New Teen Idol

Date: February 2011
Source: VMan

For many burgeoning young actors, narrowly missing a role in one of history’s most highly watched movie franchises might cause the kind of trauma that only years of therapy or a lifetime of drug abuse might be able to erase. But for 25-year-old Shiloh Fernandez, missing out on the role of the twinkly lead vampire in Twilight proved to be something of a blessing in disguise.

“No one had any idea what Twilight would become,” says Fernandez. “At the time, it was just another audition. I didn’t realize I was missing out on stardom and giant paychecks. Now, looking back on it, I certainly wouldn’t have been mentally stable enough to deal with all that. Lucky for me, not getting that part led to other work that was a much better fit for me.”

He might not have landed the life-altering lead in Twilight, but director Catherine Hardwicke was enamored enough with Fernandez to cast him opposite Amanda Seyfried in Red Riding Hood, the director’s goth-tastic take on the classic childhood tale, in theaters this March 11th. (Just after that, on March 25th, Fernandez appears in Skateland, an ’80s period piece set in small town Texas and starring Twilight alum Ashley Greene.) Fernandez has only the best things to say about his experience on Red Riding Hood, a role that has suddenly made him a hot commodity in movieland. “To be given this great part with this very complicated backstory is such a learning experience,” he says. “And Catherine has created this world that’s so detailed and so beautiful. I loved being a part of it.”

In a town built on raw ambition and desperate attention grabbing, Fernandez is refreshingly low-key. Rather than follow his big Hollywood movie breakthrough with a slate of expected high-profile cute-guy parts, the actor opted instead to spend a few weeks in Northern California performing in a small play (“I’m out here in the woods, driving around in my mom’s old leaky Mazda Miata with water sloshing around in the floorboard”) before diving back into the mad hustle of L.A. Having done an array of television shows (Jericho, The United States of Tara), as well as the requisite number of low-budget horror films and failed pilots, Fernandez is remarkably blithe about what the future holds. While he is certainly eager to work, the lure of interesting personalities and learning experiences are still more appealing than an empty payday.

“I want to work and I want to become the best actor that I can be,” says Fernandez. “But I also want to be a happy, interesting person. It’s hard to be an interesting person if you spend all your time on a set. That isn’t the real world. You’ve got to have a good life outside of all that. You’ve got to spend time in places where there’s not always someone on standby to bring you a glass of water.”