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Digital Social Hour
How Twitch Transformed My Life After Breaking Bad | Luis Moncada DSH #1362
00:45:32
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- [00:00]
A
How did we grow up so messed up the way we are? Tuco part of the cartel was Tuco, Lalo, Theo, Hector, myself. How did Gus get involved in the cartel? Because Gus is a completely different. You know, he could actually be a real businessman for the Pollos Hermano's chain. Right. He could have succeeded doing good, but he chose to go on the cartel route and start doing bad stuff.
- [00:27]
B
All right, guys, Luis here, one of my favorite shows of all time, man. It's an honor. Thanks for coming on today.
- [00:32]
A
Thank you for having me, my friend.
- [00:34]
B
Yeah. You were part of history, man. A lot of people got Breaking Bad in their top 10 all time.
- [00:39]
A
100%. I'm blessed and honored, my friend. I was part of the biggest show ever. Breaking Bad, right?
- [00:44]
B
Yeah.
- [00:45]
A
And then four years later, to be part of Better Call Saul. It's a blessing. Yeah, it's a blessing.
- [00:50]
B
And it's rare to have not only one show, but two hit shows.
- [00:53]
A
Two. Tell you the truth, I was scared when they announced that they were gonna film Better Call Saul. Because you know how it says Breaking Bad ended Perfect.
- [01:02]
B
Yeah.
- [01:03]
A
Top rated show ever. It was the greatest show ever. But people consider it. Most people. And I was happy. I'm great. I was part of it. And they announced Better Call Saul. And I'm thinking, oh, no. You know how they make that prequel or sequel and it ruins the show?
- [01:15]
B
It never goes well.
- [01:16]
A
I was nervous.
- [01:17]
B
It never goes well. I can't think of one time where the sequel was as good or better.
- [01:21]
A
Yeah, no. And I saw the first few episodes. I'm thinking, ok, this is great. You know, and even happier when they. I did not work first season. I worked on second season, Better Call Saul. And I was just so happy, brother. They called me, included me. It ended up being better for me as an actor than Breaking Bad because they gave me more episodes, more love. They gave me more screen time. It was just great. And I knew half of the crew was the same crew from Breaking Bad. So when I went to film in New Mexico, I felt like I was going home.
- [01:54]
B
I love it.
- [01:54]
A
I was going to see all my family. Oh, it takes me 20 minutes before I get to set. Cause I have to say hi to everybody. They're all my friends. Good people.
- [02:01]
B
That's so cool. How close were you with the cast off camera?
- [02:04]
A
I'm really close to some and some kind of like, you know, we don't talk. Like, I don't talk to Brian, but every time I see him, it's, he's a gentleman. He's a busy man. Aaron is the same. I've done a couple things with Aaron. After Breaking Bad, we did, like, a giveaway. I met up at his house, did a thing, but we don't stay in touch like that now. With Dean, I'm closer. With Dean, I was really close to Mark Margolis, Tuco Redmond Cruz. I did the video game with him, and I worked with him before. But, yeah, with him, I'm closer. And then good friends. RJ, he's a good friend. Max Arciana got Krazy 8. Victor, the guy that played Victor. Those guys, you know, I kept in touch with a lot of people. And behind the, you know, behind the camera people, I have more friends, I think.
- [02:50]
B
I love it.
- [02:51]
A
You know, the producers and just, you know, pas das assistant directors. I met so many good people like that, and I've stayed in touch with a lot of them. Even the transportation, really. They're good friends. Good friends. They're good people, bro. Yeah.
- [03:06]
B
That's how you know it's a good show. And you're still talking years later.
- [03:09]
A
Yeah. Oh, yeah. We've stayed in touch with all of them. Get texts from New Mexico, hey, man, when you come or they come, hey, we're here. Great people, man. It was just a blessing. That show was really a blessing. At the same time, though, kind of cursed me on the acting world. A lot of people don't see me beyond Breaking Bad. A lot of. Not to mention a show. I wanted to get on the show as a serious regular. And my agent requested an audition for this show. The producer said, oh, no, we can't see Lewis. Why? Why can't you see he's too Breaking Bad. And I was like, what does that mean? What am I? What is too Breaking Bad? You know, he, you know, too, like the Breaking Bad character to the assassin, the mean guy, the, uh, To Breaking Bad. I was like, wow, it's okay. But at the same time, it gave me a lot of good opportunities. I'm here, the video game, a lot of other opportunities, so I'm thankful.
- [03:59]
B
But you see that with certain shows and movies, like with Harry Potter, it was hard for him to get acting roles after Harry Potter, the main actor.
- [04:06]
A
Yeah, true, true.
- [04:08]
B
I wonder what happens with certain movies and shows. People just identify you as that one person.
- [04:12]
A
Yeah, I think for Breaking Bad characters. But you have to think of this, right? Bryan Cranston. Bryan Cranston is an amazing actor. He was on Malcolm in the Middle before he did X Files. Couple episodes, and he's done the judge And Godzilla. A lot of movies. But everybody, if you ask him, hey, who is that guy? That's Heisenberg from breaking bad. They're not gonna see. That's the guy from godzilla or your honor, that's heisenberg or Walter white from breaking bad even he gets it. But he of course has a lot of other stuff going. You know, it's like Giancarlos Posita is the same. He's on mandalorian and a bunch of other movies after better call saul and breaking bad. But everybody knows him as Gus fring. You know, they get that.
- [04:51]
B
The best lawyer in town. Yeah.
