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The path of Santiago Cabrera

He wanted to be a footballer and studied psychology, but ended up being one of the most successful Chilean actors in the United States. As he prepares to release Transformers 5 and an HBO miniseries alongside Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, he talks to "Saturday" about the low profile he drives here, the eight years he's expected to be a father, the Latin stereotype he's faced in Los Angels and the route it took to become one of the stars with more future in Hollywood.

By rodrigo munizaga photos sergio alfonso lópez art direction Manuel Godoy

Scene 1: Los Angeles, early 2005. In an attempt to get better opportunities as an actor, Santiago Cabrera comes to live in California, United States. His agent had insisted that he should settle there. The first few months, he remembers today, were miserable: after going to dozens of castings for movies and series, his phone did not ring. Without contact networks, the savings were over.

"What am I doing here?" I asked myself. For a moment I staggered and said, "Maybe this is not for me."
Scene 2: Los Angeles, February 2007. It's Oscar night and Cabrera is in a limousine with his wife, the German theater director Anna Marcea, on the way to the traditional Vanity Fair party, which summons the biggest stars of the event. As one of the protagonists of the series of television Heroes, that swept in hearing, he lives his moment of greater success.

"I'm getting out of the car and Martin Scorsese is just in another limo. He had just won his first Oscar as director for The Departed. I stood looking at him and there were a lot of people standing behind a fence, waiting to see the arrival of the famous. Then I feel that they start to shout all: "Santiaaago!". There I realized the power of the TV: I was in front of Scorsese, but the fans recognized me.


Santiago Cabrera (38) never thought about being an actor. Afable, charismatic and with a neutral accent, but sprinkled with Chilean, remember that his dream was to be a footballer and get to play in Real Madrid or Barcelona. As a boy, living in Spain, he was offered to join Atletico Madrid cadets. But, as he had other times, he had to leave behind the opportunity and follow the path of his father, Pedro Pablo Cabrera, who made a long diplomatic career - he was Chile's ambassador to London, Moscow, Beijing and the Vatican - and Each of his destinations went with his wife and three children. Therefore, the actor was born in Caracas and then lived in Toronto, Bucharest, London and Madrid.

When he was 2 years old, in Canada, Cabrera says he spoke half English, half Spanish. He got used to leaving behind friends and colleges, but they always told him that his house was in Chile. They came a couple of times a year. In fact, he made third and fourth basic, in addition to all his middle school, in the College San Benito, which was near his home in Vitacura.

"I was always scared to reach a new country, new school. I was shy, which meant being alert to how I was going to be received. I always thought about being here, but I came back two years and I wanted to go. I caught the bug of the trip.
On leaving school, he studied psychology at the Diego Portales University, thanks to a sports scholarship, while playing in cadets at Universidad Católica. Coach Óscar Meneses told him that he had conditions. But, for him, it was too late for football.

-A semi-professional level was a scorer, but when I played more professional football, I realized that there were always about 10 cocks higher than mine and that frustrated me. I was always starting, but they did not put me on the front, so I realized I was not going to reach a high level.

"Have you ever regretted not finishing psychology?"

"No, it was not my thing. He was pure pichangueando and rolling. It was party good, half bottle of pisco, the whistle and remain as a shoe. But he had to stop. I tried to be the rebel, the busted, and over the years I realized that I am not like that, and I am calm not to be.

In the third year, Cabrera froze the race and, with 20 years, left to London to study performance. Two years earlier he had discovered that he liked, he recalls, after doing a play about Mozart. And so, no more, he followed that impulse. In England he got a job in a bar and entered the Drama Center, which have graduated figures such as Michael Fassbender, Colin Firth or Tom Hardy. After three years of study, he quickly got an agent.

"My first fault was in a play by Shakespeare and I thought of that life. I was super innocent about the industry, I did the work and I left Empire, which in its time was the largest series and then it was diluting. But when they gave it to me, in Hollywood many were waiting to see who they were going to give the paper, so I received a lot of interest from representation. I was an idealist, I wanted to do cinema, art and theater. He looked suspiciously at Hollywood.

-In Hollywood actors must endure many rejections, how does it surpass those "no" castings?

"They hurt when you're interested in the project, but now I reject it.

"What does he say he does not?"

- The bad duck, the Latin narco and when it is for my pint. I try to break the Latin stereotype, I consider myself an actor of character, and although there are always exceptions, I do not want to fall into that. Today, in the United States and England, they are trying to do more diverse projects, but I get the audition and I am in the description of the character who says: "We seek any ethnicity." You get casting and are black, Latino, Indian and Asian. Then one says: why am I in this category and not in a star? It's super strong. They believe that Latin is a race and not a culture. There has to be a day when this changes, that inclusion is not going to meet the quota.


