NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - The Drink With Kate Snow: Ismael Cruz Córdova

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Ismael Cruz Córdova is a fighter. He grew up in Puerto Rico and came to New York with all of his belongings in two laundry bags. The actor traveled around the world and was told “no” three times before ultimately getting cast in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.’

Hi, this is Kate Snow. So Ismael Cruz Cordova and I met up in midtown Manhattan. We talked over sake for my series, The Drink. It's always about how people got to the top. And if you don't know Ismael's story, you're going to want to hear it. He grew up in Puerto Rico. He moved to New York with just laundry bags as luggage. He got a gig on Sesame Street. and now he is in season two of Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power. It's out now. Wait until you hear about all the rejection he faced before he landed that role. Three times they said no. You can find all my conversations with top artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries at NBCNews.com slash The Drink. You fought for Lord of the Rings.

As well. I read that you were in a tent. Yeah, I guess it was tent accommodation. And you're recording videos to send to the Lord of the Rings. Yeah, and there's a sandstorm in the back. It's like... Ismael Cruz, Cordoba. Yes!

Mucho gusto. Igualmente. We're at the Pig & Whistle in New York in Manhattan. This is sake. Sake, yeah. And it's unfiltered sake. This is nigori sake. And, um, here you go.

One, two, three. Well, cheers! How did you get into sake in the first place? Through sushi. Sushi! Yeah. Right, because you were having sushi, you ordered sake. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. And I got it. And, you know, I just loved it. Iushi? Yeah. Right, because you were having sushi, you ordered sake. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I got it. And yeah, no, I just loved it. I just loved it. And like getting a little bit of the history of it all. You're an actor. Yes.

How did you get here? We're on there. Be very careful, Dr. Frazier. So you gotta learn how to use one of these. Avala. A bullet. A bala settles everything. I came from a place, you know, poor, but not a lot of... Puerto Rico.

In Puerto Rico, yeah. And like in a specific neighborhood of Puerto Rico, rural. Growing up in an environment that people didn't have a voice. Completely disenfranchised. Not part of any type of conversation. Not part of any like political or social, like completely, you know, that's, you go work and then you go tuck away, like you know, that's the kind of thing. By the time I was like seven, I had moved about ten times and like some of those, like one of those houses that I remember quite vividly, had a kitchen

and kitchen and living room whatever it was like it was that was dirt floor that one I remember you know it's like it's like a movie almost like because it's such a removed reality from where I am at right now yeah even I mean like the the arc of like of where I've been where I came to where I am even to me sounds like an impossibility sometimes you know but yeah I mean I remember like we in that one we showered outside like it was like a shower yeah like they built like these with four panels I wouldn't panels and just put the garden hose at the top you know through a hole frogs these big frogs were around you

while you were showering, and I don't like them. What does that create in you, that environment? For me, I was extremely curious, and I always had this struggle along with my curiosity. I was extremely curious. It created this sense of, like, why not us? Why not me? Yeah, but just like, why are we part of the conversation?

Why can't we also go to that school? Why can't I also have that education? Why don't we have a voice, realizing that we were so tucked away? So it led me in a journey of trying to find something. I read that you were a swimmer. Yeah. And you were really good. I was very good. This is the thing I kept I kept trying to see what was the thing that was gonna get me out and like and I was swimming extremely strategic and swimming was it. You get a scholarship because of that? That's how I went to this very important prep school.

You go to NYU in New York. Yeah. And is it true that you arrived with like a laundry bag full of stuff? Two. Two, that's the thing. Like you didn't have suitcases? Nothing, nothing. I got nothing and it was uncharted territory. I made all the research myself. I wrote all the research myself. I wrote all the essays myself, all the applications. I remember in JFK, like, picking up my two laundry bags. And then at Welcome Week at NYU, all the parents are there. You know, with their kids. And your parents aren't there.

No, I'm by myself with two laundry bags. But, like, just, like, smiling this broadly. But starting to understand. Smiling because you're like this this is it that was my dream that was my dream you know and and but it was rough for not not having that that support of course i feel myself almost wanting to cry i mean honestly if that is a journey don't cry no no no just just that piece and that's and that's not even where you are now. Like that just, those hurdles that you, I mean, I don't know if they're hurdles,

but like those challenges that you had to get past to get where you are. It's incredible. And it shouldn't be that way either. A lot of people talk always about the silver lining of things and everything happening for a reason and whatnot. And of course, there's a component we can philosophize about all that. But there are some things that don't need to happen. There are some things that are not necessary to happen that we can correct.

