Diego Calva, the fresh-faced, rising Hollywood star from Mexico, recently sat down for an interview with The New York Times on his career-catapulting role in Paramount’s Babylon, directed by Damien Chazelle. The interview revealed that despite his seemingly overnight success in Hollywood, Calva actually never planned to go into acting. The actor says he became hooked on cinema when he was only a little boy, but he always planned to pursue a writing-directing career.

Although Babylon wasn’t a box-office hit, it is undoubtedly a win for Calva, who has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Manny Torres in the film. Calva was never looking for acting, but it seems fate already had him pegged for it. Prior to Babylon, Calva had only acted in one major independent movie. However, growing up in Mexico City, Calva’s dreams of writing and directing cinema led him to befriend his older peers who made short films and to offer his help in any way they’d let him, from helping with crafty to holding the boom.

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It was on one of these hobby productions where Calva made his acting debut. He filled in for an actor who hadn’t shown up, marking the beginning of his rapid rise to fame. Calva continued acting in minor productions, usually without pay, until 2015, when he was cast as the lead role in I Promise You Anarchy, an independent feature film that became a festival success.

Despite this new success in acting, Calva continued unfazed towards his other filmmaking aspirations. However, financial hardship while attending school forced Calva to take on more acting work. Eventually, he left school and started performing and teaching acting full time, which led to his second break, landing a role on Narcos: Mexico. Not too long after his TV break, Calva’s headshot ended up in the hands of Damien Chazelle, esteemed director of the Hollywood love story La La Land, who was looking for the star of his next movie, Babylon. Chazelle says he was immediately struck by Calva, ‘There was something of a dreamer in his eyes, something of a poet. But I had no idea if he could act.’

Does Diego Calva Intend to Continue His Acting Career?

     Paramount Pictures

It’s impossible not to see the correlation between Calva and his on-screen character Manny Torres who arrives in Hollywood wide-eyed from Mexico. According to Calvo, however, that is where the symmetry ends, as he does not believe he will lose touch with his roots the way his character did.

Calva plans to continue pursuing his acting career while remaining in Mexico City. The actor says, ‘I don’t want to lose my childlike outlook on life, my ability for wonder, I want to remember the road back home and know that if I make mistakes I won’t lose myself.’

Considering Calva’s acting career seemed to find him wherever he was, remaining in Mexico City shouldn’t have any effect. Calva wrapped up the interview by making it clear that he has no intention of leaving Hollywood for good, ‘They invited me to this party, getting me out of Hollywood is going to be difficult.’