Of the Chilean actors who live in the United States, Cabrera has been the most constant in the last 15 years. Pedro Pascal (Game of thrones, Narcos) and Cote de Pablo (NCIS) have achieved success with punctual productions, but have not had the curriculum that Santiago notes: besides Heroes, he participated in the series Merlin; In Alcatraz by JJ Abrams; In Steven Soderbergh's film about Che Guevara; In the HBO mini-series Hemingway & Gellhorn, alongside Nicole Kidman; In the miniseries Anna Karenina; And for three years he plays Aramis in the series The Musketeers, which can be seen on Netflix.

Despite rubbing shoulders with high profile projects, Cabrera has a relative fame in Chile. And he is aware of that.

"That's a super piola, people know about me after a while to look at me. The other time a Chilean asked me what I was doing, I told him that the musketeers had finished and he asked me what character he was playing. I answered him and looked at me in surprise: "Ah, you are one of the Musketeers!" He recognized me that he thought I was extra, and that it seemed okay. So, I think it could be double that of Bruce Willis and it would be the same in the media here. I think everything is measured by the same rod in Chile. But I understand, we are a smaller country, we are not accustomed.

"Do you care about recognition in Chile?"

"I think if I cared so much, I would have made the effort to be more recognized. People tell me that I have to promote myself more, but I'm calm, because the work dictates everything. Now I have a mini-series of HBO and Transformers, concrete things. I feel more relaxed talking about my work. Us Weekly magazine has wanted to make notes in my house and I have always said no. I do not feel comfortable, I do not sell my life, but the work I do. If he were here on TV, he would probably be in more ways. They offered me several years and I always said no, I think they got tired. But I do not close, only for now not.

"Do not you care about fame?"

-Do not. I am more withdrawn and quiet, perhaps, but I am willing to be high profile if I am in a project that deserves it. I see people who are very famous and most are looking for it. There is a tremendous confusion with being popular today, they do not care what project you do, they respect how much you earn for the film. If people say, "Pucha that he was a good actor, but he could have been promoted more", I could die calm.

Cabrera goes to a casting for a movie that interests him. While reading the script, the casting director - who already knew him - puts on a strange face, which he translates as "this role is not for you, but I like what you're doing." Then she says:

- I'll pass another project that may interest you: Transformers 5.

"Did he interest you immediately?" Did not prejudices arise?

"I acknowledge that I had prejudices. When she told me, and she is a director who does good-good things, in my mind was: "Transformers number how much?". I had not seen one.

Transformers 5: The Last Knight, which opens June 23, is Cabrera's first blockbuster. The film, he says, will be a huge showcase for him: one-fourth grossed over $ 1 billion worldwide and now similar figures are expected, with a cast featuring Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro and John Goodman.

-Transformers is an opportunity for an actor, because there is a possibility that your name is there and then open other doors or fund projects. But I was also interested in the archetype of the character and the work we did with the American special forces to prepare me. It was a great experience and is the biggest I've done, because they have also put me in the group of protagonists - says about the film in which he will play a retired military man who is now a mercenary and who leads a squadron called TRF that fights the Threat of the Transformers. If all goes well, he says, his character could be in the sixth part of the franchise.

In order to work on the film, which finished filming on December 10, the actor had to interview Michael Bay, director of the series and known for films such as Armageddon or Pearl Harbor. Initially, the meeting would be in his office, but at the last moment decided to do it at home. There they talked for a while in the garden, until Bay said:

"Let's do a couple of scenes, shall we read some?"

Cabrera was not expecting it.

I stopped, read the texts, told me a few things and then said, "Already, we are, now I have to go talk to Anthony Hopkins on Skype," and he left. From her reaction, I thought she had not been much impressed, but the casting director looked at me and thumbs up.

The other big project that will be this year is Big little lies, an HBO miniseries premiering on February 19th. Based on the novel by the same name, by Liane Moriarty, and adapted by David E. Kelley (Ally Mc Bell), is produced and starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, and its cast are completed by Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas buyers club), tells the story of three mothers with children who are involved in a mysterious crime, while Cabrera plays the role of a theater teacher who is key in the plot. He can not tell much more about the role, he says, only that almost all his scenes are with Witherspoon.

-As almost every shot we were alone with Reese, the atmosphere was very creative, because as she was producer, gave space to play and improvise. We talk a lot, she is a grounded and intelligent person, very prolific in projects. In fact, he told me that he would love to work with me again. And with Nicole Kidman we only had a couple of scenes, but as we had acted together, it was a big hug; She is very nice people

The first day of work in the miniseries, he remembers, was particular: Cabrera arrived at the set and sat at a desk to familiarize himself with the context of his character. As he read, the lights went down and a voice shouted, "Action!"

