The Nicest Villain You'll Ever Meet - University of Florida Advancement

The Nicest Villain You’ll Ever Meet

Photo courtesy FX Networks, 2017

2005 acting alum Juan Javier Cardenas made his name playing small-screen villains, like Nicaraguan contra soldier Alejandro Usteves in “Snowfall,” above, and Dante in “The Walking Dead.” UF shaped him as an actor, he says

Actor Juan Javier Cardenas made his name playing TV baddies; now the UF alum shows off his comedic side in a new HBO Max series set in 1980s Miami

by Barbara Drake (MFA ’04)

“I’m usually chopping up bodies and burying people in backyards.”

Actor/producer Juan Javier Cardenas (BFA ’05) is speaking via Zoom from his home in L.A., summarizing his 10+-year career in television, indie films and theatre, and a smile flits across his face when asked about “those roles” – the sinister, violent and sometimes depraved ones that have made him a fan favorite.

Characters like Alejandro Usteves, a Nicaraguan contra soldier who saws up an American grad student in her bathtub in the FX series “Snowfall” (2017). Simon Alonso, half of a father-son serial killing team who feeds his victims to ravenous bulls in the CBS series “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” (2016). And, of course, the most high-profile villain he’s played yet: Dante, the fast-talking Whisperer spy in season 10 of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (2019).

Published

June 20, 2022

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“I’m really proud to be from Florida, and I love it when Florida is represented in the media in a positive light because we have a lot of good stories to tell here.”

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— Juan Javier Cardenas —

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Angry “Walking Dead” fans may still be arguing about Dante’s shocking betrayal of his friend Siddiq. But, as it turns out, in real life Cardenas — the happily married father of two young girls — is nothing like the baddies he embodies onscreen. Thoughtful and analytical, he takes pleasure in making complex characters, even sociopaths, believable and relatable, skills he originally honed as a theatre student at UF.

“These villains are often the most fun to play because they’re the most complicated as far as their interior life and their motivations,” says Cardenas in his deep, resonant voice. “The classic adage is that these characters don’t see themselves as dark characters. They see themselves as the heroes in their own story.”

Don’t pigeonhole Cardenas as just a talented bad guy, though. In June, the actor revealed another side of himself when HBO Max premiered its new family comedy, “The Gordita Chronicles,” produced by Eva Longoria and written by UF journalism grad Claudia Forestieri (BSTEL ’96). The series centers on a willful 12-year-old Dominican girl who struggles to fit into hedonistic 1980s Miami, and Cardenas plays her loving father, Victor Castelli. It’s a role he resonates with on many levels, especially as a father and the son of Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants.

“It’s nice to do something my mom is going to be excited to see,” says Cardenas. “She’s not going to be disappointed that I’m not some horribly dark, violent character.”

He adds: “‘The Gordita Files’ is essentially a Hispanic ‘Wonder Years,’ the humor in the show comes from the kids trying to find their own independence and carve their own path in life, but the parents can’t help doting and being on top of them. That’s a very immigrant thing, culturally.”

Here are excerpts from our recent conversation.

You’re known for playing villains and criminals. Were you always drawn to those darker roles?

No. When I was in my teens, I did quite a bit of comedy, and at UF I performed with Theatre Strike Force comedy improv. I was known for being an elastic, goofy kind of character actor. Then something happened when I was in graduate school [FSU]. One day my girlfriend, Mishka, who is now my wife, she looks at me and goes, “I see you being a very good villain. There’s something about you.”

Why do you think you started getting cast in dramatic roles, rather than comedic ones?

As actors get a little bit older, they mature — not necessarily in personality, but their bodies and in how they carry themselves. When that happens, audiences can respond to you differently than the impression you think you’re giving off. It’s important to be in tune with that and adapt. In this industry, and in life in the arts, things don’t always follow a straight path.

What was it like to go from portraying zombies and serial killers to playing a devoted father in “The Gordita Chronicles.”

