The actor talks to us about his passion for cinema, his home in Galicia and his desire to continue enjoying each project.
I met with the young actor Fer Fraga in a luxurious and ultra-cool hotel in downtown Madrid. I arrive late and he is waiting for me reading on one of the sofas that decorate the spacious lobby. He is barefoot and carefully reading a philosophy book while drinking coffee. His presence in any space is always notable, his flaming red hair and his incredible height make everyone present look at him when he appears anywhere. Fer has something special that goes beyond his imposing physique, he enjoys that innocence that all those men and women of undeniable magnetism have that they give off without being aware of it. Fer is pure joy and enthusiasm, whether in the sophisticated center of the capital or on the Galician coast on a cloudy day. Coming from a small village in the north, Fer is a pragmatic man capable of adapting with equal mastery to the isolated life in the countryside and the entertainment industry’s tribulations. With just a few years of experience, Fer has already worked with such notable names as Álex de la Iglesia and Javier Cámara. His participation in 30 Coins has made him a name to take into account and to be involved in projects that range from thrillers to the most demonic adventures. But that has not changed his way of life, he says he is more present than ever, without letting ambition cloud his vision and maintaining that eternal smile that makes everyone fall for the charms of a boy who wants to fulfill his dreams with humility and gratitude, demonstrating the importance of not forgetting who you are and where you come from.
Leather jacket by Loewe via Oribu
Fernando, how is everything going?
Very good, I’m in a good moment, really. A few months ago the second season of 30 Monedas finally was released and it was great. I just shot another series and this year I’m going to do a lot more things.
Secret projects, right?
You said it! Things that cannot be revealed (laughs). The only thing I can tell you about it is that I am very happy with all the things I am experiencing. I’m still amazed that 30 Coins has been the most-watched series on HBO Spain. For me, it was the first time that I have been able to see the entire second season.
Oh really?
Yes. I wanted to wait to see it with the rest of the audience and I thought it was amazing. I’m super happy and, what’s more, a friend of mine appears in several chapters. Actress Carla Tous, who plays the girl with telekinetic powers. She is one of my best friends and she does a great job.
How did you feel when you saw yourself in the show?
Well, not only was it the first time I saw myself in 30 Coins, it was also the first time I saw myself in a project as an actor. My friends and I got together and everyone congratulated me when they saw me on the screen, it was very nice and exciting. What good memories I have with Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Megan Montaner! I had a great time.
Have you been able to talk to your co-stars?
Javier Bódalo is the one I talk to the most and he always sends me very kind messages. He congratulated me when my episode was released. He made me very happy. This entire experience in 30 Coins has made me feel very present.
Very present? What do you mean?
It means that neither my past nor my future controls me. I am here and now, as present as possible and now I am doing an interview with you and it does not occur to me to think about last week or the next. I am very relaxed here.
Sounds good.
Yes, thinking like that makes me feel stable. Although I also know that thinking about those things like the future is inevitable, I try to do it in a calm way knowing that nothing is mine, nothing belongs to me and even less the future that has not yet arrived. We only have now and I try to live day to day.
Denim shirt Casa las Paces
You recently returned to Madrid from Galicia, where you filmed the third season of the series Rapa.
Yes, but before returning to Madrid I went to Argentina. Buenos Aires seemed to me to be an incredible city with a very special energy. I went there to visit a friend who is working in a play. I saw four plays during my stay there. Furthermore, I met Claudio, an Argentine theater director who has a school there and who was my teacher. He took us to dinner and showed us his acting school. I learned so much from him! We maintain a kind of father and son bond, I admire him very much.
What is your favorite play?
I once played Caligula and I loved it. I also really like Nerium Park, a social thriller that is very interesting and is about a couple who moves to a housing estate and everything around them begins to fall apart. It’s so well written!
Trenchcoat Oribu, Moschino crop top Casa las Paces, Linen pants Candela Mondelo, sneakers Adidas x Wales Bonner
Do you see yourself doing theater?
I’d love to! It would be a dream for me to combine film and television with theater projects. I recently saw Próximo by Claudio Tolcachir and it was one of the best things I have seen here in Madrid. It has some references to Beat Generation authors such as Jack Kerouac. On the Road is one of my favorite books. That and Perks of being a wallflower. Also Just Kids, by Patty Smith.