- [04:52]
A
Hey, you know, it's crazy. It's crazy.
- [04:55]
B
What did you learn from Bryan Cranston? What was the biggest takeaway you picked up from him?
- [05:00]
C
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- [07:06]
A
His acting I was blessed to. So it was my brother's first job. Right. Just a little bit of that. And he was nervous when we were on set. And I remember one time specifically we were done filming our stuff with my brother and Brian and Aaron came to do a scene and I told my brother, hey, let's stay here, watch what they do. This is gonna be a master class in acting, brother. We stay there, we watch just what they were doing, the chemistry they were doing, and how prepared, how professional they were. It was beautiful. After that, Brian came and told my brother this. He knows. Brian directed our first episode. So he kind of knew my brother was never worked. And what I learned as I took it with my brother was Brian told him, look what you need to do, Daniel, you need to go to acting school. And even after years, he said, I've been acting more over 30 years and I still have a coach. Keep working your mind. It's a muscle. Keep acting and always keep doing it. And even if you're a working actor, you work so much. Always have that coach and always go practice, always go do things with your coach to keep this sharp. So I was like, wow, that's amazing. You know, you know, I always, I always do the same. Even if I'm not working, I will do, do something, memorize some stuff. Keep your mind sharp.
- [08:24]
B
Yeah.
- [08:25]
A
You know, so taking it from the man, I was like this, this is a great advice.
- [08:28]
B
Always be a student no matter what level you get to.
- [08:30]
A
Yes, 100%.
- [08:32]
B
Yeah. Because he's 30 years in and he still has a coach. That's, that's very impressive mindset. But it shows there's not a lot of people make it in acting that long. Right?
- [08:39]
A
No. And look at him, he's still going. Amazing, amazing actor brother.
- [08:44]
B
Yeah.
- [08:44]
A
So that was a big take for me, that one. Keep it going. Always study being a student. Always. And grow open minded. Always. You're always going to learn something.
- [08:52]
B
Absolutely. Well, I didn't know that was your brother's. First gig. What a first gig to have.
- [08:56]
A
First gig.
- [08:57]
B
Crazy.
- [08:58]
A
It was. It was great because the characters didn't have a lot of. A lot of dialogue.
- [09:02]
B
That's true. Yeah.
- [09:03]
A
And if we had any, it was in Spanish. Even my brother had even less dialogue. But this was an on purpose thing. The producers knew, so whatever dialogue, they gave him one little thing just to test the water. And I had the. But it was great because of that, no dialogue. He just had to do the facial expression. You convey a lot with your looks and doing, but it's harder to deliver lines and do the same thing with this. So it was a great gig for him. And after that one time that we watched Bryan Cranston do that scene, he would take it up on himself, you know, to hear. To see how people do other stuff, you know, behind the camera and in front of the camera, you know, because you have to learn both. Both, I think, you know, so it was a blessing.
- [09:43]
B
Yeah.
- [09:43]
A
Did good. Yeah.
- [09:44]
B
You guys had to speak a lot with your body language and your facial expressions.
- [09:47]
A
100%.
- [09:47]
B
Not with words.
- [09:48]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [09:49]
B
But you. Even without speaking much verbally, you guys still appeared scary on the show.
- [09:54]
A
100%.
- [09:55]
B
You know what I mean? I feared you guys as a viewer.
- [09:57]
A
Yeah. When Vince Gilligan told us about the characters first we auditioned, we couldn't audition for the characters we played because if you think about it, we didn't say much on the show. So the audition. Imagine the audition for the show. When we go to the show, hey, Louis, Daniel, come. And the audition, we sit and we start and we just stare.
- [10:14]
B
Yeah.
- [10:15]
A
So that wouldn't work. So what we did, I didn't know at the time. We did two scenes from When Bryan Cranston. When Gus met Walter at Pollos Hermanos for the first time ever.
- [10:26]
B
That was a good scene.
- [10:27]
A
That was the scene when they were sitting when Gus was telling, oh, no, I can work with you, because, you know, your partner is a junkie. That scene is the one we auditioned. I was playing Gus. So when I did it, the whole time I'm thinking, I'm gonna be Gus. I didn't know what it was. So I'm thinking, I'm gonna be Gus. But once we get to New Mexico, we meet with Vince Gilligan. He goes, louis, Danny. I asked him, no, that's not. No, you're not playing. You're playing this character. He said, look, you're gonna be the scariest, the meanest when you come on screen, Louis. Oh, man, people are gonna shake. They're gonna Be like, oh, my God, something bad is gonna happen. And he said, king Kong got nothing on you, and you're not gonna say anything? And I was like, yeah, come again, bro? You want me to do all that? And I say anything? He was like, yes. I was like, okay. And, bro, it worked.
- [11:13]
B
Wow.
- [11:13]
A
That dude is a genius. It worked. Me. I was like, okay, you want me to do all that?
- [11:18]
B
It worked. You got to put your ego to the side a little bit, right?
- [11:21]
A
I did. I better call Saul. There was a scene. I don't know if I'm sure everybody's seen it, when I say, muy FA scene. They got too easy, right? Yeah. No, No. I wanted my life. I wanted my life. I said, be vote. I wanted to say. And it was on the script. He said, I want him alive. Like, I wanted that guy alive with Nacho. And I did it the first time, and he said. He said, that's a lot for your character. Can you make all that into one word? So I made it into, instead of I want him alive, I just say in Spanish, vivo. And he said, perfect. Less is more. He's huge on that, bro. Less is more.