"I see the camera above and I froze. I feel a few tacos and it was Reese coming up to me to start the scene. Obviously, we shot it more times, but that adrenaline was incredible. That night I could not sleep, are the things that one says: "That's why I like my partner so much."


For 15 years, Cabrera is married to Anna Marcea (40). They met in London, when he studied acting, and at the time decided to marry for civilian. It took two weeks to decide and do it.

"I phoned my mom, they were in Moscow, because my dad was an ambassador there, and I said," Not this Wednesday, but the other I marry. " There was a long silence. Then I learned that my dad said, "Let him write a letter, this can not be, that way things are not done." Anna was known to her, but we were impulsive.

"It took years for them to be parents, why?"

"Since we were young, we did not have money at the beginning, so we did not want to. And when we decided to have a child, it did not come. First it was three years that we did not, then we started with the treatments, we lost a pair, it was very hard.

"It must have been suffocating for you as a couple.

-A lot. So much so, that we talked one day and said, "I can not take more, I need to take control in my life." Because physically they were affecting him so many hormones that he had to take and emotionally it was terrible that it did not work. He told me he could not do it any more. I was in Prague recording The Musketeers and it was a very hard week. We came to the conclusion that we were very fortunate to be together and that we would be a couple with no children. And accept it just.

-Among the treatments to get pregnant, did she postpone her career?

"Yes, but in addition to resuming his career, it was also to resume his life, because he had to take care of himself all the time to get pregnant. It was a project of life that took us years and was not, so there was a sadness in the home, a tremendous emptiness ... And that same month we talked, became pregnant.Imagine: to be eight years with a clock, with the hours to achieve it, the in vitro treatment, and that all this does not work, but that suddenly happens in a natural way. It was a miracle. That's why we put Kilian, which means "warrior." In addition, it was a 24-hour delivery, born with a tremendous knot that could have complicated things.

Santiago, Anna and Kilian - who was born last April - arrived on vacation in Chile a month ago. They were in the house of the actor's parents in Cachagua and now they will go to the south.

-I want to settle here, I was seeing some places to buy something on the coast, I'm going to see something in Pucón too. In Los Angeles I also want to buy (there leases a duplex in West Hollywood), to be with one foot here and the other outside. I did not feel so Chilean until I lived here between the ages of 15 and 20, but I had a strong relationship since I was a boy, and I want to give my son that opportunity, so that he knows his country.

Five characters Isaac Méndez in the hit series Heroes; Aramis in The Musketeers and Camilo Cienfuegos in the film Che, by Steven Soderbergh, three of his most prominent roles in his career. Below, two characters to be seen this year: a theater teacher in the miniseries next to Reese Witherspoon (directed by Jean-Marc Vallé) and a villain in Transformers 5

 

Interesting. I wish him the best.

Spoiler

So, his character may live beyond TF5. Let's see how that pans out.

 

Hmm...the main human villain won't die in this one.

 

Every villain human dies in these movies.

 

Lol, yeah, continuity/character development across films would be a first for this franchise.

 

He's probably not the villain but another human who thinks they are doing the right thing when in fact they are causing problems for the heroes, just like Joyce, and Mearing, and Simmons before them. I'm sure by the film's end he will release his wrong doings and be on good terms with Marky Mark and the Auto bunch.

 

So a rehash of the last 4 films? These movies are horrible with the human villains and it doesn't help they occupy 70% of the screen time.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that he'll be a background character with minimal lines at best.

 

Remember when the films actually didn't need human villains because the Decepticons were the main villains?

Good times.

But apparently AoE made it A-OK for the Decepticons to be a complete joke these days. Even the overrated Lockdown is apparently NOT A DECEPTICON or so I'm told. And humans - I'm sorry, has nobody even heard the theme song to this franchise anymore?

 

Same can be said about transformers cartoon series prime, animated, generation one in some episodes, head master, transformer rescue bots, few others

 

To be fair there is a difference between movies and episodes. Also, in a film series where the main drive to watch them is to see robots fighting, if the main plot is human Vs. human then people get bored.

 

A rehash? Maybe it is a rehash...of every action movie. Action, talking, more action...
Yea its a rehash because thats all TFs and every other action movie is, a rehash.
You want more TFs then humans? Watch the 86 tf movie

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to convey here as not every action movie is a Transformers movie.

And of course I can watch the original movie, but I shouldn't have to.

 

MECH was literally the only human antagonist force in that entire cartoon and got away with most of their schemes because the autobots were just that incompetent. Like, the demise of MECH was literally due to their own boss blowing up what was left of the organization and jumping ship to the Decepticons.

