VIVA NOLA December 2020

Bayardo de Murguia:
Leaping into Hollywood on His Own
By Cody Downey
@codyalexdowney
Editorial artwork by Vince Trupsin
After graduating from the
University of San Diego,
Bayardo De Murguia moved
from San Diego to Los Angeles to
become an actor. The former college
football player moved to the city not
knowing one person, but he decided
to pave his way to success through his
determination.
“I didn’t have a guide. I just immersed
myself in Los Angeles,” De Murguia
said. “Everyone has a different journey
in their careers as an artist. So, you just
take and learn from everybody and all of
their experiences and fix your own.”
During his time in college, De Murguia
transitioned from football player to actor
thanks to a theater class and his growing
love of film and performance.
“Just the ability to tell stories, make
people laugh, make people cry using
myself as a tool was so awesome, and it’s
such a fulfilling feeling,” he said.
Throughout his career, De Murguia has
found himself in numerous projects,
from one-episode roles on series like
“CSI” and “Shooter” to voice acting
roles.
De Murguia said he enjoys doing some
of his voice acting roles because it makes
him feel like a kid again. Initially, as a
Spanish-only speaker, he said he learned
English by copying things he would see
in cartoons and video games.
“I was this little Mexican kid that would
like to mimic everything,” he said. “So,
I was always fascinated by that, and
20 VIVA NOLA ~ December 2020
then as I got older, voiceover acting was
something that I wanted to get into.”
However, for De Murguia’s upcoming
role, he moves from the world of
cartoons and cop dramas to the world
of competitive ballet in Netflix’s “Tiny
Pretty Things.”
Based on the novel by Sona Charaipotra
and Dhonielle Clayton, “Tiny Pretty
Things” follows a young ballerina who
enters an elite ballet school filled with
drama and rivalries in a story described
as “Black Swan” meets “Pretty Little
Liars.” In the series, De Murguia plays
Ramon Acosta, a strict Cuban-American
ballet instructor who will do everything
it takes to get his students to perform the
best.
De Murguia was initially unsure about
getting the role when auditioning for
the teen drama as “it’s all pretty people.”
However, with some insistence from his
fiance, he eventually kept working on his
audition tape and then getting the role in
what he described as the “easiest, most
streamlined, perfect audition situation.”
“Normally, you hear horror stories of,
‘I tested, and I did a chemistry read,
and then I didn’t hear anything for
three months, and then I got fired and
this and that,’” he said. “Mine was like,
‘I auditioned. All of a sudden I met
everybody and then I was in Canada.’”
In playing Ramon, De Murguia
described his character as a very
passionate and honest person who uses
any method he can as a teacher to get the
best and worst out of an artist.
“He embraces the darkness. He embraces
the crappy parts of the world and what
you go through, and if he can get the
best out of you as an artist by focusing
on that, that’s what he is all about, which
causes conflict with others,” he said.
De Murguia said he prepared for the
role by studying Cuban ballet dancer
Carlos Acosta and watching films and
documentaries about ballet to immerse
himself in that world and learn about
ballet’s Cuban style. He also said that
the cast spent time before filming to
do ballet rehearsal, working alongside
different choreographers.
“It was the sorest that I had ever
been, and although I joke that my bar
technique is superb, my centre work
does need a little help,” he said. “But, it
was cool just to be there early and focus
on ballet.”
In being a Latino actor, De Murguia
said he looks to always bring truth and
authenticity into whatever role he plays,
whether it be a cop or a cartel member.
However, with his role in “Tiny Pretty
Things,” he said it was nice not to try and
be something he already is while also
stepping into a new type of role.
“The thing about Ramon that was great
was that not only am I learning about
a new world, I’m also creating a strong
Latino character within it. But, with the
liberty of not focusing on that,” he said.
“The focus was on who Ramon is, and
what he is as a person, and then in the
background, the fact that he is Cuban-
American.”