It was an interesting and challenging new task portraying a character who is an incredibly positive representation of a Hispanic immigrant father. Latino families are notoriously close-knit, and Victor lives for his wife and children. I saw my own parents dedicate every ounce of their time to give a life to me and my siblings that was better than theirs — one that was safe, with opportunities to pursue whatever we wanted to do. This show is very specific and authentic to the Latin American experience in South Florida. I grew up in Orlando, and a lot of my [extended] family lived in Miami, so I have great memories of going down there. Plus, I’m really proud to be from Florida, and I love it when Florida is represented in the media in a positive light because we have a lot of good stories to tell here.

Your mother is Puerto Rican, your father is Cuban, and they came to Florida in the 1980s, right?

Yes, my father was an ophthalmologist. My mother studied architecture at the University of Puerto Rico. When they came to the U.S., she became the manager of my father’s office in Orlando. I was the first member of my immediate family to be born in the United States.

Photo courtesy HBO Max

Cardenas plays devoted family man Victor Castelli in the new HBO Max family comedy “The Gordita Chronicles” -- a “Hispanic ‘Wonder Years,’” he says.

Did you dream of becoming an actor when you were young?

As a kid, I always dabbled in something artistic, but I was a jack of all trades, master of none. I did music, I did theatre. In high school, I played electric double bass in jazz band. I loved pen and ink, and graphic art and design. I was a huge comic book fan when I was younger, and I would invent superheroes. My dream was to be a comics illustrator.

That’s intriguing given that “The Walking Dead” began as a comic. With your varied interests, what made you choose the University of Florida?

I knew I wanted to be involved in the creative or entertainment fields, but I wasn’t sure what. I figured UF was a great school; let me take a bunch of classes in all kinds of disciplines and see where I could fit. That’s what I did.

How did you finally settle on acting and theatre as a major?

It was the only discipline I did that never lost its luster, that special feeling I had when I did it, no matter how hard the training. The feedback I got from my professors and the graduate students was so positive, it really percolated in me the idea that, ‘Yeah, I think I can do this.’ It was at the University of Florida that I determined to make acting and the entertainment industry my life.

Is there anything specific from your UF acting studies that has helped you professionally?

Wait. Let me show you something. [Cardenas reaches behind him and holds up a copy of “A Practical Handbook for the Actor.”] This was the book we [acting students] were given to read in our first year. It details the ins and outs of what it means to be an actor in professional settings: how to act in a company, how to take direction, how lighting works, stage terminology — the lingua franca of theatre, as in what does “downstage” mean? I’ve always appreciated this book because, in my own acting process, I think like a tradesman. At UF, I was given the very nuts and bolts of what it means to be an actor: your responsibilities, how to analyze and interpret scripts, how to find the emotional “beats,” how to take what’s on the written page and transfer it into a performance. The bulk of the knowledge that I use as a performer I gained at the University of Florida.

Photo courtesy Juan Javier Cardenas

As Tony Montana from “Scarface,” with fellow actor Jason Martinez, in a 2004 UF improv performance.

Where did you hang out in Gainesville in the early 2000s?

If I wasn’t at the School of Theatre + Dance, I was probably playing with my band, the Duppies, or having a drink and seeing a band at Common Grounds or the Side Bar. Getting food at El Indio. Hanging out at the Shamrock for DJ nights. My time in Gainesville was really wrapped up in the music scene there.

What did you do after you graduated from UF?

I first got an MFA in acting from FSU’s Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, in Sarasota. That’s where I met Mishka; she was a student there, too. When I was around 25, I moved to New York City, the center of the theatre industry in the United States. That’s where all the innovation is. I worked a bit doing off-off-Broadway, and then for several years I had a budding regional theatre career, doing premieres in Boston and Dallas and Florida.

Where was your home base in the city?

Queens. The best years I had in New York were living in a small apartment with my [former UF] classmate Jason Martinez [BSMUSE ’12].

How did you transition from theatre to TV and film?

Around 2010, I started acting in student films for Columbia and NYU students. That began a reeducation for me. I was not an experienced camera actor, so I took whatever opportunities I could find. And I pushed my agent to get me more work in front of the camera. Of course, there were always the “Law & Orders.” They say you’re not a New York actor unless you’ve killed somebody or been killed on a “Law & Order” episode! So, I starting picking up gigs, working on those television productions, “Blue Bloods,” “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order SVU [Special Victims Unit].”