The ONLY time humans were ever a legit threat on the level of a movie human villain was when there was direct involvement of Reverse-engineered Cybertronian technology (Headmaster, Nano-Sec, Meltdown sorta since he got bathed in alien robot hydraulic fluid which made him into a meltman in a pimp suit) or AllSpark shards (Slo-Mo, Master Disaster). Or Porter C. Powell but only indirectly through cutting off a major supporting channel for the Autobots because he was a prick (and he ultimately fell victim to his own bigotry when Soundwave played him for a fool to mass produce the brainwashing mini-Soundwave drones), he never actually opposed the Autobots even counting the one time in the comics where he made knockoff Bulkhead vehicles for a quick buck and trademarked the guy's name.

And the humans in Animated existed specifically to be a lower tier threat that still took the whole team cooperating to defeat, so that when an actual Decepticon showed up the threat could be cranked way up without spamming Decepticon appearances I.E. canon fodder most of the time. It's why Megatron rarely got involved with a fight, but when he did it was almost always a one-sided brawl that he wins with the exception of the final battle which Prime still narrowly won.

Seriously, you're trying to use shitty 80's cartoon plots to defend a multi-million blockbuster?

That's still Gen 1.

Rescue Bots is a side narrative to Prime (how that works is still not explained in-universe) but the smaller scope of the show presents wacky emergencies as the typical problem, NOT decepticon generics. And Morocco went ahead and made the MorBots, which are transforming tank robots that he personally orders around in the alternate future timeline at the end of S1, he outright wins as early as S1 even though all he wants to ultimately do is exploit the cache of technology on the Rock for monetary profit, and in one episode he returns a family portrait to the burns because he isn't a complete asshole which is saying a lot for Transformers baddies these days. Yes, Morocco is the human villain, but he sets a gold standard that the movies fail to meet regularly.

That's not an excuse when the big thing about TF5 is supposedly the story.

Go watch Mad Max: Fury Road. Go on, just tell me what that's a rehash of, because it's not even a rehash of an earlier Mad Max film simply because of the degree of stunt coreography.

So you're saying it's okay for the title robots to take the backseat in their own films supposedly about them? Brilliant marketing strategy, given how the humans don't have toys.

 

funny how no one complained about that when there were freaking supervillains in animated ...

or human threads in several generation 1 episodes ...

or even when mech appeared in transformers prime !!!

but shit ... it´s a michael bay film, so hell damn us all if that´s okay ...  

 

I'm okay with like a minor human villain who plays a small role, but yeah, unless they're in cahoots/being manipulated by the Decepticons there's not really "room" in these films for them. I didn't mind... the guy Patrick Dempsey played in DOTM because he was kinda like a means for the 'Cons to control human resources, but AOE didn't really need Attinger and Savoy. It didn't need either, actually, even though I really liked Kelogg's Grammar.

Human villains are best left to the cartoons where their presence doesn't distract from the Decepticon threat.

Thing is, the Decepticons were still the main villains and plenty developed in both those shows. Neither Silas or the Angry Archer had more screentime and dialogue than Megatron. Neither the supervillains nor Mech were featured more than the other half of the brand. (especially noteworthy as TFA featured the Decepticons very little in seaosn one on purpose, yet they were still more developed than Meltdown or anyone else)

I know these films are marketted to a broad audience, and it's easier to film people than nonexistent giant robots. Humans will always be featured in prominence because humans are real, Transformers are not. But they're compromising the wrong way. Human villains should accent the Decepticon threat, not replace it.

 

I was saying transformers is an action movie and every other action movie are the same.
Action, talking, more action

 

Because none of the villains ultimately were that big a threat on their own. The whole IDEA of them being trouble for the Autobots to deal with was to underscore how screwed they were when actual Decepticons showed up - and that's after the part where Lugnut's POKE doesn't even need to HIT the Autobots and it still wipes the entire team out. As the Autobot team got better at handling being a team and fighting off the Decepticons, the show backed off with the humans. After all, most of them don't show up past the SUV episode for this reason.

Again, G1 does not count because those plots were half-assed according to the very people who wrote them and there is no real continuity anyway.

And what exactly did MECH acomplish without plot convenience literally handing them shit all the time? Oh, right, damn near nothing. Even their own leader decided to abandon them after becoming FrankenBreakdown and went to go join the Decepticons. That's how pathetic they were. Hardly a standard.

Not even that. It's backing away from what was working in the previous films. Name one human villain in TF2007, ROTF, and DOTM who was ultimately more influential than the actual main robot bad guy. Point proven.

Seriously, how hard is it to even do something like an EVIL version of NEST that's like godless terrorist anarchists working with the alien robots.

I could say Curse of the Were-Rabbit has action, talking, and more action, that doesn't make it an action film.

 

I have seen it. Its still an Action movie...with some good stunt work ill give you that

 

Then tell me what it is a rehash of. I'm sure I asked that in that post.