Antonio Jaramillo's childhood was not an easy one. He grew up in an orphanage in his native Tijuana, México. But none of that stopped him from moving forward.
"I'm grateful for the opportunities that I get and I know that life is not easy and it's a gift because of the kids that I was in the orphanage with, I don't know how many of them are still alive or how many of them are in prison. So I'm one of the lucky ones," said Jaramillo during a recent telephone interview.
Today, Jaramillo is an upcoming Hollywood actor who will be sharing movie credits with Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Demián Bichir in Oliver Stone's 'Savages' set to be released in late 2012.
"The experience of working with Oliver Stone was a pleasant one, we all know his body of work and just watching him do his thing was a lot of fun," said Jaramillo, who considers himself a fan of Benicio Del Toro's work.
"You know, a lot of times you are lucky enough to work in a project where it just happens to be a picture of reality and that is what I enjoy most about this business. When you get the chance to actually portray the actual way that human beings behave and I think Benicio Del Toro is a great, great actor at that. He doesn't put anything superficial on it; it's just the truth of the situation and he's very good at what he does," he said.
'Savages' is a drug-smuggling drama based on Don Winslow's best-selling novel.
The movie follows two laid-back beach-bum marijuana dealers (Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson) who run afoul a Mexican cartel headed by a ruthless queen-pin (Hayek) who, in order to force her competition to submit, kidnaps the duo's mutual girlfriend O (Blake Lively).
Jaramillo appears as 'Jaime,' the trustworthy accountant and negotiator for the cartel, alongside their loyal and brutal enforcer Lado (Del Toro) and fellow negotiator Alex (Bichir).
Jaramillo is no stranger to the acting business, he's been doing it for 11 years and has been featured in Tyler Perry's TV sitcom 'Meet the Browns,' 'Fashion House,' 'CSI: Miami,' 'Dark Blue,' 'Charmed,' 'Days of Our Lives,' and opposite Jimmy Smits in 'Outlaw.' And, his native Spanish language came in quite handy for a role in Telemundo's telenovela 'La Ley del Silencio.'
Soap operas are quite appealing to Jaramillo.
"I would love to do more telenovelas; I love the ones in México. I know they push things a little bit and then they make it more dramatic. They are doing great things right now in México," he said. "I watch Spanish TV, I like it. I'm very Mexican still, I listen to only Mexican music, and I watch TV in Spanish because I never want to lose sight of that even though I live here (in the United States)."
One thing he said he would never do is reality TV.
"Never. No, I still have my sense of values, my morality and all of those things I have to deal with as a human being. When you know what those things are, it makes you a better actor, and more importantly a better person. So no, reality is out of the question maybe if I was in my 60s and out of money and I needed to pay for my big house and my big Porsche and all the ex wives, then yes, a reality show does make sense," he said with a laugh.
Because of his upbringing, the Mexican actor appreciates his life and what has become of it -- even though acting was never in his plans.
"Coming out of an orphanage, your goal was to eat. Dreams were never part of it. 'Dreams,' 'dreamt' it never entered my vocabulary, it has nothing to do with it; there was no time for dreams. It was just survival, I was there and I got out. And really it was just tying to be in on your feet. I had no guidance and I was just trying to stay out of trouble and work. I attempted to go to college and I could not get through it, I had to support myself so I studied many things, including music," he recalls. "I love music. Music was something very dear to me and it still is. There were so many things that I liked that nobody had told me as a little kid that I could do or had the chance to do so I never thought I could have a career. I liked buildings, I liked architecture, I liked many things but it was never an option. It was an accident that I became friends with a guy who was an actor in my early 20s and I was so curious about what he did and so here I am."
Jaramillo is currently waiting for the green light on a play that he may do in Los Ángeles and a psychological thriller in the works. And because today dreams are part of Jaramillo's vocabulary, he now works toward his long-term goal in life.
"I would like to be a mark in this world, not so much for me but for my people, for my country, for all the children that don't know that they can do something, that don't have the guidance and the love that they need to flourish. I would like to be a role model for them; for those people that are lost and are still trying to find their way, to look at me and say, 'wait a minute, you have to find your strength within and do it.' Just have fun, live my life and leave a mark for someone to follow, for my children to take it on and do something great in their life," Jaramillo said.
For additional information about Jaramillo visit: www.AntonioJaramillo.com.
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