The actor and model Rubén Cortada (Cuba, 1984), known especially for his role as Faruq Ben Barek in the successful series El Príncipe, began studying Automatic Engineering, but soon left his studies after a job in the world of modeling came up in Spain. His first appearance on the small screen in our country was in 2011 in the series Bandolera and in 2013 in El tiempo entre costuras, both on Antena 3, and although he did not have main roles in them, it served Cortada as a basis to begin his career in Spain.
Years before, in his native Cuba, the actor took his first steps in the world of acting with two plays in the Caribbean country. After the boom of El Príncipe, Rubén Cortada disappeared for a few years from the scene and social networks due to two family losses for which he had to move to Cuba, a country that was difficult for him to leave due to grief. However, in 2022 he returned in style to the big screen with the film El cuarto pasajero, alongside well-known faces such as Blanca Suárez, after which he has been stringing together jobs in different series until today.
His career has been enough for the Lanzarote International Film Festival to decide to count on his presence to be part of the jury in the category of international short films this past weekend. In an interview with La Voz, the actor has answered some questions to learn a little more in depth about his career and other aspects of his life.
- Have you been to Lanzarote before?
I was there once, I think it's spectacular, it's like the Moon on Earth. This time we were in El Golfo (with the other actors from the Lanzarote Film Festival) and we ate there.
- How did you take the invitation to the Lanzarote International Film Festival?
It's a gift. It is true that for five or six years they insisted that I come, until we agreed and we achieved it.
- What expectations did you have for the Festival?
I have been very surprised by the level of the short films because I have found things that I did not expect at all. They are very well made technically, with very good scripts and brutal performances. I also did not expect the welcome and affection with which they treat the jury.
- At what point did you realize that you liked the world of acting?
I think it's something I've had since I was very young, but life never took me there. I think life wanted me to have my experiences, in fact I came more from the world of sports and science. I ended up in the world of acting with some friends of mine who had done theater in Cuba and I decided to go back to see that professor and there I fell in love with the profession. I do have to say that the movie Carne trémula made a breaking point, I really liked Bardem's work.
- And in the case of being a model?
I am fascinated by this world, but fashion was presented as a form of survival. My Literature teacher told me where I could earn some money but I never saw myself as a model, I came from tennis. As they paid me, I entered for that, but I really liked the experience, the energy and the people, many underestimate it a bit but it is a very fun world.
What's more, I was able to experience it at high levels in Paris, Milan, London, New York, Versailles... there are very intelligent and very prepared people, from the designers to the models, but it was always a vehicle to travel and make money. Afterwards I went on to study photography and then film, while I was studying acting and I got a job as an actor, where I fell madly in love with my profession.
- Many claim to have had bad experiences in the world of fashion. Have you never experienced a situation like that?
I know they exist, but I was already aware of it from Cuba... I understand people's demons and I understand that we all have good things and bad things, but you also have to gauge where you get into or what you allow and what you don't. I suppose there may be extreme situations that are difficult to get out of, but I understood the demons of the people and I understand that beauty generates that desire in the human being as other things generate it and fashion represents that, both for boys and for girls. I respect the bad experiences a lot, I luckily knew how to understand the person in front of me and say 'this is not going to happen', but I think it is something that happens in all environments.
- How was the process to get the role of Faruq in El Príncipe?
It's romantic because that casting was done by Rosa Estévez and I was having a very hard time getting an opportunity with all the reason of the directors. I was studying and acting takes years and the expectations with me were very low, so I prepared a lot, but not for that test but for another where they were looking for an actor with arthritis. I prepared that casting very well and the photo of me that they had sent to Rosa was a guy with long hair and a model and I shaved again and boxed. I think I did a very good test and she stopped it and said to me: "I'm not even going to present you, I'm going to reserve you to prepare another character".
Two years later the casting of El Príncipe begins, I do the test, the director likes it and it gets a bit messy because being Cuban was a problem because of my accent that at that time was very strong. They liked how I acted but not how I spoke, so I told them to give me time to prepare with a speech therapist and a phoniatrist to whom I was going to three classes a day and with money that I did not have. I did a very good test but half of Spain wanted to do that character but finally they chose me and it was the breaking point in my career.
- Regarding the accent, have you encountered more situations where you are hindered by your way of speaking?
It's a problem, first because the person in front not only notices it, but is waiting for the failure. I remember that in a series they put me as a Canary lieutenant because I was close to that accent. Today that is already changing and I have never considered it a problem because in every game there are rules, either you adapt or you don't play because you will feel like the victim because the game is not going to adapt to you. In my case, I accepted those rules, I prepared myself and I was able to compete in that game that was being the protagonist, I was lucky. I like what I do and I don't mind incorporating skills into my career.
- How was the recording of the series?
I went alone with my representative to El Príncipe, in Ceuta, but I felt good, I had already lived that character in my life in Cuba. Until that moment, I had spent half of my life with scholarships, which is a hostel with open bunk beds and it was a "save yourself who can", you studied like that in a sports school, so I grew up among fighters, boxers, judokas, karatekas and teams that were actually like gangs and I was just a tennis player. That's why I lived that feeling of constant danger.
- How did you handle the sudden fame with the success of El Príncipe?
I took it very badly because I lived very well and I was very calm with myself. Having more or less money you don't take it into account because you don't know it and that fame caught me by surprise. There were journalists who asked me if I was willing to pay the price of fame and I didn't understand the question, but no, I wasn't willing. I needed psychological help and it felt very good, I put everything together and now I understand the other side because at first I didn't understand it because it seemed invasive, now I understand that it is pure affection. Sometimes people miss the forms but it is affection for the character of Faruq and I have to thank him.
- Do you have more predilection for fashion or for acting?
I am very grateful to fashion, I met many very interesting people and I am sure that part of my personality is thanks to those people but I regret not having taken more advantage of it, which other colleagues have done. I saw it as a vehicle to have money and travel, but I should have kept those people I met. Once you enter acting there is no turning back and every time I go deeper into them, it is harder because you have to deal with the ugly side of the human being, but it is also more interesting.
- When it comes to playing a role, what techniques do you use?
You look for ideas and how he reacts to each thing because there are people who are more phlegmatic or poised and there are others who are more explosive, so you have to know how your character reacts to each situation in front of each person. Each person is not the same all the time. I value the method, but it would hurt me to be connected to the character for so long because when I leave a project, I stay for a season.
With Faruq I was still having problems because before that character I was walking down the street looking for problems and when I finished, I kept looking for them and provoking them because I walked badly and looked badly, I challenged everyone when I am really the opposite, democratic and peaceful.
