Actor Cesar Di Bello Talks about his Career in Hollywood

Cesar Di Bello was born in Argentina but lived most of his life in Spain until he decided to take a step forward in his career and move to Los Angeles to pursue his real dream job of acting.

From an early age, he discovered his love to stories whether they were in books or films. After getting a double degree in Law and Business Management he worked in the legal field as an expert on Anti Money Laundering. His curiosity about acting ended up taking over and after four years working as a legal consultant he quit everything and flew to Los Angeles to study at Stella Adler.

As an actor, he was in competition into the Cannes Film Festival with the film “Manifesto” where he played the lead role of Simon. Cesar also recently won the Best Actor Award at the Stella Adler Short and Sweet Festival for the lead role of Enrique at the film “Paloma” directed by the awarded filmmaker Jean Lee.

His comedy “Original Sin”- where he plays the lead role of the distant husband, Adrian- has won the Best Foreign Film award at the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival and the Best Comedy award at Milan International Filmmaker Festival. It also has been in competition at the Austin Film Festival, Cinequest, Chicago Latino Film Festival, Cardiff Film Festival and the Ashland Independent Film Festival, among others. The drama “Pasarea” - where he plays the pimp Nikolai- has also been in competition in several festivals, like Festival de Cine de Malaga.

What kind of roles do you prefer?

My favorites are those with a bigger arc and where I can use some of my comedy chops.

Have you ever had a really bad day but had to perform anyway? How did you get through it?

Well, I remember two moments.

Once, I had a bike accident as I was going to a scene study presentation, I hurt my left arm and leg, the clothes on that side were shattered and you could see some blood coming out but I went straight up to perform. After rehearsing that scene for a few weeks not performing that night wasn´t in my head at all so I explained the situation to my teacher, he gave me his permission to perform and I had a blast on stage that night.

On another occasion, I went through a break up right before opening my first play at my hometown, Madrid.

I´m grateful because both times everything worked out great. I just tried to stay focused on the stage and trust the rest of it.

How do you prepare for a role?

Preparing for a role is one of my favorite parts of the process. I break down the script to really understand what´s happening and who is my character. I also do a lot of research about the period and place where the story takes place, his profession and other characteristics, etc.

César, you´ve played from heartbroken addicts to persons with severe physical limitations or people from other period of time, what character was the toughest for you to change into?

Every character is different and brings new challenges but the toughest one so far has been Adrián from “Original Sin”, because playing a man who just can´t become the man he´s been taught to be was very interesting and challenging for me. I ended up having a lot of empathy for people like him. There are a lot of Adriáns out there.

What was your first role? When was it?

I believe my first performance as an actor was on the stage around March 2014, I played two small roles, a cop and a Puerto Rican concierge in the play “Six Degrees of Separation” with the Stella Adler Lab Theater Company. It was very special for me since I was performing with some of my teachers. Also, Mark Ruffalo came to see us!

How was filming “Original Sin”?

It was intense but I loved the whole experience. We were really lucky to have such a great team of talented people on set. And observing Jean Lee (the director) doing her thing was incredible. Also, seeing the behind the scenes of a feature film really confirmed me my wish of directing.

Congratulations for your award as best actor at the Stella Adler Festival for your role of Enrique at the movie “Paloma”. How did you get that role?

I was called in to audition and had a blast in the room. I guess I created a good impression in the director and the producer because after a few days they offered me the lead role of Enrique.

Photographer: Davy Risso