Photo courtesy Huntington Theatre Co.

As Cuban revolutionary Manny, with actor Rebecca Soler, in the Huntington Theatre Company’s 2014 production of “Becoming Cuba.”

So, television work must have brought you to L.A.

No, actually, it was theatre. So, I was 29, and I was doing this play in San Diego — I had never been to the West Coast before, it was so exciting — and I fell in love with the place. One afternoon, Mishka — she had gone to school at UC San Diego — she met me out there and took me to the bluffs overlooking this black sand beach. The sun was setting, and as I looked out over the Pacific, I couldn’t believe how absolutely beautiful it was. I remember looking at her and going, ‘I’m staying. This is where I’m staying.’ After that play ended, I moved to California. Mishka and I got married right away, and we started building a life together. That was 2013.

You had a memorable role on “The Walking Dead.” What was that audition process like?

Like going for a job at the Pentagon. “The Walking Dead” holds a certain place in the industry — they’re called fandom shows, like “Star Trek” or “Star Wars” or the Marvel Universe. The audiences are so fervent and passionate that the shows have to be very protective … so nothing leaks before it airs. So, with “The Walking Dead,” you had to wait until the last minute to get the audition material. The name of the character you were auditioning for was a fake name, the situations in the sides [script excerpts used in an audition] were not situations that would be in the show. So, I only had so much to base my interpretation of the script on, and I had to go by instinct to decipher it.

How many times did you audition for the role?

Only once, which was unusual. Usually it’s two or three. It was only after I was offered the role that I found out the character I was playing was Dante, who is in the original comic books, which I had read when I was younger. In that context, Dante has this huge romantic arc with one of the main characters, Maggie. He’s one of the sincerely good people in the community of survivors. So that’s what I prepared for in the weeks leading up to traveling to Georgia, where the show is filmed.

When did you learn Dante was going to be a villain?

Within five minutes of walking on set that first day. The director [Greg Nicotero] comes up to me, and he’s like, “Yeah, I don’t think anybody’s really told you what you’re here for. Dante is a mole. He’s a spy for this murderous cult of psychopaths that live in the woods who are trying to disrupt the community of the survivors. This whole thing is a ruse: your identity as the village doctor, you developing such strong friendships with people. You’re actually the betrayer in the situation. Nothing you say should be taken at face value. Everything your character does has an ulterior motive.” Ten minutes later, the director’s like, “Hey, everybody, let’s go for take one.”

Photo courtesy AMC

Cardenas stirred up controversy as doctor/Whisperer spy Dante in season 10 of “The Walking Dead,” in 2019.

That must have been extremely challenging.

Yeah, I had to do mental gymnastics and reconfigure all of the character’s motivations I had done in my script analysis, the kind of analysis that had been my training at the University of Florida. I had to rework all that in 10 minutes.

Well, your portrayal was pitch perfect. Audiences were shocked to find out Dante was a mole.

Thanks. Everybody who works on that show has to have a strong base of confidence and improv, and be able to go with the flow, because things change from episode to episode. You don’t know what the final chapters in your character’s life are going to be. It’s a very organic and human way of experiencing a character, really.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

I have to give respect and props to Professor Tony Mata [head of musical theatre at UF]. When I was starting out in the program, I asked him if I should change my name — because it’s long and, obviously, Spanish, and there was a general debate about actors changing their names then — and he told me: “Be proud of your name, don’t change it. Say your full name as it should be pronounced. Let people know who you are. It’s going to benefit your life and career.” To hear that from someone I respected, someone older, a teacher, it really confirmed what I felt inside.

Any wisdom to share with fellow Gators?

Be your own advocate in life. No one will work as hard as you to achieve the goals you want to achieve, professionally and personally. You are the director of your own life movie.

Last question. If there were a zombie outbreak at UF, where would you hide?

One of the black box theatres at the School of Theatre + Dance. They’re walled in, they’re only accessible through multiple interior doors that you can barricade, and they don’t have any pesky large windows that you have to worry about the zombie horde overtaking.

Follow @juanjaviercardenas

Filmography on IMDB

Trailer for “The Gordita Files”