- [12:01]
B
Wow.
- [12:02]
A
Yeah. It's crazy. I just mean I follow what he says, because that works.
- [12:06]
B
I love that, man. What do you think's next after Saul? You think there'll be another one, Man?
- [12:12]
A
Brother. I'm just gonna say this, brother. There was something that was written not per Vince Gilligan. Let's just say another actor wrote something, you know, that could be another prequel.
- [12:24]
B
Oh, a prequel.
- [12:25]
A
But it was not Vince. It was not Vince. It was another actor. And, yeah, it could be. But now I think, in my opinion, what I would love, and I think I get a lot of feedback from this, people would love to see the background, how the cartel came to be. How did we grow up so messed up the way we are? Tuco, part of the cartel was Tuco, Lalo, Theo, Hector, myself. How did Gus get involved in the cartel? Because Gus is a complete different. You know, he could actually be a real businessman for the Pollos Hermanos chain. Right. He could have succeeded doing good, but he chose to go on the cartel route and start doing bad stuff. So people would love to see that. And I always think of narcos, you know, It's a very successful show. People love that side of things. I'm like, wow, if Vince could do this, the cartel side of things would be great. It'd be interesting. Hoping and praying to the acting gods.
- [13:18]
B
I'd love to see that, man. What was Your favorite season out of both shows, just in terms of having fun and memories.
- [13:24]
A
Ooh, having fun and memories. I would say season four of Better Call Saul.
- [13:30]
B
Ooh, is that the last one?
- [13:32]
A
Yeah, the last Better Call Saul. No, season four. There's six seasons, okay. But season four, it was just. I don't know, it was just a great experience. We had a good time. Filming was great. We did more episodes than any other season of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I'll say season four of Better Call Saul, but my favorite scene ever was probably the shootout with Hank.
- [13:53]
B
That's a legendary scene.
- [13:55]
A
Episode three. Yeah.
- [13:56]
B
Still remember that one.
- [13:57]
A
One minute. Yeah, I love that scene.
- [14:00]
B
That was action packed, right? How many takes did that scene take to?
- [14:03]
A
Dude, it took a lot of takes. Let me tell you this. We usually don't do this, but they did it because back then, the budget for Breaking Bad was small. Really? They had not. Yeah, Season three, they had not won an Emmy yet. It was season two, But. So season three won an Emmy after. But yeah, first and second did not win an Emmy. Nothing. Season three came and they won. Brian won Best actor, the show won Best show and all that. The budget went woo. But when we were working on the show, the budget was small. So what they did is we needed to film that sequence. It was at least three days to shoot it to a week.
- [14:36]
B
Damn. Just for that one minute scene.
- [14:38]
A
For that little scene, the shootout and the whole thing. Because it would require a lot of stuff. You know, the shootout, I shot a guy in the forehead and hanged the hole in the blood. So what they did is they hire the first. The group, you know, they have the regular camp, everything, and then a second unit. So every time we did a scene like, so let's say I'll do a scene with Hank. When I shoot him. Push, shoot him. Cut. Okay, Lewis, right over here. You're gonna do this scene right now. Like there were once we were doing this. We were doing this scene and another crew was working on prepping the other scene on the other side. That was the second unit. So as soon as I was done here, bro, I almost had to run to the other one to do the. Getting the ax out of the car, dragging it on the ground. I'm done with that. Okay, cut. Hank is ready. He's ready. Go over there. Now you're gonna. It was like that.
- [15:22]
B
Wow.
- [15:23]
A
The whole day. The whole day. Cool thing. It was running. It was crazy. It was hard. And it got nominated for best episode. Michelle McLaurin, the director, got nominated for Best director as well. So it was great. It was a great episode, dude, but.
- [15:38]
B
It was chaos behind, I bet, man.
- [15:40]
A
To work. It was great, though.
- [15:42]
B
Emmys must have been crazy. What was that like that?
- [15:44]
A
It was crazy. We actually did a little spoof with her because she got nominated for it. So we went, got the suits, and we did just a little mixture of McClure, and then we came from the side with the ax and got on her face. It was cool, but that was really cool, dude. It was an experience. I never experienced anything like that in SAG Awards, anything like me. I never experienced this thing, but on this show, I did, and it was amazing. The feeling you get is you're proud of something.
- [16:09]
B
It's like you finally made it, right?
- [16:11]
A
Yes. Yeah.
- [16:12]
B
You spent your whole life learning acting.
- [16:13]
A
And skills, and you get. You know, I got some shows before. I worked on a lot of stuff. I started acting seven years before Breaking Bad, but not when I got Breaking Bad. I never. I didn't even think. I did not think it was gonna do. It was gonna be what it was. What it is now. It's amazing. Now. It's like, yeah, dude, you have no. When I say I'm thankful, bro, I'm so thankful for that show, for the people, for everything. Everything that he has given me. I'm so thankful. So thankful.
- [16:39]
B
Yeah. Who would have known, you know?
- [16:42]
A
When I got the audition, dude, I didn't even know what Breaking Bad was. You know what I did? I went to. I got the audition, and he said, we need two guys that look alike. Cartel. You know, the bad boy type. Okay, cool. And for a show, Breaking Bad. And I'm like, oh, Breaking Bad, huh? Let me go to Blockbuster. I had a week to start. I go to Blockbuster at the time and rent it. Season one and two.
- [17:03]
B
So Blockbuster was still open at the time.
