Confession: We can’t stop crushing on Rafael De La Fuente.
The Venezuela-born actor currently plays Sam “Sammy Joe” Flores” in the CW’s reboot of Dynasty. Before that, he played Jussie Smollett’s love interest, Michael Sanchez, in Empire, and Ricardo Canto in Dustin Lance Black‘s ABC miniseries When We Rise.
While he’s “laser-focused” on filming season two of Dynasty at the moment, which he promises will be a “rollercoaster”, De La Fuente did take a few minutes to talk with Haute Living about the show, his life, and minority representation in Hollywood.
“There is so much coming,” De La Fuente teases about the current season, which premiered just a few weeks ago. “This season has definitely brought that Dynasty dramedy it’s known for to a whole new level with the comedy being funnier and campier and the dramatic situations having higher stakes.”
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Asked about how he thinks the new Dynasty, which won the People’s Choice Award for Best Revival, stacks up against the original, De La Fuente says he’s proud of what he and his castmates have created.
“We have created something that stands on its own yet it constantly pays homage to the original,” the 32-year-old says. “It lives in the campy primetime soap tone that people loved from the original, with the heightened language and one-liners, plot twists and cliffhangers galore, yet up-to-date and diverse.”
“I think that is the key point when it comes to how it has changed for the better; it is much more inclusive and diverse as far as race, nationalities and lifestyles. Proof: Sammy Jo 2.0 is now a gay Latino immigrant. Talk about intersectional minority representation!”
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But while he’s found great success in the United States, De La Fuente says Venezuela will always be “home.”
“I have Venezuela in my heart always,” he says. “My country is going through a severe crisis and even though I have been away for 13 years, it is with me every day.”
He adds, “The Venezuelan situation has changed the life of all it’s people, my parents had to leave after an entire life and career there. Venezuelans take Venezuela with them wherever they go, the music, the food, our warmth and our parties. I love my arepa breakfasts often.”
Scroll down for more pics from De La Fuente’s Instagram page…
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Related: ‘Dynasty’ reboot promises lots of catfights, hair-pulling, and very steamy gay sex
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Kangol
He’s cute and I’m glad he’s getting gigs. I’d love to see actors who look like a large portion of the Central American, Caribbean and South American populations appearing more regularly on these shows, though. Walk the streets of New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Antonio, Phoenix, San Francisco, etc., and then look at Hollywood films, most English-language TV and a good deal of Spanish-language TV, which barely represent the range of Latinxs in this country or non-European Spanish speakers outside the US, except on the nightly news. Also, given that Latinxs have lived in the Southwest for centuries and Texas was once part of Mexico, why is the only main Latinxs on this show an “immigrant”? Or will there be more?
Mack
Sexy boy. Better than most they show on here.
Prax07
Thought Dynasty got cancelled after the first episode. Hmpf!