Sebastián Ligarde has portrayed memorable villains throughout his 50-year acting career
Mexican actor Sebastián Ligarde has portrayed memorable villains throughout his 50-year acting career. The most recent has been Adán Cruces in the Peruvian telenovelas produced by Del Barrio Producciones, Luz de Luna, and its spin-off Luz de Esperanza.
His portrayal of this resentful character, determined to make life impossible for “El León de la Cumbia” and his young daughter, has been recognized by the Latin American Critics Association in New York, which awarded him the Best Television Villain prize.
Ligarde’s key to portraying his villains is always to find their human side. “No one can be so bad, nor can anyone be so good. I always seek the justification for why the character does the evil deeds he does. And the audience identifies a lot with these characters; the comments on social media are incredibly positive even though I’m the character doing terrible things,” commented the actor.
Adán Cruces is a character carrying a wound from his youth, which determines his actions. “During his youth, Adán falls in love with a girl who abandons him, and also during those days, his mother dies, which awakens in him a great resentment. 40 years later, he reunites with the woman, and there are some wonderful love scenes, full of tears and emotion, but unfortunately, in an argument, she slips, hits her head, and dies. Many of Adán’s behaviors stem from heartbreak, and I constructed the character precisely because of that range of emotions,” Ligarde explained.
The Mexican began his career making American films because he couldn’t get roles in Mexico. “They wouldn’t give me work because they said I looked American. It was Carla Estrada, the producer, who envisioned me in an antagonist role, and in her first telenovela, ‘Pobre Juventud,’ she gave me the starring antagonist role,” recalled the actor.
Ligarde already had a university career (Meisner technique) and 11 films made in the USA when he joined Televisa, so his work quickly stood out, he won awards, and they called him back to play more villains.
Luz de Esperanza constitutes his fifth job in Peru. The first was a stand-up comedy in the 80s, and the second was a Mexican-Peruvian film with Susana León. 20 years ago, he was part of the cast of Tormenta de Pasiones, and then he moved to the USA, where he did four telenovelas and Univisión’s first series Demente Criminal, in addition to opening an acting school that operated for 15 years until he lost almost everything in the Florida floods a year and a half ago. At that moment, Del Barrio called him back to return to Lima to participate in Luz de Luna. Upon finishing, he returned to the USA, and within six weeks, he was called again to participate in Luz de Esperanza, the spin-off of Luz de Luna.
“Del Barrio works as Televisa did many years ago: through surveys with the audience, asking what part of the story, which characters, which conflicts they like to adapt the story according to the responses. Televisa did the same thing many years ago,” explained Ligarde.
He added: “In Peru, like in Mexico and throughout Latin America and America, there is a lot of talent; it is very enjoyable to interact with well-known Peruvian actors who have been awarded in theater, cinema, television, acting masters. The important thing is to act and act with good actors, have good scene partners, and do what one loves. I feel very grateful and a fortunate man.”