Oh, what intensity of people in that novel, for God’s sake! (laughs)
Oh, but the book is very cool!
My mother loved it.
My friend Sara gave it to me and I gave it to my mother so she could read it first, as a guinea pig. She liked it a lot and she returned it to me. Now that I think about it, you look like Robert. Would you play him in a movie? I’d love to!
By the way, how are you carrying so much workload? You are participating in many projects.
The acting profession entails an intermittent workload since when you experience a long streak of uninterrupted work, it is not usual. I have a long way to go to have a stable career and feel overwhelmed by projects. If it ever happens! I try to embrace everything I achieve, enjoy it, but not suffer for those I have not achieved. I trust in life and hard work and believe that things will eventually happen. I always stay active, doing things, always going somewhere.
I imagine you’re going to a lot of auditions.
Yes! I think I’m good at auditioning and I’m not talking about getting the role. When I go to an audition, I manage not to lose my temper, I don’t get nervous, I am polite and I control the situation. He arrived at the place where the test is and I try to show the same attitude that, for example, I am having here with you. I take off my shoes and start doing my thing.
T-shirt Issey Miyake and pants via Casa las Paces, necklace Suagongo
Wait, you take off your shoes?
Yes, I take off my shoes and do my part.
Has no one ever told you anything about it?
No never. Even though it is winter, I have gone to the casting in flip flops and I have taken them off ready to simply be me. That’s what I do, be me and be willing to play to continue learning. I know I may or may not like it but this is me and this is what I have to offer.
And what do you have to offer?
We all have our own essence, our own individuality, and when you connect with what you have inside, I think you become someone very powerful and attractive to others. I think it’s all about being yourself and not trying to like or be someone different.
Sweater Oribu, pants Natalia Gonzales
Do you ever wonder what a director sees in you to give you a role?
Álex de la Iglesia, when we presented the series at the Sitges Festival, told me very nice things. I think that Álex is a guy who says what he thinks and I remember that when we finished filming he congratulated me for my great work and for the cleanliness that he perceived in my eyes. If you say that at six in the morning in a park in the center of Madrid, I think it’s because you mean it! I think I’m just a normal kid, but with orange hair (laughs). Cinematographically, I consider myself somewhat more basic than other colleagues who have very learned the technical part, cinematographic language and things like that. I like The Simpsons and I grew up in an environment foreign to the culture. I don’t know if my parents have ever gone to the movies and I don’t think my grandmother has either, although I have never asked her. I always try to give a hand, help, serve dishes, serve my parents’ bar customers… I try to make the humanity that exists in those things also feel in what I do as an actor. I’ve told you before, I grew up with my grandmother since my parents worked a lot in the bar. I remember there were days when she would put me on a wheelbarrow and my grandmother would take me to see the horses near her house. My grandfather passed away when I was very little, although I have him very present in my life.
T-shirt Issey Miyake and pants via Casa las Paces, necklace Suagongo
What is your grandmother’s name?
Maruja.
Maruja took you to see the horses in a wheelbarrow.
Yes, we don’t laugh much remembering it.
It is a beautiful memory. Did you recently return from filming there in Galicia?
Yes, that’s why I was able to spend a lot of time with her last summer. By the way, I haven’t told you about this. The times when I wasn’t filming I helped at a local water park, selling tickets, putting life jackets on people. One Monday I worked next to Javier Cámara and the next day I was working with my friends at the water park. You don’t know how much it helps me emotionally to be with my friends, they make me stay down to earth, they make me always feel close to my roots. During filming I slept at my grandmother’s house and we arrived and had dinner and talked about our things, not about movies or work. Those moments have a simplicity that makes me very happy.
T-shirt JW Anderson
What things do you talk about with your grandmother?
Of many things! She has just turned 80 and she has barely left her village and when she has done so it has been to accompany my grandfather to the hospital in Pamplona when he was sick. She is a woman free of prejudice, without evil, she is pure goodness. All she has is a house and a plate of food on the table. Only good intentions. My friends adore her and some even visit her when they pass by her house. She is a wonderful woman. She has taught me that the only person I have to be is myself.
