Flinging a sparkling pink scarf over his shoulder, Freshman Carlos Torres dramatically delivers a few lines in Spanish during his small stint on the television show ‘Modern Family.’ He plays the part of Pepito, a flashier and more expressive version of the character Manny Delgado.
“It said in the script that ‘a flamboyant teenage boy enters the room,’” Torres said. “I took the chance and I got it.”
At the age of six, Torres was determined to take acting classes after watching other kids appear on television programs. After joining a class, an agent offered to work with him and he landed his first job working on “Symbol,” a movie filmed in Japan.
“I thought, ‘Wow, this is a job?’” Torres said. “I figured out that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Since then, Torres has acted in many commercials, including ones for Progressive and Kaiser Permanente. A couple of times a year, Torres’ agent will contact him about job opportunities. Occasionally, his family will also help him look out for opportunities.
However, many of Torres’ acting jobs have been the results of strokes of luck. For example, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be in the Progressive commercial, if not for the random ad for it he saw while browsing Youtube.
His parents also sacrifice a lot to help his career, by taking time off from work and helping him practice for auditions. A lot of their choices are also influenced by his job.
“My dad was going to go to Mexico for a couple months, but the fact that I had an acting career sort of eliminated that possibility,” Torres said. “They’re a big part of how I’m able to do this.”
During middle school, Torres was home schooled because he wanted to focus on acting. Since his recent return to public high school, Torres has realized that balancing work and academics is difficult to do. Despite this, he has no doubts about his decisions towards his acting career.
“When I missed school for the ‘Modern Family’ filming, it was so hectic the next day,” Torres said. “But if I were to have a big break, definitely home school would be the key to focusing on my acting.”
In the future, Torres hopes to continue his career and possibly work with one of his inspirations, Martin Scorsese or Christopher Nolan, but so far, ‘Modern Family’ has been his favorite job.
“I met Rico Rodriguez and that was really cool, and I saw Sofia Vergara.”
TCHS School Newspaper