He was right on the precipice of it all. And then, the injuries hit – serious damage to his meniscus and patella.
Fernandez lost a year of crucial development. The whole time, though, he was taking night classes: journalism, media, visual arts. Those felt like a backup – the emergency option. But it became something that he had to consider.
“I relate a lot to Roy Kent’s storyline, like what happens after football, and you go through an existential crisis. It happened to me,” he said.
His studies were a bit of a mess. He was taking some classes, but not others. He had classmates both older and younger. Fernandez was hanging on by a thread, and still trying to pursue a dream that was becoming less and less of a reality. It turned out, though, that he was pretty good at acting. He was invited to join his school theater. And that was it.
“I discovered some new passion that probably was not as big as soccer later on. But I love telling stories. I love films,” he said.
American Psycho, Pulp Fiction and Fight Club were his early obsessions. He also loved Mexican films. He tried soccer one more time, but couldn’t make the grade. For three years, he stuck around in Guadalajara, doing shorts and commercials, saving money. He got his first job, playing an insurance salesman, and used the money he had to go to acting school in the U.K. That, he admitted, was terrifying.
“I was very comfortable in Guadalajara. I love my city, I love my family, I love my friends, and that’s where I always want to be,” he said. “But it comes to a point where, if you want to accomplish certain things, sometimes you can’t accomplish them in your hometown.
“You have to get out and really push yourself, and I did that with such a crazy dream, like acting and film. It was more than being a good actor, or not – because that’s not for me to say. I just know I accomplished certain things in my life, because I truly put myself in the situations and scenarios.”
