Jesse Garcia and his epic, winding hero's journey to Hollywood

Beneath the fluorescent lighting of his edifice country successful Pylos, Greece, Jesse Garcia combs done his greasy strands of hairsbreadth aft a daylong sprout for “The Odyssey” — Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie adaptation of the Greek epic.

“I got acceptable hair,” says Garcia connected our video call, somewhat apologetically. Despite a demanding schedule, helium has relished his clip shooting successful Morocco and Greece, on with Hollywood A-listers similar Matt Damon and Zendaya. As helium looks backmost connected his trajectory, Garcia’s ain hero’s travel done Hollywood seems to reflector that of the Greek quality Odysseus: a antheral faced with large challenges that astatine times consciousness insurmountable yet formative.

“It’s similar thing other I’ve done before,” says Garcia of the big-budget film, which is acceptable for merchandise successful 2026.

The actor, 42, has conscionable wrapped up a antithetic benignant of odyssey — helium besides stars successful a caller Latino roadworthy travel drama connected Disney+, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip.” Released connected March 28, the household movie sees Garcia arsenic the loving patriarch of the fictional Garcia family, played by an all-star formed made up of Eva Longoria, Paulina Chávez, Thom Nemer, Rose Portillo and Cheech Marin.

“Road Trip” follows the 2014 movie “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” which was based connected Judith Viorst’s 1972 children’s book. Garcia appeared successful the archetypal movie arsenic an carnal wrangler; successful the caller film, helium plays a chef. “Maybe I was an carnal wrangler truthful I could enactment myself done cook school,” helium says.

Directed by Marvin Lemus, the caller flick depicts a topsy-turvy acquisition that Garcia is acquainted with. “My parents utilized to instrumentality america to [Durango] to spot my dad’s household each year,” says Garcia. “So we [did] that roadworthy travel a batch erstwhile we were small kids.”

Unlike galore of his colleagues successful Hollywood, who came from affluent families and studied successful prestigious schools, Garcia was calved into a Mexican American household successful Rawlins, Wyo., a tiny mining municipality with fewer resources for aspiring actors. “I auditioned for a play successful precocious school,” says Garcia. “Of people I didn’t get it, due to the fact that I didn’t cognize what I was doing!”

Garcia, an athlete, would give himself to cheer routines and stunts successful precocious schoolhouse — helium was aboriginal awarded a cheerleading assistance to the University of Nebraska, wherever helium studied workout science. This accomplishment acceptable aboriginal helped him choreograph a country successful the 2007 sports parody “The Comebacks,” which featured erstwhile NFL tight-end Tony Gonzalez.

“If I’d known amended backmost successful the day, I would’ve done chill classes [in college],” Garcia says with a chuckle.

At the behest of a friend, helium moved to Atlanta to find his direction. This led him to instrumentality acting classes astatine WHAT Films, an innovative theatre people wherever helium learned to write, direct, enactment and nutrient archetypal materials nether actor-director Judson Vaughn. “It was a precise unsocial format — that was the instauration of however I work,” says Garcia.

In 2003, with lone $2,000 successful his pouch and a roommate helium recovered connected Craigslist, Garcia made L.A. his home. The city’s beardown Chicano beingness overwhelmed him astatine first, but helium eased into the community. “I didn’t turn up with a beardown Latino assemblage successful Wyoming,” helium explains. “When I got to L.A., I worked successful this movie called ‘Walkout’ with Edward James Olmos [and] started learning astir the past of Latinos successful L.A.”

Garcia landed his breakout relation successful the 2006 movie “Quinceañera,” a coming-of-age movie directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. In it, Garcia played Carlos, a cheery teen estranged from his Mexican family, on with his large relative and protagonist Magdalena (played by Emily Rios). The movie gained traction astatine the Sundance Film Festival, wherever it won some the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. The movie was aboriginal acquired and distributed by Sony Pictures.

“I [think] I got similar a 1000 dollars to bash that movie,” says Garcia of his indie flick, which was a nonunion production. “[But] it started my career.”

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

Garcia followed this momentum with tiny roles successful procedurals similar “CSI: Miami,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “ER.” Although helium asked his agents to opt retired of stereotypical Latino roles, usually constricted to gardeners and gangsters, helium relented for a relation successful the movie “Days of Wrath,” an “action gangster flick,” arsenic helium puts it. Directed by Celia Fox, it featured a stellar roster of Black and Latino actors: Laurence Fishburne, Lupe Ontiveros, Taye Diggs and Wilmer Valderrama.

But the film, which was slated for merchandise successful 2008, would ne'er spot the airy of time — though he’s inactive looking to get the rights to it. “Celia, telephone me,” helium says to the camera.

“I was conscionable a broke actor, past 2008 happened,” says Garcia, whose happy-go-lucky demeanor instantly seems to lavation away.

In the aftermath of the 2007-08 writers’ strike, roles for the blooming histrion became harder to travel by — a concern that was made much dire by the nation’s crushing fiscal crisis. Nearly 20 years later, creatives proceed to combat for their artistry amid increasing concerns astir AI and streaming revenue, each portion accumulation has slowed down successful L.A.

Jesse Garcia successful “Flamin’ Hot,” his archetypal pb relation successful a large workplace film.

(Emily Aragones / Searchlight Pictures )

His archetypal pb relation successful a large workplace movie would not travel until 2023, erstwhile helium was formed arsenic Richard Montañez successful “Flamin’ Hot,” the communicative of a janitor turned self-proclaimed “godfather of Latino marketing,” who claimed to person invented the finger-licking snack Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

“When I archetypal got the audition for ‘Flamin’ Hot,’ I work it and went, ‘This is mine. … They wrote this for me,’” says Garcia. “I conscionable person to leap done hoops and beryllium that it’s mine.”

First-time manager and person Eva Longoria tells De Los that Garcia, whom she considers her “cosmic soulmate,” was “meant to beryllium Richard Montañez.”

“He didn’t person 1 time off, truthful helium had this aggravated attack to it,” says Longoria. “He wanted to bash good — not conscionable for maine but for our community. … We could not neglect connected ‘Flamin’ Hot.’”

The pressures of the relation weighed connected Garcia — not due to the fact that helium carried the Latino assemblage connected his shoulders, which is an work helium vehemently shrugs off, but due to the fact that helium was contiguous for each 36 days of shooting.

“Nobody knew [it], but I could person had a intelligence breakdown each day,” helium says.

“There was 1 time that [co-star] Annie Gonzalez enactment her manus connected my thorax conscionable to accidental hullo and cheque successful with me, and I was like, ‘Oh s—, wherefore americium I truthful affectional close now?’” says Garcia.

Gonzalez, who played Montañez’s woman Judy successful “Flamin’ Hot,” remembers this infinitesimal during filming. “Jesse does disguise a batch of things with play,” she says. “I enactment my manus connected his thorax and gave him my energy, ’cause I tin lone ideate carrying this film.”

Although the veracity of this selling occurrence communicative was contested successful a 2021 L.A. Times investigation, which the real-life Montañez cites successful his 2024 defamation suit against the fashionable spot company, Garcia says helium resonates with his character’s go-getter spirit. (And, for the record, helium besides stands down Montañez’s relationship of events: “I judge him, helium has receipts.”)

“I [too] person felt similar the underdog,” says Garcia. “I’ve felt similar I’ve wanted to quit.”

He says that erstwhile reasoning backmost connected those stormy moments successful 2008, helium asks himself: “Would the 21-year-old mentation of myself beryllium stoked to conscionable the existent version?”

To that, helium says: “Yeah, I would beryllium arrogant of that guy.”