By Roberto Leal
Two Hour Season Finale, Monday at 10 PM on ABC
David Del Rio, who finds himself in the “middle” of ABC’s hit romantic dramedy, The Baker and the Beauty, plays the aspiring DJ and record producer Mateo Garcia. Del Rio is a gregarious, thoughtful, and multi-talented, young actor who shared his journey of working on The Baker and the Beauty.
Del Rio is a Miami, Florida native of Cuban heritage. For such a young actor, he has an eye-opening resume of career accomplishments that have served him well and will be the foundation for what, no doubt, will be a long career.
Upon graduating from the New World School of the Arts in Miami, David fine-tuned his acting and filmmaking craft in the New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, School of Film and Television. Shortly afterward, David got the part of Felix Garcia on Nickelodeon’s The Troop. In between seasons Del Rio made his Broadway debut in Lin Manuel Miranda’s hit musical In the Heights. He kept himself busy appearing in hit films like Pitch Perfect and The Belko Experiment, as well as a critically acclaimed television performance in Grease Live!
Del Rio recalls with his characteristic, upbeat and good humor, how he got the role of Mateo Garcia on The Baker and the Beauty.
“I was doing the auditioning rounds during pilot season. Originally, I read for the part of older brother, Daniel, the one who gets involved with the supermodel, entrepreneur, Noa Hamilton, Del Rio recounted”. He heard nothing for three months, then he got a call from the show’s producers to read for the part of the younger brother, Mateo.
“I was thrilled to become a part of the show.”
The Baker and the Beauty revolves around the chance meeting and improbable, culturally-at-odds romance between Daniel Garcia (Victor Rasuk), a working-class, Cuban baker’s son and Noa Hamilton (Nathalie Kelley), the beautiful Australian, supermodel and businesswoman. However, series creator, Dean Georgaris, has skillfully woven together several interesting sub-plots and intersecting storylines that David described with just a thinly veiled hint of cultural pride. “The show brings to mind those great Latin American telenovelas.
Mateo is the middle child of the Garcia family, stuck in the middle between older brother, Daniel, who is gaining notoriety as the boyfriend of Noa Hamilton, and his super whiz, perennial Honor Roll student little sister, Natalie (Belissa Escobedo).
Music is Mateo Garcia’s passion. He bills himself as MC Cubano, and dreams of becoming a DJ and music producer. Unfortunately, Mateo’s father, Rafael Garcia (Carlos Gómez) and mother, Mari Garcia (Lisa Vidal) would prefer Mateo become more involved in the family bakery business and put aside his musical ambitions.
When Vanessa Sanchez (Michelle Vientimilla), Daniel’s ex-girlfriend, becomes Mateo’s manager, and books some gigs for him, Mateo’s confidence grows. Eventually, Vanessa gets Mateo a meeting with a record producer that promises to lead to bigger and better things. The meeting does not go well.
The producer tells Mateo that, as a performer, he is not interesting. He calls his music derivative and advises Mateo to forget about his music career. It is a devastating, heart-breaking moment. Del Rio, in a touching piece of acting, portrays the disappointment of the gut punch to his ego, with just a subtle shift in his facial expression. No dialog was necessary.
“Rejection,” explains Del Rio, “is something every actor will experience in their career. But you learn from it and move on. That’s what Mateo is going to do.”
Subsequently, his dad, Rafael builds a small recording studio for Mateo, and gives his blessing to his dream sealing the deal with a loving embrace.
“That scene was so cool,” recalls David fondly, “Carlos planted an authentic Cuban kiss on my neck, like all the men in my Cuban family do.”
David loved working with the all-Latino cast and crew, and felt it created an atmosphere of cultural unity and cooperation on set that inspired everyone involved with a sense of common purpose.
“Whenever we felt like we nailed a take, it was festive and incredibly supportive for each other. The idea was to highlight the culture, not highlight individual characters.”
Del Rio went on, “The individual characters are part of the culture and vice versa. Plus working with a crew that is 99% Hispanic, felt like we were all striving together, as part of a team, to tell a story. It was real kismet with everyone working in harmony and with fiery, fiery passion.”
Mateo is a hyper-kinetic, slightly madcap, and often less than serious young man. However, when it comes to his relationship with his kid sister, Natalie (Belissa Escobedo), he does an emotional 180-degree turn. Mateo is a loving, doting, concerned brother and confidant to Natalie as she is going through a difficult sexual identity crisis — he is always there for her. According to both David and Belissa, the on-screen, loving sibling relationship has morphed into a seamless transition from the script to their off-screen friendship.
Asked if he could put, in a single sentence the one thing he personally loves about working the hit ABC show.
“It’s so great to be in a show that is set in Miami and also celebrates Miami,” Del Rio said. “It is also great to see a show that celebrates the Latino family, which by extension, honors and celebrates the All-American family.”
In a recent episode, Vanessa and Mateo share a brief, spontaneous kiss, which set social media buzzing and viewers into thinking there might be a budding romance between the two. That kiss might be the intersection of another storyline by creator, Georgaris.
So as we all wait patiently to hear if there will be a season two of The Baker and the Beauty, what becomes of that kiss between Vanessa and Mateo is anyone’s guess. However, we will not have to wait too long to see David Del Rio grow, as an actor, producer, and director. Armed with his boundless enthusiasm and talent, David Del Rio’s show business future is as promising as a Miami sunrise.
The two-hour season finale of The Baker and the Beauty airs on ABC, Monday, June 1 at 10 PM.