PCM's writer Kristyn sat in on a great conference call in support of the new season of USA's In Plain Sight. We got the chance to interview Cristain de la Fuente. Cristián plays the role of Raphael on USA's hit series, In Plain Sight, which will premiere an all new season on Sunday, April 19th at 10:00/9:00 Central. Check out some Q&A with the star below and be sure to tune in to watch the all new season on USA!
(Mary McCormack Interview, Nicole Hiltz Interview)

Q: How did you get started in acting in the first place?

C. de la Fuente: I got started 17 years ago in Chile where I am right now, thanks to the technology, I'm having this conference from Chile. I've always wanted to be an actor and my dad wanted me to be a civil engineer because actors don't make money here in Chile. They don't ride in limousines and live in big mansions. Actors here, we live in normal houses and sometimes there are actors that have to ride the bus, because they don't have a car. You do this because you love it. It's not, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to get to make $20 million a picture." So my dad was really afraid of me being an actor.

But then I got to a point that I decided why am I going to be an engineer if that's not what I really love to do, and that's when I decided to go to a network and apply for a job doing a show and I was part of the show. And then after that they offered me the option of studying all the afternoons while I was working in the mornings to start studying acting and I did that and that was how it really started.

Q: What about your role continues to challenge you?

C. de la Fuente: The first thing that challenged me was playing baseball. I was born and raised in Santiago, Chile where the biggest sport is soccer. We don't play baseball here. I think baseball stops in Venezuela, that's the farthest you go by playing baseball. And also working with a great cast is always challenging, because you have to really give your 180%, but mainly the baseball part. The rest at the beginning was scary, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to work with Lesley Ann Warren and Mary McCormack," but then when I got to meet them then that was the best part of the job, not the hardest one.

Q: Why do you think people continue to watch the show?

C. de la Fuente: First, I don't think there's a lot of female driven shows and in this case In Plain Sight follows the life and work of Mary McCormack's character, Mary.

And on the other hand, I think what's very unique about this show, we have a lot of cop shows, law shows, Law and Order, or all the CSI's, but they all tell one crime or they all investigate one crime or one suspect or they have one story. In this case, Mary has to protect the witness every week, but she also has a personal life. She has to deal with her mother, with her sister. She has to deal with her boyfriend. So there's a lot of the personal life of Mary that we see and I think that's unique. That really makes a difference in the show.

C. de la Fuente: I auditioned for it and my agent sent me the script and I read it and I loved it, but Raphael was first written as Devin and was supposed to be an American. And I called my agent and I said, "You know, I love this role. Can you call them and see if they could see me, because you know I think I can play this role." Besides nowadays if you look at all the baseball players, probably 70% of them have Latino names, so then it's not a big stretch to go from Raphael Ramirez to Latino. But I said, like maybe let's try to give it a shot, and then I got this job and then they changed it from Devin to Raphael, because it had to be more believable than me named Devin, I don't think it would have worked.

Q: What do you like most about your character?

C. de la Fuente: Raphael, I think goes against all the stereotypes. It's like he's not the typical Latin lover. He's not the typical Latino. As a joke always I think we've made history in television and film, because on the last episode of the first season, on the season finale, I think it's the first time that you see a Latino character with a lot of kilograms of drugs and instead of starting dealing them, he threw them away. I think that's the first time that's happened in TV, that Latinos are not portrayed as drug dealers but people that you know they have good hearts and they want the best for their family and their loved ones. And I think that's the beauty about Raphael, he's really in love with Mary and he's a nice guy and I think he's going to do always the right thing and it's great to play those kinds of roles nowadays.

Q: Where do you draw your inspiration from when you play the character?

C. de la Fuente: Well I try to draw the inspiration the way I would like to be. I think how would I like to be if I was like the perfect guy? And the perfect version of me, that's Raphael.

C. de la Fuente: Yes, there are big surprises. Let me see, how can I say it without ruining it? There's going to be a change in my career. I can say that. I'm going to get closer to, however, changing my marital status.

C. de la Fuente: Mary's very hard to deal with, Mary the character, because Mary McCormack, I love her. I also love the other one in different ways, but Raph would like to marry her and have a family, but it's tough. Mary is hard to get and she's a little bit afraid of commitment. In the ideal world, which doesn't exist, not even in fiction, Raphael would like to marry her and have children and be happy. But he's going to try to do everything in his power and hopefully Mary's going to try to do something too.

Q: I know that you guest starred on Brothers and Sisters and I just wondered what that was like working with that cast, and yes, just getting to work with Sally Field?

C. de la Fuente: When I got the call, I was really surprised. My first reaction was, "You want me to play that role? Are you sure you've got the right guy?" Every time you work with a great cast, it's something that's not only good for your resume, it's good for your soul working with people that are talented and that have been around. It's always a good thing. It was a great experience and it would be great if we do it again in the future.

Q: What is the cast dynamic like on In Plain Sight? How do you guys all get along?

C. de la Fuente: I'm going to answer you the truth, which is that we all get along very well and we have a great relationship with each other, and even though that didn't happen, I would never say it. But in this case, I'm saying the truth, I'm not lying. Sometimes you don't get along and you still have to lie and say, "We really get along," but I'm happy to say that on this occasion it's true that we all get along very well and we act together.

Of course, you have a better relationship with those that you work more often, with Nichole Hiltz with Lesley Ann Warren and with Mary. I'm not involved in all the cop scenes with Fred Weller or with Paul Ben-Victor. I don't get to do a lot of scenes, but sometimes we go out to dinner and sometimes we go on the same plane back and forth from LA, especially with Paul, so we all have a great relationship. And that's good, because I spend more time sometimes with them than with my family.

Q: If you could work with any actor, if you guys could have any guest on the show, who would you have?

C. de la Fuente: I would love to have Al Pacino, but I don't think he would go to our show. I'm going to apply to see if I can serve him coffee on the set of his movie. Maybe that will work.