- [17:04]
A
It was still open. My house, I was in Studio City, and I rent this, and I watched the first two episodes. Dude, I needed to be on this show. I watched those two episodes, and I'm like, I always want to be on everything I do, all the auditions, I try to do good. But this was, oh, my God, I need to be in this. You know, I put extra everything I could. I did, and it worked. It worked.
- [17:24]
B
Those first two episodes, that's the one where he's handcuffed to the wall, right?
- [17:27]
A
Yeah.
- [17:28]
B
The guy in the piece.
- [17:28]
A
Yeah. But he does Theo, Hector, Tuco, and they kidnap him and all that stuff. Yeah, all that stuff where he meets with Jesse for the first time. Like, I saw this and I'm like, this show is amazing. It's amazing. I have to be in it. And I was so happy, dude.
- [17:47]
B
And prior to acting, you were in a gang and in prison, right? What was that like?
- [17:51]
A
Yeah. So I came here in 1991. I'm originally from Honduras, Central America, third world country. I came here in 91, went to school and, you know, people. I didn't speak English, bro. People picked on me and they were mean and all that shit. So all this stuff. And one time I saw a guy, you know, walking in school and he had so much power and authority that to me, being nobody in school, I was like the get over there on the side and I see this guy, like King Kong walking the freaking school. And the sea opens, bro. And I'm like, who is that? I followed him, bro. Somehow I hooked up with this guy, took me to la. Next thing you know, I joined a gang. A few months later, prison.
- [18:33]
B
Damn.
- [18:34]
A
Yeah, two years. Two years. Yeah. Got out of prison. Three weeks later, I was back in prison.
- [18:40]
B
Damn.
- [18:40]
A
Got out again a few, three months later, again prison again. So it was like, you know, the third time I went to prison, I was tired of it. I was in the hole for six months. And I told myself, you know what? You need to do something, bro, to change. I kept calling myself stupid in prison and bro, you know what I did to get out? And this is for everybody that things that you can't get out. No, you can't, bro. There is a way. You just get away from everything. I used to have a booklet with numbers of all my friends, all the bad friends, right? And in prison, right before I worked out of prison, before I walked out, that little booklet with all my numbers I ever knew from that world, I dropped it in a trash can inside prison. Once you cross the line to get out of. To the. To the free, you cannot go back. If you go back, they actually throw you back for one more day.
- [19:25]
B
Oh, wow.
- [19:26]
A
So I left the booklet in the trash can inside. I walked out, never looked back. I moved from LA to the Valley. Never look back. My life changed, my friend. My life changed after that. You know, I started doing bodyguarding, which is funny, cause I was a felon, right? Or, you know, I started doing bodyguarding. Insecurity. And that's how I started acting. Just like that. Yeah. The acting led into motivational speaking. I learned, you know, the, you know, spoke gangs, the, you know, drugs and all that stuff. You know, I enjoy that very much. But my life changed from that, from the day I moved, I said, I'm leaving the stuff behind. All the bad stuff, you leave it behind, you move somewhere else and don't look back. Because before that, the other two times that I came, I said, oh, I'm gonna try to get a job. But I was still at the same place where the bad things were happening. Bro, temptation is there. You're gonna do something dumb. And I did. Ended up in prison. But, yeah, if you want, you just move. Just do it. Just change your life, man. Change your life. Now I go anywhere and everywhere, and nobody is gonna shoot me. Nobody's gonna call me anything. Nothing. I'm free. I do everything I want. It's beautiful. I love everybody I'm thankful for, from prison to being on the best show ever, brother. It's an amazing thing. It's like, wow. But change is possible. I always say, change is possible, my friend.
- [20:52]
B
Change your environment, change your life, change your 100%. Yeah.
- [20:55]
A
And wanting to do it, absolutely. It's. It's very powerful. You can do. Anybody can do it.
- [21:00]
B
Have you gone back to Honduras since you flew up?
- [21:03]
A
I went back in 95, but it wasn't a good experience because in 95, I was still doing the. The bad things in life. So I went to Honduras and I ended up getting stabbed over there.
- [21:15]
B
Damn. Holy.
- [21:16]
A
Yeah. Have scars and all this. And I actually went in jail there, too.
- [21:21]
B
Oh, my gosh.
- [21:24]
A
And I just never went back. I never went back because it was really bad. Honduras is a different place than here. Like prison here. If you go to prison here. Yeah, it's bad. Prison is. Prison is bad. But prison over there, it's like, holy microwave. It's. It's bad, dude. I never went back. Never went back after that.
- [21:38]
B
I don't blame you.
- [21:39]
A
Yeah. Then I went back.
- [21:40]
B
I was like, man, I don't think I'm gone.
- [21:43]
A
And I got stopped once. It was actually a machete that hit me in the back. Whoa. Like a machete, dude.
- [21:47]
B
I was like, you didn't see it coming?
- [21:48]
A
I saw it coming.
- [21:49]
B
Oh, you did?
- [21:49]
A
Oh, I saw it.
- [21:50]
B
You pissed them off.
- [21:52]
A
I think they were pissed off at me because at the time, I don't know if you guys know about this. You know, a lot of people were getting deported to countries. Gang members were getting deported. So it was a lot of the gang work. It was growing so big. I'm coming from la, from a gang myself. So when I get to where I was from in Honduras, there was already a gang there where I lived. So you get me. I Got thrown into the wolves. They saw me and they're like, oh, yeah, we're gonna get this guy. And that's. And me. The mentality of a youngster. Dumb, dumb. I didn't know better. Exactly, bro. I go with the mentality. Oh, yeah, I'm here. You guys. Can't do that. Was not smart. And, yeah, they got me, and it was my fault. Prison wasn't fault.