How do you get the role on Sesame Street? Does Girando rhyme with Mando? Yeah! You know, I wake up this morning to a bunch of messages. You should audition for this thing. Do you know that this is happening? It was this big national call that they had. But I knew that I needed an appointment if

I wanted to to actually um rise above the hundreds and hundreds of you even have a manager at that point no no but I was but that's the thing that I've always had these yeah I was very brave about certain things and I said I need an appointment but it sounds like manifesting it right knowing what you have to do to get to where you are you know and knowing that a lot of these rules as we're talking about they're made and that's the thing they're made with people like myself at the moment they're not made with us in mind you know so you have to challenge them and you have to challenge that kind of authority and that kind of system. And I did. I did all the time and I still do. I still write letters to casting directors or directors when I'm passionate about a project, whether I get it or not.

You fought for Lord of the Rings. As well. Say what you wish to say. I have said it already. A hundred times over in every way but words. I was auditioning for almost like seven months. I get the audition for Rings the first one and then I'm in New York then I go to LA and I do the second one then I get this movie in South Africa and I think I did my third and fourth one when I'm in the desert in South Africa. I read that you were in a tent. Yeah, because it was tent accommodations.

And you're recording videos. Yeah, and there's a sandstorm in the background. There's an audition where you hear like, like in the back like that. You're doing these to like show them your work? Yeah. Show them what you can do i mean they kept giving me callbacks but by the time that i was in in south africa my i think my first rejection came when i was there um rejection yeah they're like listen this is going in a different direction and you're not gonna get the part yeah you're not gonna get the part what do you say no i just send

an email to my team i was like no period and they know by this point they know my spirit and they're like okay as long as we're all on the same page, let's fight for this. Why were you so convinced that you were the guy for this? There's a self-belief. There's a little thing here that tells me that this is what, like there's certain roles, like this is mine. I love Lord of the Rings. I always loved the elves. And I was like, no, I want to do a character like that.

They're like, okay, let's do a callback, like do another one. And then I get that one, that rejection as well, you know? And that one was like, it's a wild story how I got that audition because there was no Wi-Fi there. Like I waited like eight hours to upload with that very slow connection and it failed. But they uploaded it to someone's phone. That person drove it an hour to the next town like through the desert just a straight shot and they went to this motel and like uploaded it and then i got another no how do you

turn it how do you end up with the role so we i end up fighting for like i keep fighting for it we keep pursuing this thea park um the casting director also that's why casting directors are unsung heroes as well and they're often leading the charge. And I'm just like fighting, fighting. But then they're like, listen, there's a third time, the final time. I said, listen, he's wonderful. And we like what he's doing as an actor. But it's going in a different direction.

And that's when I get back to New York City. And then suddenly my manager calls me. She's like, so they want you to go to New Zealand on Monday. This is like a Saturday. And I just said, what do these people want? You know, by that point I was just like over it. And I was like, wow. They said no three times.

Three times. But I just knew, I always knew the whole process. That if I would meet them in person that they would know that like the the soul of the character I understood it you know and I went and I was like the dark horse kind of thing and that's exactly how it was like they met me and I did my audition and they saw it and they drove out. Because here we are. Here we are. Season two. Yeah, season two. Wow.

That is a story. Yeah. And that's like the short version. I know. You're on season two right now of five they've committed to, right? Yes. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of years.

That's a lot of years. Every two years. That's what it takes. And you're weaving in other stuff. You just shot a movie. Yeah, I shot two movies. movies so two movies back-to-back shot the pickup with Eddie Murphy Evelyn Gloria Tiki Palmer Jack Cassie Davidson Pete Davidson Pete Davidson yeah amazing I think you've already I love it it's like a heist comedy action I cannot wait oh

no it was wonderful wonderful and the other movie and the other one's called I love it. It's like a heist, comedy, action. I cannot wait. Oh no, it was wonderful. Wonderful. And the other movie? And the other one is called The Bluff. It's Priyanka Chopra, Karl Urban, Timur Aramurisan, yours truly. And that's Pirates. Can we do some rapid fire questions? Yeah, let's go. Okay.

Favorite part about this role? How broken he is. I love that complexity because we all have a crack. We all have a fracture. We all have a somewhere that there's no one that's not dealing with darkness. And I love characters like that. And how much he leads with the heart, just like myself, he just goes for it.

Best advice you ever got? The older ladies when I left Puerto Rico, that's, I mean, I don't know if this is the best one, but it's one that pops up to mind. Don't sell your soul. What it means to me is to stay. Stay true. Close to your essence, you know?

And that really, I mean, that really becomes more and more important a parent as you go, especially doing this thing. Ismael Cruz-Colombia. Cheers, I have a little bit left. I have a little bit left. I have a little bit left there.