Cristo Fernández, who portrays the happy-go-lucky Dani Rojas in Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” has not one, but two favorite soccer scenes he has filmed so far.
“The first one is when Dani Rojas first enters in the show,” he told TheWrap at the Apple FYC carpet and panel discussion Monday. “It was my first day on set. It’s an epic moment for the character, epic moment for my life. Giving the best. There are cool tricks, did it all, proud of it.”
Rojas, who joins Coach Ted Lasso’s (Jason Sudeikis) AFC Richmond team halfway through Season 1 when Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) starts acting up, runs enthusiastically onto the pitch one training day to demonstrate his skill and qualifications for replacing Jamie in the ace position.
“But also the goal where he scores [at the] end of the season,” Fernández said of his second favorite moment. “And the circumstances and the weather were very extreme. Personally, every time I watch it, I go like ‘Oh my god,’ I get my chicken skin [goosebumps]. I know you only asked for one [favorite scene] but I had to give you two.”
Rojas becomes a test of sorts for Richmond hiring a sports psychologist when he accidentally kills the team mascot, the greyhound Earl, that runs in front of his penalty kick and takes the shot full force. He gets so sad about it until Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) helps him through it, and everything comes full circle at the end of Season 2 when Jamie tells him to take a penalty kick in the box, and Rojas knocks it in securing a win and promotion back to the Premiere League for AFC Richmond.
“The biggest lesson is just the positive attitude he has in life and also sometimes just like enjoying life,” he Fernández. “I know sometimes life can be stressful for many of us in the things we do, but it’s also cool to remember why we do things and just have always that inner child in us and find the passion and the joy in doing what we do. I think that’s the biggest lesson I get from Dani and playing him.”
After two seasons as Rojas, Fernández also recently appeared in a post-credit scene of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with Tom Hardy’s “Venom” character Eddie Brock. Fernández plays a bartender in Mexico, where Brock and his symbiotic companion have fled.
“I was very happy and working with Tom Hardy was amazing,” he said. “Being in this universe, I hope there can be more opportunities. I hope there can be a super-bartender.”