- [22:33]
B
How'd they know? Did you have tattoos or.
- [22:34]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [22:35]
B
Oh, you did.
- [22:35]
A
I had tattoos. They knew and they knew. Everybody knows, like, somebody comes from the United States. Oh, people know over there. A lot of people think you have money, you're rich, and then, you know, you come from the U.S. so you're kind of cool over there. But in my case, it was like, oh, this guy's coming from. He's from a gang. Oh, yeah. Everybody knew. The whole town knew.
- [22:52]
B
Damn.
- [22:52]
A
Yeah, it was very quick, you know, they were after me and, you know.
- [22:57]
B
I was like, ain't no going back there.
- [22:58]
A
I never go. I never. I've never come back since. Yeah.
- [23:02]
B
Damn, that's crazy. I didn't know Honduras was like that.
- [23:04]
A
Oh, crazy, bro.
- [23:05]
B
What a shame. I love traveling. Where do you like to go, man?
- [23:09]
A
Dude, I want to go. I've been to places. I say Dubai is beautiful and everything, but the one almost like a dream, I guess. My wife is obsessed. She wants to go to Germany. Her roots are there, so she wants to go to Germany. And I have a lot of German friends and fans that I have. I want to go to Germany. So. But Europe, not even Germany. UK as well. I would love to.
- [23:31]
B
Europe's beautiful. Food is great.
- [23:33]
A
Hawaii is beautiful. I've been to Hawaii a couple times, and it's beautiful.
- [23:36]
B
I got to get out there. Yeah.
- [23:38]
A
Yeah.
- [23:38]
B
I haven't been yet, but Europe.
- [23:39]
A
Europe is one place that I want to go. Germany, Spain, uk, Switzerland, all those places.
- [23:47]
B
Where was your favorite spot on set to film? Did you ever travel, like, to other countries or cities?
- [23:53]
A
Yes, I have. No, my favorite place. No, I think my favorite place to film outside of, not even outside the country was New Mexico.
- [24:01]
B
Okay.
- [24:01]
A
Yeah. I went to Louisiana, Texas, New York, Atlanta, nothing. I have never shot anything overseas, but I have traveled for cons, for comic cons, to Ireland, Dubai and things like that. And Dubai was freaking amazing. That place is different.
- [24:16]
B
I gotta get out there.
- [24:17]
A
That place is different, brother. That opened my eyes to other things. I was like, wow, this is crazy. They have this kind of things in the world. It was beautiful. Yeah. But New Mexico, I'D say it was my favorite place to film. Just because of the friendships I've made from Breaking Bad. I made that good of friends over there. So I'm like, I love that place. And New Mexico. Breaking Bad in New Mexico is almost. I compare it to a religion, right? It's huge, brother. Businesses have things that. There's a bar that has a drink called the Heisenberger. There's a donut shop that has the glazed. The blue glazed donut. It's crazy. It's crazy. But the people are so cool, bro. They're so nice. Like, just not even my friends, just regular people, fans, everybody is just everything for help, anything you need. They're just lovely people, bro. I love them.
- [25:03]
B
They're awesome. It's amazing because the show is filmed entirely out there.
- [25:05]
A
Everything.
- [25:06]
B
Wow.
- [25:07]
A
Even the scenes. There is a scene that we supposedly came from Mexico. Well, Mexico on breaking Mexico was across the studio. It was like, literally just across the street and it was desert.
- [25:18]
B
I remember that scene.
- [25:19]
A
That was Mexico. All they did was change a filter, and it was like an orange filter. Every time we were in Mexico was an orange filter. It was across the street when we broke for lunch, it was like, hey, lunch. We just crossed the street into the studio and ate. Let's go back to Mexico. And we just crossed the street and go back to filming. Yeah, but everything was shot in Albuquerque.
- [25:39]
B
That's cool. No wonder they like you guys, because you spent six seasons out there, right?
- [25:42]
A
Yeah, it was beautiful.
- [25:43]
B
Long time. Yes. You're probably eating at the local restaurants and talking with the locals.
- [25:47]
A
Yeah. You go to anything. They just want everything they want to. Oh, come. They treat you like a king. Like, so kind, bro. Like, it's just cool, dude. The people are so, so, so welcoming.
- [25:58]
B
Yeah.
- [25:59]
A
So welcoming. That's awesome, people.
- [26:01]
B
Are you doing any current projects, any auditions or anything you got your eyes on right now?
- [26:06]
A
We just did. And by the time we did a thing right now with Delta Force, thing that I did. But the project that I want to say that I've enjoyed doing and just changed my life in different ways is the video game. Video gaming.
- [26:20]
B
That's scum, right?
- [26:21]
A
Yes, brother. That has changed my life in a good way to see things. Because right now, from Scum, I started streaming on Twitch, and it's different. It is so beautiful to meet people. Like, when you go to cons, you know how you go to comic cons? You take pictures with people and sign autographs and you talk to people. It's beautiful. But you don't do that every day when you stream, every time you stream, you talk to people and fans, they can ask you whatever they want. I'm very engaged when I do this. Me, it's about the people. I love it. You meet people. Oh my God, I can't wait. You know, you. I can't believe I'm talking to. I said, bro, we're just here. Yes, anything you want. I enjoy it very much.
