Miguel Ángel Bellido is a Spanish actor who has worked both on stage and in films. As most actors, he’s a charismatic guy who is always interested in exploring new emotions and discovering the world.
In this interview, we find out how he became an actor, what acting means to him and how his clothes help him get in role.
What can you tell us about your background? How did you grow up?
Miguel Ángel Bellido: I was born in El Puerto de Santa María, a small town in the south of Spain in the province of Cádiz in a very large family. My mother has 7 brothers and my father has 4 brothers. I have many uncles and cousins with whom I grew up in a very special and united way. When I was 8, my brother Pablo was born. My parents did not continue with that tradition of having many children, so we are only two. Now he is 18 years old and he has always been one of my greatest pillars and one of my greatest references for learning, even though I am the oldest.
I have always had artistic concerns. I’ve always loved dancing, singing and acting and every family reunion was a good excuse to get everyone’s attention to watch my show. Also, between joke and joke I always used to get some money to then buy goodies… Haha
What made you decide that you wanted to be an actor?
MAB: At 18, I started studying Advertising and Public Relations, but also I began to understand that everything I when I was little and did in the form of a game or hobby, was still inside me and that now it was not a simple pastime. It started to be the only thing that made me happy and what I wanted to dedicate my life to, so I started taking theater and film classes for 3 years, to such an extent that I began to devote 90% of my time to acting and 10% to my studies in university. My passion grew and the feel of the obligation to study a classic career began to dissipate, so one day I decided to finally be what I had always wanted to be. One afternoon I decided to move to Madrid, the capital of Spain, where I currently live, and where the best theater schools were and where there would be infinite possibilities. My parents did not know that this feeling was so strong in me. The afternoon I decided to buy the plane ticket to go to Madrid was the day I communicated it to them. I was aware that it was crazy, but if I meditated or kept waiting, I would have never made the decision out of fear. My parents believed that everything was a joke until a few hours later when I actually moved to what was called the city of opportunities for me. Having been all that hasty, I did not think about the arrival time and got there right at dawn and had to sleep on the street. All very crazy, but I would never change it for anything. It was the best decision I made and I do not regret anything. Everything was perfect and I was able to enter the best school of interpretation in Madrid, the Juan Carlos Corazza Studio, where I continued my training for 3 years. Later, I started taking classes with Fernando Piernas with whom I am currently studying.
What is acting to you? How do you define it?
MAB: For me to act is to seek, play, understand and empathize. Performing makes you much more tolerant and empathetic with people because to interpret a character you have to know all their circumstances, their history and their line of thought in order to bring truth and value to everything that character says and does. When you have to play a murderer, you have to empathize and understand that thought and why it leads
you to do that in order to interpret it without fear, without modesty and without judgment. All this teaches you to discover new ways of thinking and new ways of acting that you previously did not know or even judged. I’m not saying that the behavior of a murderer is justified (Laughs). But as an actor you have to look for it, understand it and defend it. I could also define it as the possibility of giving voice to everything that society represses or that is not given value or weight. In a theater, you are free to carry a story with a totally different thought than you can give in your daily life and that is really enriching and very fun. It is showing the world things that other people would be afraid to express or do but that need to be said.
In short, for me to act is to seek the truth in the depths of each character, embrace it, navigate inside it and get it afloat so that it has its place in the world.
Who are your favorite actors and why?
MAB: My favorite actors are Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep. It may sound very typical and even “wildcard response” but I really feel an excessive fixation of admiration towards these two great actors especially towards Leonardo. They are extremely chameleonic and communicate a truth and naturalness almost impossible to achieve. For me, they are great examples of what acting is. They love and respect this work and welcome each character with open arms until it is present in each part of them and defend them as if it were the life of oneself.
Do you prefer the stage or the screen? Why?
MAB: Undoubtedly, I prefer the theater. The theater is magic from beginning to end. The energy, the rhythm, the colors, the smells…
The creation of the character is also much more organic than in cinema since you are progressing in parallel with how the work is progressing. In movies sometimes you shoot the end first and then the beginning. This is also very enriching because you have to have continuity in a discontinuous way of working.
