do – not only for me but for our community. … We could not fail on” Flamin 'Hot “.”
The pressures of the role weighed on Garcia – not because he was carrying the Latin community on his shoulders, which is an obligation, he rises vehemently, but because he was present during the 36 days of shooting.
“No one knew it), but I could have had mental depression every day,” he said.
“One day there was (co-star) Annie Gonzalez put her hand on my chest just to say hello and check with me, and I said to myself:` `Oh S—, why am I so emotional right now?” Said Garcia.
Gonzalez, who played the wife of Montañez, Judy in “Flamin 'Hot”, recalls this moment during the shooting. “Jesse masks a lot with the game,” she says. “I put my hand on his chest and gave him my energy, because I can only imagine wearing this film.”
Although the veracity of this marketing success has been challenged in a 2021 Times Investigationthat reality Montañez quotes in its 2024 defamation follows Against the popular flea business, Garcia says he resonates with the Go-Starry spirit of his character. (And, for the record, he also stands behind the account of Montañez events: “I believe, he has receipts.”)
“I (also) looked like the oppressed,” explains Garcia. “I felt like I wanted to stop.”
He says that by thinking at these stormy moments in 2008, he wondered: “Is the 21-year-old version of myself would be instant to meet the current version?”
To that, he says: “Yes, I would be proud of this type.”
