CHAYANNE
The Popular Singer Dances His Way To Hollywood

by Yelba Osorio
photography Cesare Bonazza
grooming Kimberly Moore
styling George Blodwell

After selling over four million albums, earning 19 platinum records, 28 gold records, and becoming the star of the number one TV show in Mexico, music idol Chayanne is ready for his Hollywood close-up. Chayanne, who has been singing and acting since his pre-adolescence, is known by millions of his fans in Latin America as well as millions of Latinos in America. This month, however, with the release of the movie, Dance With Me, the English-speaking public will have the chance to see the multi-talented Chayanne do his thing. He stars opposite Vanessa L. Williams, playing an aspiring dancer (Rafael) who salsas his way into Vanessa’s heart. Director Randa Haines, best known for her feature film directing debut, Children of a Lesser God, knew that Chayanne was the man for the role when he walked into her office. “When Chayanne walked in, the temperature in the room went up. His charm, looks, musical skills, and accessibility were exactly what Rafael required. It was the same feeling I has when an unknown named Marlee Matlin read for Children of A Lesser God. All your instincts tell you this is the one.”

Recently, we spoke with Chayanne about his star turn in Dance With Me, as well as his new found Hollywood friends, and his strong family ties that make all of it possible. Even though the international singing sensation was nursing a cold, he was a sport when it came to doing the interview. In fact, he spoke at length without much prompting.

Your career in music started when you were very young.
I started professionally at the age of ten, but I began singing at the age of five, in church, with my brother and sister who played the guitar. My brother played el quatro (a four string instrument) which is a typical instrument of my country, Puerto Rico. So we played with the chorus in the church. I was the one who was following my siblings; they were playing the instruments, I was singing with the chorus, playing the pandereta (tambourine). When I was six, I got involved with the school plays. My mom was my kindergarten teacher, and she liked theater, and I liked all the activities that had to do with art. So that went on until I was about seven, but then I started playing sports. It wasn’t until I was ten that my sister and I got into a singing group, she left the group to go to college, but I stayed and the group then became known as Los Chicos (The Guys). We were a quartet that harmonized and we became very popular in Central America.   We were like the New Kids on the Block. When I was fourteen, the group split, and I went through a few dark years. I was questioning whether I should stay in music, or leave it.  So I went on studying my regular high school subjects with my teacher. I had had a private teacher since I was touring with the group to different countries. I also took singing, dancing, gymnastics, without knowing what my future would bring.

When did your second big break come?
When I was fifteen an opportunity to do music came up. It was in Mexico.  So I went. They liked my style and when I was about 16, I recorded my first solo album. I did telenovelas (Spanish soaps), and then features, all in Spanish. My first English language project is Dance With Me.

Now that you’ve added Hollywood film to your list of credits, what direction do you see your career going in? Will you go back and forth--do an album, then a movie?
I’ve always intended to do both the acting and my music, but the music, the singer in me, has always been in the spotlight more than the actor, because I’ve given more time to the music. But now, I want to give them equal time, keep them parallel.  I want to place the same amount of importance on the acting as I have in the music. I don’t know how I’m going to do it because it is very difficult to give so much time and energy to both, when [the music] already eats up so much of your time. But until now, I’ve been putting in the extra effort, and I hope to continue to do it, and to do it well. I don’t want to do mediocre work. I want to do them both at a high level. If I ever start feeling that I am sacrificing one for the other, or not doing as well as I’d like, that’s when I’ll stop the one that’s coming out oscuro. Up until now, they have both gone well. I’ve had to work a lot. While I was filming, any free time I had, I had to work on my music.  And because it was so much work and I was so drained, I said, “Wow!” You think you’re not going to make it, you know. But in the end everything came out super bien. It’s worth the effort later on when you see the benefits and merit of your work.

How was the experience of making Dance With Me?
It was fantastic for me , because it was something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Having accomplished it, I feel a great deal of satisfaction both on a personal and on a professional level. The movie provided a real school for me. It was my first picture in Hollywood, which, you can say, is the epicenter of the world’s cinema. This is my first strong project, my first strong passage to the Anglo market, as an actor.   It’s with this movie that the doors [to Hollywood] have opened.