Even the way of acting is very different. In theater, you have to take everything to the extreme, the characters have to live the conflict with more pathos than in the cinema, which has to be more like “real life”.
The sensation of being in a theater in front of an audience where actors, characters and the public are, the connection of all these is something inexplicable, that the cinema does not have.
Although it is true that it is almost impossible to live out of theater. If you do not make movies or television you will not have a good income and you will have to have at least three jobs to live moderately well. It is really frustrating.
How do the clothes you wear in a role influence your acting performance?
MAB: For me, clothes are extremely important. If you let yourself get caught in the game, each item you wear gives you an ingredient for the creation of the character. The simple fact of wearing a hat to not wearing it puts you in a very different place. Clothes change your gestures, the shape of your body and even your thoughts. For me, it is very important to know how to choose the clothes of each character since I will nourish them to build that character. There is definitely a connection between the way the character acts and feels and the way he looks. Sometimes, I even like to wear something as if it were the hidden, personal object of a character. It does not have to be on stage, not even seen, but I really feel that I just having something in your pocket, which the character just touches, can take take me to a new universe of creation and understanding. Just touching that object and I can enter the stage with the energy of that character.
What do you personally like to wear in everyday life?
MAB: The truth is that in my daily life I am pretty basic in dressing. I really like a total black look or some gray pants, black turtleneck and a black or camel coat and matching sneakers. I really like simplicity and minimalist dressing. I’m not wearing prints or colors that are too flashy. I find it much more elegant. Less is more (Laughs).
What do you think the clothes you wear say about your personality? In other words, if you were a character, what type of character would you be?
MAB: I do not think the clothes I wear talk about me or my personality completely. It is true that there is a part of me that expresses itself in clothing. I guess my clothes are connected to my love for architecture and minimalist decoration. Straight lines, neutral colors and very cold materials. I like the same things in art. I can spend hours looking at a white box with a red line. I love this type of art. So, this is part of my personality. I am a also a party animal. I love being on the street, I can not spend several hours straight home because I feel overwhelmed. I love hanging out with my friends and spending all day laughing with them. I like to play dumb and I’m always kidding.
Now that you ask me, it is true that if I were a character, I would look like someone quite bored, sad, lonely, a bit like a bohemian writer and a little crazy (Laughs). So, of course my clothes do not say everything about me but that also seems interesting to me. If we expressed ourselves completely through clothes, we would not awaken curiosity in other people. It seems I like the contrasts!
Do you have any style inspiration?
MAB: The truth is that I do not have any referent of style or fashion. I like to check male fashion magazines and see new trends, but always following my most basic line. I do not join everything that comes out in a magazine because I like to go in a more elegant way and I think that, sometimes, fashion is not synonymous with elegance.
What do you like to do in your free time?
MAB: In my free time I love being with my friends. I would like to spend time with my family too, but they are far away so I can only see them on vacation.
I love going to the theater, to the cinema, having a salad and going to a park to enjoy the sun and a good book on theater. I also like sports a lot. I try to go to the gym every day and I go to air hoop lessons, although I’m still bit clumsy. I also like to go to dance classes: hip hop, funk… I like to be busy and the truth is that sometimes I can not do all the things that I put on the agenda. I don’t stand because I think I’m wasting my time so, I try to keep myself busy all the time.
What are you currently obssesed with?
MAB: I am currently obsessed with traveling. I have a very strong wish to see and visit many different cities and countries. I want to enrich myself through meeting new people and discovering new ways of thinking, new cultures, new religions and being able to understand all the people who live very differently from me. After all, I think that this feeling is very close to acting. You need to know a lot to have a more open mentality to better know the characters. I could not play a boy who picks up rice in a field if I’ve never been there and I do not know what it is like to do that. How do you live that, how do you feel… I need to constantly nourish myself from all kinds of people, cultures and see many different places to feel fulfilled and full as a person, but this feeling is so strong that I always need more. Every time I learn something, I realize that that the more I know, the less I
know.
Thank you!
Fraquoh and Franchomme
P.S. We want to hear from you! What do you think about actors and fashion? Who are your favorite celebrities? Why?