- [27:01]
B
Laid back.
- [27:02]
A
Yeah. Yeah. So that I'm focusing on that streaming thing right now. The gaming, I think. I always think technology is the future, my friend.
- [27:07]
B
Yeah.
- [27:08]
A
And this gaming thing is huge. And acting right now in LA is kind of like struggling.
- [27:14]
B
It's tough.
- [27:14]
A
Because of COVID the strike and the AI. Yes.
- [27:18]
B
But the screen taking over, right?
- [27:20]
A
The screen. The strike was big on the AI. That was the. I think the main problem that we had was AI.
- [27:26]
B
Yeah.
- [27:26]
A
They couldn't come to an agreement with the AI. So right now we have like, what did they say? A three year deal. And we're going to have to touch base in three years with the AI because it's going to be more advanced. And you know, the example was. And this made sense for everybody the way they broke it down, he said, imagine if they hire a background actor right now, A background guy, they're going to pay him 50, $100. Hire him and ask him, hey, go do this. Okay, cool. Now we're going to owe you forever. And we can make a series just based on that little five second clip. We can do anything and we paid you nothing. That we will have to hire an actor to do that job. We're saving money. Why are we going to hire an actor? So now you think there's not going to be any actors or one actor for the whole. They're going to pay you for one episode and do a whole season. It's like, that's not fair.
- [28:14]
B
Yeah.
- [28:14]
A
You know, so. Yeah, that's. We're going to.
- [28:16]
B
Scary, man.
- [28:16]
A
It's. Dude, it's scary.
- [28:17]
B
And not only the actors, the writers, they're getting. AIs just taking over the writing too.
- [28:21]
A
Yes. Oh, it was. It was huge. They had a longer strike than we did. You know, we just joined their strike. But yeah, it's the same thing. AI, It's. It's a beautiful tool and yes, progress and everything. But it's also a scary thing. It's a very scary thing. It has to be managed correctly. I believe, you know, with the right people have to be behind that because it's going to affect a lot of people. A lot of lives and jobs and. I mean, come on, It's. It's crazy. It's crazy.
- [28:47]
B
We're going to end up like Terminator, dude.
- [28:50]
A
Yeah.
- [28:50]
B
You know.
- [28:51]
A
Yeah. Funny. Funny that you said that, because I thought of this. Sound like, man, this world. One day, machines are going to take over computers, and then what are we going to do? You know, we're not needed.
- [29:02]
B
They're going to be running us.
- [29:03]
A
Yes.
- [29:04]
B
They're going to use us as slaves.
- [29:05]
A
All those movies that do that, it's like, man, they're onto something with this.
- [29:09]
B
There's a lot of truth to movies. A lot of hidden messaging, too.
- [29:12]
A
Yes, yes. Now you think about it. From movies, it's all hidden. It's. I mean, it's coming. It's coming to fruition. You know what I'm saying? Like, now it's happening. I'm like, I never thought back when I saw 10, 15 years ago, you see a movie that says, you know, computers and machines are gonna. You're like, yeah, Terminator in 1984, I think, dude, that was like, come on, there's no way. That's. That's great movie. I love it, but there's no way. Look at now 2025. And we're like, huh? We had a strike. Because it was. That was the main topic of it. Yeah. Of the strike. Crazy. It's a scary thing, bro.
- [29:47]
B
Yeah. I've been wondering what's gonna happen because it seems like everyone's moving towards streaming now too, right? Yeah, Like Netflix. Like, movies seem to be hurting.
- [29:54]
A
Yeah. Hulu.
- [29:55]
B
Yeah. Snow White just flopped. So all these big movies are struggling. They're gonna have to figure out what's next.
- [30:01]
A
Yeah. Yeah, it's. I don't know. I know. I hate to say it, but it seems to me like it's just going like, this has to be. Something has to be done. I don't know. It's crazy.
- [30:12]
B
Well, it's smart that you're pivoting at least into video games for now.
- [30:14]
A
For sure. Yeah. I see the opportunity. I enjoy it a lot. I make my own schedule when I want to stream so I can be on my son's soccer games whenever I want to be. And it's a long time with the wife, and I'm cool.
- [30:27]
B
How long you guys been together?
- [30:28]
A
My wife, Nine years.
- [30:30]
B
Nine years.
- [30:31]
A
Yeah, Nine years. Married almost three years.
- [30:33]
B
I'm getting married this year.
- [30:35]
A
Congrats, brother. Yes, sir.
- [30:38]
B
Eight years.
- [30:39]
A
Eight years.
- [30:40]
B
Eight years.
- [30:41]
A
Oh, I bet you. Oh, I bet she's giving you all that. It Took you eight years to marry me.
- [30:46]
B
I'm sure you got.
- [30:46]
A
What were you thinking?
- [30:47]
B
I'm sure you got hit with that around year five. I did.
- [30:50]
A
No. Yeah. Almost six years. Right. And. Oh, dude, when I proposed my friend, oh, man, they were like, finally. I was like, well, you know, you gotta get to know and this. And make sure, you know, do things together so you make the marriage last. You know, you don't want to get married. When you meet somebody six months later, you don't really don't know them.
- [31:10]
B
Yeah. Especially someone in your spot. At the time you were, you know, peak actor Breaking Bad.
- [31:15]
A
You know, what's the funny thing? And there's one thing I like about my wife to this day, she has not watched Breaking Bad.
- [31:21]
B
No way.
