Alejandro Cuervo: from Saúl to Luis Manuel, like day and night?

Last time, his name was Saúl and we loved his ability for affection in Los Hijos de Pandora. These days, he is back to the soap opera world playing the character of Luis Manuel, character from Renacer who "sets our blood on fire" every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on TV.

However, popular actor Alejandro Cuervo defends each of them:

“I think I have been so lucky in my acting career, because I have had the possibility of playing different characters in the new projects that I have taken on and, well, after such a beautiful character, humanly speaking, as Saúl was in Los Hijos de Pandora, a soap opera that was very popular, a character who was gay, but defended masculinity in homosexuality, something that I learned and I think society learned a little. We do not have to live with stereotypes, that it is possible to live masculinity being gay, same way you can be heterosexual without a hat and a machete in your hand.

“Saúl is a character who is characterized by being a very good person, a good brother, son, friend…And a few months later, I have to face this project with the character of Luis Manuel who, being negative, is also a very good father. I think that is a very real contrast, very organic in life, because the characters and our personalities are not one-way streets. There are bad people who have some virtues and vice versa, it is not black and white.”

—Was that contrast what captivated you about Luis Manuel?

—That was certainly one of the most interesting things: how someone who is such a bad husband, sexist, abusive, who betrays his partner all the time, at the same time gives everything for his son, to whom he loves hugely...That contrast seemed to me wonderful. I think it saves him in some way, and then people will save him and not hate me so much. Really, playing Luis Manuel is a great opportunity that life and, of course, Heiking, the director, gave me.

—I believe you are already getting feedback from the public on both the street and the social networks. Have you been scolded a lot?

—I have the great joy that people have such great affection for me that, even when I play an evil character, I think they forgive me, so they tell me: “oh, but you just show what a good actor you are, because you are so different on social networks. You have nothing to do with the character." Of course, everyone tries to post and share the best of yourself on social networks. Anyone saying the opposite is lying. At the same time, I try to be as real as possible.

“By the way, I had a recent experience, in the Cubactores web page itself, where they asked us to say five unknown facts, and I thought: well, I'm going to say five real things that have not been published in any interview before, that people do not know and could be positive things. Well, I chose to say five negative qualities. Well, people started to attack the web page and wrote stuff like: How can you do this to actors? They are only trying to denigrate them and so on. I revealed that as a child, I use to bedwetting. I had bad spelling. But I was the one who chose what to reveal just to humanize myself, because I am not interested in showing that I am perfect. I do not like it. I hate being idealized.”

Translated by Sergio A: Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff