It’s exciting to meet a young Latin American actor that is currently experiencing his breakout moment in one of this fall’s top ABC television series, Alaska Daily. Pablo Castelblanco was born and raised in Bogotá and moved to the United States at 17 to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. After studying fine arts in New York City, the young actor is now working alongside the Oscar-winning actress, Hilary Swank, and leaving his own mark in Hollywood.
His perseverance and motivation to succeed took him from commercials for top brands such as McDonald’s, Citibank, Toyota and Chevy, to landing roles in hit shows such as HBO‘s “Room 104” alongside Mark Duplass, FOX’s “New Girl,” along with Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel, and Netflix’s “Dear White People.”
Castelblanco spoke to HOLA! USA and opened up about what it feels like to be part of the cast of Alaska Daily, how his parents in Colombia understood his passion to pursue his acting career, and his advice to striving young Hispanic actors.
“Trust your voice, really trust your background…just be truly committed to who you are, whatever that is, you.”
How do you feel about being cast in a top network show like “Alaska Daily” and working alongside a two-time Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank?
It’s a blessing, of course. I’m very grateful and very happy about being able to be on the show and just learn. It’s funny to say that you’re at a job and that you’re learning, but I am learning so much. Every day I wake up and I’m just like, Oh wow, this is like a dream. This is like, as an actor, what you’re always trying to do and to be able to do it…Sometimes I just have to ground myself and be like, Wow, I am doing it. And that feels great. I’m so, so blessed and feel very happy, very ecstatic, and very proud of myself as well. As you know, I’m Latinx, Latine, but I’m also an immigrant in the U.S. So, also to know all the hurdles that not only myself, but all my friends that I grew up with in the business, and just know that it’s possible to get to that level.
Being on the show, working with Hillary is amazing. She’s such a kind performer. And with me particularly, she’s very generous with her knowledge as well. She has this experience of many, many years and of course not only the awards, but the way she understands the frame and everything like that. I’ve always been in awe of that, and sometimes I just ask questions, so she gives me information and it’s so great to learn from her. And my family, they were so excited. They’re in Colombia, so it’s a lot of explaining to them about the process. It’s like, Oh, I got a pilot. And they’re like, what is that? Are you a flight pilot? no, I’m not. (laughs) So you just got to explain the whole process in business. Yeah.
You moved to NY by yourself at 17, how did your family in Colombia react when you told them you wanted to move to the U.S to pursue this dream. Were they supportive?
They outwardly were very supportive. I don’t know if maybe to themselves, they were a little bit scared. They were supportive and they knew, you know, when I made the move to New York, Netflix as a big thing had started and a lot of opportunities in Amazon and stuff like that. And this business in Colombia, even though there’s some, it was not as big as I wanted, or maybe, I was young and I didn’t really know. I just knew if I wanted to do this as a performer, I had to come to New York to pursue my dream in a way that I found fulfilling and that I would find a space for myself. When I presented that whole scenario to my parents, they understood, Okay, if that’s what he wants to succeed at, he should move up over there and do that.
And when you got to NYC, did you have culture shock between Bogota and New York City?
Yeah, definitely. And Bogota is a huge, metropolitan city with 8 million inhabitants. But it was the American way that was a big culture shock. I would be talking to people (I went for college first.) And when talking to people, and say they’re talking about SpongeBob and making quick fun references, which I saw when I was a kid, but in Spanish, right… I had to translate all the jokes. The first few years I was culturally translating everything. I think that’s one of the biggest things that I remember…being lost in conversations even though we had the same experiences.
“I’m Latinx, Latine, but also I’m an immigrant in the U.S. So also to know all the hurdles that not only myself, but all my friends that I grew up with in the business and just know that it’s possible to get to that level.”