How was working with Vanessa Williams?
Vanessa Williams is a strong and dedicated woman. She knows what she wants and she strives for it. She is also a fantastic woman. We struck up a very close friendship.  There was chemistry on and off the project. We became friends during the project. We didn’t even know each other before it. I also became friends with Kris Kristofferson. He called me the other day. He was in town working on a film with Mel Gibson, and we were talking, and he gave me real words of encouragement. Here is a man who has lots of experience in film, and a person who is also brilliant, so it’s a real honor to hear that [from him]. It’s also an honor to hear similar words from the director Randa Haines, who has the experience and the world’s awards, and who’s a very detail-oriented person, and seeks to do the best. She’s not after the mediocre. She strives for the best.

It sounds like a real learning experience.
That wasn’t all of it. I had to study the Cuban accent. I had a dialect coach. I had an acting coach and a dance instructor. I even injured my clavicle doing one of the choreographed dance numbers that we had in the film. I had to have physical therapy for that. So, it was six and a half months of hard work. There was no rest. It was my first experience where I was in every single scene. So my work was double.  I think you have to distinguish who you are as a person form who you are as an actor.  Chayanne the person disappeared. Who was constantly there instead was Rafael, the character. I’d have 18-hour days where I was thinking like Rafael, living like Rafael, eating like Rafael.

Did you start speaking like a Cuban all the time?
I would go to salsa clubs, where there were lots of Cubans, and my assistant was Cuban. She would speak to me with an exaggerated accent so it would stick to me.   Eventually, my accent, which is generally neutral, began sounding very Cuban.   Even after finishing the film, for sometime I still was speaking like a Cuban. I was so into the character that even at interviews the Cuban accent would come out. So I worked a lot.  But we will see the results, now that the film is coming out. So far the reviews have been very positive.

Whose decision was it to get an acting coach? How did that work?
What an acting coach does is help you bring out the character. It’s like tennis. If you had to play a tournament you’d work with your coach, who would tell you things like, “When you move to the right with the racket you’re hitting the ball too late, that’s why it’s going short.” A coach helps you see what you don’t see. So when I’m acting, I have an acting coach. When I’m dancing, I work with a choreographer, and even before entering the recording studio, I prepare with a vocal lesson. I try to take it to the maximum with each coach, challenging myself with things I haven’t yet developed. And I gain experience like that, and that’s how we grow, no?

What do you do to relax?
I like to play basketball; my only problem is that it’s a hard game.  I’ve suffered injuries that have cost me--time-wise and economy-wise. The last injury I got on the basketball court was during the shooting of Dance With Me. It cost the production un millon tres cientos mil dolares for the week that they shut down, because I was in all the scenes. They stopped production so I could recuperate. My eye was injured badly--I was hit in my right eye and had to get 28 stitches. They had to wait for the bruising to go down to start filming again. Everyone had to stop work for a week, that’s what was so expensive, not the medical costs. It’s a very aggressive sport that I’ve played since I was very little, but now I shoot three pointers more than driving to the hoop. I also like tennis a lot, which has less physical contact. I like to run on the beach, swim, ski, box. What I do when I’m a little sick, like I am now, I listen to a lot of music. I try to keep myself on top of what’s happening musically.

How does the experience of singing in front of an audience of thousands compare with the energy of acting on a movie set?
When I’m going to do a show or a movie, I get nervous because there is a lot of energy there. I also want the result to be positive. I want the people to be completely satisfied with my presentation. That’s why I rehearse so much, and give my maximum on stage, because I respect the audience. The difference between acting in a movie and singing to a crowd, is that on stage when you’re singing, the crowd gives you instant energy, and you know the results right away. Right away you know if they like you or not. But in acting, you work on a character, and you don’t know the result until it’s screened, or until the critics see it, or until people stop you in the street and talk to you about the character. But when you’re acting you do feel the energy in the character. When you’re inside a character nothing distracts you, you live everything as if you were somebody else, and that’s how I felt about Rafael. That’s what’s nice about  acting. It’s like someone switched you around, and you feel everything the character feels.

You were born and raised in Puerto Rico?
I was born in Puerto Rico, but I was raised--and it might sound strange--but I was raised in many theaters all over the world, because I toured since I was ten. I would be gone for months at a time. I was in that environment. Buy I had a very solid foundation. I had a very strong family upbringing. I am really grateful for what life has given me, because it’s given me a lot.

Typed By Chayfan Lois Rita