- [31:22]
A
She hasn't watched Breaking Bad. Of course, like, I show her clips, but she's just like, too long. I don't want to watch. There's too many seasons. I'm like, she's the least of. She's not a. You know how you go to events like red carpets or this or this. Oh, she's not one to go. You know, she's not that person that wants that. You know how people sometimes. Oh, yeah, I'm gonna get a guy so that I can go to all this. She's the opposite. She don't want to go to anything.
- [31:50]
B
She's a homebody, introvert.
- [31:52]
A
I love that. She's Missouri, small town. You get me? I love that family person. I'm a family guy. I don't like to do anything. I want to be home spending with my wife and my son. That's all I want to do. My adventure. Oh, a crazy night for me will be go to the movies and go to dinner. Oh, man, we party today. You gave me. That's me. That's. That's what I do. I don't. I don't drink. I don't. I don't do nothing. Yeah, I love it. I love that about her. You know, we were talking about that earlier. It's. I love that.
- [32:16]
B
Have you always had that discipline or did you have a phase when you were younger where you were.
- [32:20]
A
When I was young, I was. I was. I didn't know when I came. When I was in, you know, gangs and prison and stuff. Not disciplined at all. I thought I was, you know, I could do whatever. I didn't even know where I was going in life, tell you the truth. And you probably heard this before, and a lot of people say this, but I really mean when I say this. I did not think that I was going to make to 21 impossible. The way things were going, dude, I was already ready. I knew I was gonna die. Wow. Like, just like this where I grew up, the neighborhood and all this. We were getting shot at every out of the week at least three times a week. What people come do drive bys, dude. And you feel like you're in the Matrix. Holy crap. Like, you see I'm walking down the street and next thing you know, somebody passes. Yeah. And you're doing one of these Matrix mover and they're shooting at you, dude. I knew I was gonna die because one day they're gonna catch me off guard. And I was. And I knew I was gonna die or I was gonna end up doing life in prison. I was okay with it. It's a life that you're like, how are you living life like this, dude? You know, it was crazy to me. Damn.
- [33:21]
B
You were always on edge when you were younger.
- [33:22]
A
Always on the edge. I couldn't leave from being on that gang world. You cannot leave your neighborhood without you knowing something bad is gonna. It's basically you're confined to a cage.
- [33:34]
B
Wow.
- [33:35]
A
It was. It was now that I. That my life the way it is. It was horrible. It was horrible. I did not. I have not for years. I did not see the world. Nothing. I was just there, you know, and there got me in trouble. Prison, how many times and everything. And I never. I wasn't doing anything with myself. I was just there, basically just, you know, waiting to go to prison or die. Damn. And then I left. My life changed. It's beautiful. The world is beautiful. People are beautiful. There's great people in the world.
- [34:03]
B
Yeah.
- [34:03]
A
You know, not everybody's against you.
- [34:05]
B
Wow.
- [34:06]
A
I always thought every. Everything, Sean, everybody I thought was against me. Everybody. Wow. Like me. You'll never see me. Hey. No, me, dude. I was walking down the street to know no matter who it was, it was me. Like this, bro. I'm just waiting for somebody to say something to. You know what I'm saying?
- [34:23]
B
No wonder you did so well on the show now.
- [34:25]
A
You already had it in you. Yeah, I did. I grew up like that.
- [34:28]
B
It was natural.
- [34:28]
A
It was just like that. Now nowadays I do walk serious. I'm serious. I go to the gym. It's funny because I do this at the gym and people look at me and they're like. And a lot of people look at me funny. And then when somebody comes, I'm so sorry to bother you. They come so nice. I'm so sorry to Bother you. I injure the guy from Breaking Bad. And I look and I just give him this. And then I go, this. Sean. Yes, I am. Nice to meet you. Good eye. And then I change my, you know, change it. But I'm just serious. Just, you know, But I'm super. As soon as they say, say so me, bro, I'm like, hey, how you doing? Thank you.
- [35:03]
B
And when we're done, I'm like, you got that switch?
- [35:06]
A
Yeah. My wife tells me smile. I say, I can't. Except when I stream. You see, you put a camera in front of me and I'm like, hey, what's going on?
- [35:15]
B
I love that.
- [35:16]
A
No, I'm just happy and thankful when I do things like that. Streaming, talking to people. I'm thankful I'm in a good place. Like the opportunities that came to me because of things. I'm thankful for everything, dude. Wow. Everything that comes my way, I'm thankful. People that tune to Watch me on Twitch. I'm thankful for that one person, for everyone. Just because of background, you know, you came from this, you did all this. Now people are like, you know, you're giving back. I don't know. I feel like. I don't know. I'm just so thankful for that.
- [35:47]
B
Gratitude.
- [35:48]
A
Yeah. Yes. For everything, dude. Everything that comes my way. I'm grateful to you for being here. Like, you know what I'm saying? He was great to me.
- [35:56]
B
Yeah. Rap's amazing.
- [35:58]
A
Charlie was amazing. You know what I'm saying? It was good talking. I just like, wow. That's just good people. Great people.
- [36:04]
B
You still talk to anyone that you grew up with? Like back in those days, you cut everyone off.
- [36:09]
A
Everyone. I don't talk to anybody from school, anybody from my past, from gang high school. No friends. Wow, Nothing.
- [36:16]
B
You didn't go to the 10 year high school reunion?
- [36:19]
A
No, I did not. Actually. I graduated high school in prison.
- [36:23]
B
Oh, wow.
- [36:25]
A
Yeah. Last year of prison. Yeah. I got kicked out of like three high schools, two continuation school. I ended up going to jail and I finished schooling there. And you know what the funny thing was, dude? That when I actually was in prison, I found out that I enjoyed school. Really? Oh, I got great grades in prison. The teacher put the teacher for me to get out. He wrote a very, like an amazing letter. You know how he said, this young man can have a great future if he felt. And I mean, I was focused on. I liked it. I don't know why I loved it. It was really cool. But outside in the world, me, I thought everybody was against me and And I did not speak English. That was a big thing. They threw me into a school and everybody's. I mean, English, I had esl, like, second language thing, but every other class was English. I'm like, I'm just set to fail.
- [37:14]
B
Yeah, they set you up for failure.
- [37:15]
A
Yeah. So it was one of those. But, yeah, in prison, the teacher was great, amazing. And, yeah, I did good. I enjoyed school. To me, now, that's the biggest thing with school for everybody. My son, dude. I lived life how I lived it. And I learned, but I learned now. My son, dude. Oh, I'm like a hawk with my son, but he's a great kid.
- [37:32]
B
I love it.
- [37:33]
A
Amazing. He's really open about stuff. Just last year, I told him about prison, but he's now 17. I had to tell him. He's seen things on the Internet, you know, it says. I told him, no, that's actually true, bro. And I explained to him what I did. And I told him there's no excuse for what I did. Like, it was dumb things. Yeah. Little nothing. Nothing bad enough to go to prison. So I told him the things that happened. This happened because of this. And what happened, it was my fault. It was no one else's fault. It was all me.
- [37:59]
B
Wow.
- [37:59]
A
I did it. I did it because I was dumb. I didn't have guidance, and I was just with my friends. So now to me, I tell him as a young man, I tell him, never. Your friends are gonna make your life. Either they're gonna be great friends and push you the right way, call you out when they need to call you out. They're not gonna be the ones. Hey, Joe, I dare you to do this, or let's go do this. Don't ever. Don't ever do that. Be your own man. Always Be strong. Be. Hey, if you're here and everybody else is partying but you're here, don't. No, don't go over there just because. No. Be your own man. Be strong. No peer pressure, nothing. None of that. Be your own man. You're going to be cool because you're going to be like, man, look at all those dummies. I want to say. And look at that guy. He's just there by himself, not doing the dumb things. Drinking, smoking. Do it. No, that guy is cool. He is strong. He's his own person. That's it. Be that guy.
- [38:47]
B
I love that.
- [38:48]
A
Be that guy. You know, you're going to be super cool because I'm gonna be like, man, everybody's gonna look up to you. You Know, walk proud and conduct yourself as a respectable young man. You're gonna be the man. And it's working. Beautiful.
- [39:02]
B
That's great advice. Cause when you're that young, you're so impressionable and you wanna fit in, so it's easy to follow the wrong guidance 100%.
- [39:09]
A
Dude. Remember I told you that comes from the time. Remember when I was in school and I told you that I follow that guy, that he carried so much power, like, so much, I thought he was King Kong. And I went with him and look where he took me. Gangs, prison. Ruined my life.
- [39:24]
B
What happened to him?
- [39:26]
A
He ended up going to prison a few more times. And then the last time I talked, I knew he went to jail for a few years. And I never talked to him again. Damn. Never talked to him again. I just lost everything with people. I just don't need it. I don't need to. You know, I'm not gonna lie. The last time I actually talked to one of my actual friends, if you want to call them friends, was in. So when I got out of prison, I started doing the acting Bike. I started also training and competing in Muay Thai, right? So I was into the Muay Thai thing. I was training, I was fighting, I was enjoying and loving life. I put my whole life. Once I left prison, bro, and I left the hood, I put everything in me into Muay Thai, into the acting. So everything. My whole everything, that's one thing. Sports are a great thing for kids. I always believe that. If you put your kids in sports and keep them busy, they're gonna be walking a straight line. Cause you always meet good people at things like that. Only good people, parents that care, they take their kids to either gyms or sporting things like baseball, football, basketball. You know, other kids are. Now they're gonna be on the street. Parents don't care or they don't have time, whatever it is. But sports, I think, is a good thing. So I was focused on the Muay Thai. I mean, I was just focused, focused. And my friend, my best friend, when I was doing bad, he got out of prison and he messaged me, and he was my best friend. I wasn't trying to talk to anybody. And he messaged me. And I said, you know what? I want to try to put him out, try to bring him with me, because I know he liked the kind of like, fighting stuff. So I said, I want to bring him to the gym under a disciplined environment to kind of, you know, get. I brought him. I brought him to the gym. I trained with him. I showed him some stuff and I told him, hey, I'm gonna find in two weeks. You're more than welcome to come, brother. I would love to have you there. Keep coming to the gym. I cover everything. I said, if you come to the gym, you don't have to pay anything, bro. Just come. A week later, he was dead. Damn, bro. He got killed leaving a strip club with his friend. Holy crap. He got shot like 10 times. And in my mind, dude, just think of it in my mind, dude, I thought we were best friends. If I was still doing what he was doing, all the bad stuff, hanging out. He was my best friend. I was his best friend. I would have been that guy that he died with his friend. I would have been that guy. Not that guy. I was his. I would have died with him because I would have gone to the club with him. Wow. And I would have died too, you know? So I always think about it, because when we were. Bro, we were like. We would go everywhere together. It was not as soon as I woke up to his house.