MR. DAVI SANTOS

What are your first thoughts on awakening in the morning?

I go to the window and run my consciousness through my body, one part at a time, reaching my head, and continuing through my senses. I associate each with gratefulness for their existence. If I do the process thoughtfully, a foundation is laid for my mood to be enhanced. I feel grounded for whatever I need to do next.

Shower of Bath?

Shower usually. Bath definitely often though. Such a treat to relax that way.

What made you become an actor?

I wanted to be an actor because I found it thrilling and existentially titillating on my 12-year-old brain.

What are your tips for success?

Don’t just dream, make goals. Do your own research and also ask people you look up to in order to create a strategy. Put in the time, over time, make it a lifestyle. Take risks and get outside your comfort zone in order to grow. Enjoy the process, feed the passion, draw outside the lines. Fuel your soul and be sincere. Invest in health. Make a routine, but find spontaneity.

What project are you working on at the moment?

I play a determined surgical resident on the newest CBS drama, Good Sam. Currently filming season one.

How much are you like the character of Dr. Joey Costa you play in Good Sam or how different?

We both love our job and are willing to make sacrifices to stay on the path of it. I’m comfortable connecting with people, wearing my heart on my sleeve, making and enjoying my friends, whereas Joey’s experience is about learning how to let people in, forge bonds, care for others, and find the words to express it when he does.

What attracted you to your character Dr. Joey Costa when you first read the script?

There’s a certain mischievous enjoyment in playing someone who is in over their head, it’s not that he doesn’t get the picture, it’s that he’s immersed in his own world, and sometimes it conflicts with the world around him. He’s simultaneously passionate and yet extremely guarded. He lives boldly, making grand gestures when it counts and yet he’s somehow conservative about what cards to show, often times seeming impenetrable. In that consistent juxtaposition, there’s so much room for surprise and change.

Would you say that he is one of your most complex characters?

There’s so much I still want to know about him. In what I’ve seen him do and to the extent I’ve seen him change in season one, he is complex, yes-—his social obstacles, his long lasting relationship yet his fear of commitment both to friends and to love, yet to his work he’s almost obsessed, and we even see that change. His pursuit of happiness shifts its master several times on show. All the while, he has a certain coolness, almost cold devilish wit that gets overpowered by a trigger into a mad neuroticism.

What is it like to get into a head like that?

It’s a ride. His edgy bite is so unlike me, it’s like wearing a mask. He behaves in ways that I wouldn’t want him to, that I might even disagree with. But then I give him a chance, and endless justifications ensue. It becomes so fun to allow the temptation to run away with me; the temptation to believe that he’s utterly justified.

Professionally, what are you better at now than before?

Trusting myself under pressure to be engaged and to tell the story no matter the stakes. It’s nice to have time to sit with material, to dig, to have time in the day, to relax and focus, but when you’re forced into having to run with it, and you still get to fly, it’s exhilarating and inspiring. You feel like you unlock a whole new ability or capacity in yourself. Confidence is such an asset.

MR. DAVI SANTOS

Do you have any secret desire to work with a certain director? and why?

The Spike Jonze/Michel Gondry team has for two decades captured my imagination. They have accomplished metaphysical story structure in a way that is so rare in mainstream filmmaking, photographed it, and facilitated riveting performances. It’s a feat that not only satisfies for being an engrossing, elevated piece of entertainment, but it provides a philosophical example of reality, kind of like the closest thing to the cinema of dreams, or of thoughts, it’s simultaneously heady and fantastic, surreal and yet incredibly rooted and fun.

Many actors are fascinated by characters with a dark side. Does it happen to you too?

So much energy in our day-to-day is focused on facilitating positive experiences—respect, courteousness, basic rules of conduct, pleasantries, even how our humor is expressed—to be a gentlemen, to be professional, to have a harmonious, healthy existence, but surely there are all of these little voices we keep at bay, the insecurities, the impulses of discontent. Dig a little deeper, you’ll find the tragedies that we’ve learned to live with, deal with, and forget. The darkside is all about the state in which those dimensions of ourselves make it to our consciousness and behave sufficiently enough that we could be defined by them. Ultimately it becomes an opportunity to learn about ourselves and each other, to at least see the world through the “upside down,” that’s inside all of us, and that nature and/or nurture bring out in so many of us.

If not an actor, what would you like to be?

I’d like to be a civil rights activist. All of us should be to a certain extent, just by nature of being citizens with representatives that make decisions that influence our everyday lives in our society and on our planet. It would be something else for that to be the full time experience. To be able to focus on enacting major change on our social and economic systems, to relieve suffering, heal our environment, pave a way for a fruitful future that people, animals, and our whole ecosystem can benefit from. For humans and corporations to finally live in harmony and not in some kind of existential war.

Do you like risk?

Risk is inevitable. It’s a question of how we perceive it. The incredible feats that people accomplish most often require great risk, but they can equally be unaware of it, focused instead on the benefit, the goal. I don’t know if that necessarily means they “like risk,” but they learn to live with it in a way, to sublimate it, so that it doesn’t feel as risky; instead like a challenge. In that sense, yes, I don’t just like risk, I depend on it to get anywhere. Anti-risk is the surest way to plateau and most likely atrophy.

Are you of method or guts?

Method without guts is theory. Guts without method is like talent without a vehicle. They need one another. It’s the ultimate combination. That being said, I do like method. I’m cerebral. But spontaneity keeps my guts juicing, the surprises flowing, the method revamping.

Have you ever felt typecast?

God bless the realization that the screen has under represented much of humanity and since then we’ve been seeing more diversity. That being said, I won’t be the first or last Brazilian-American actor to say they go out for Mexican parts aplenty. I’m glad there are more stories of Mexican people, don’t get me wrong. The brow-raiser is that career opportunities feel sometimes contingent on representing that specific niche of people which are neither of my origins nor my experience, and again and again. I’m an actor who is latin not a “latino actor” fit to play “latino parts” and specifically of an arbitrary group. The industry is getting stronger from a history of complacency, a laziness, and a prejudice that it continues to wrestle out of. I’m expanding the definition of “typecast” beyond just the parts we ultimately do, to the parts we are exposed to. There’s a considerable amount of actors who change their last name because casting so often will define the person by it, filtering the perception of their appearance to their presumption of what it means to have that name.

Do you read books? If so what was the last one?

I need to be reading at least three books at all times—A cognition/philosophy/psychology book for the mornings to lay the foundation of the day, my book of the moment which can be anything, often times literature, and then another book before bed. My current philosophy/psych book is by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, former head of psychology at University of Chicago. His book, Evolving Self, is about genes vs memes, basically how our free will is snug between the influence of our biology and the influence of memes; concepts passed down in culture. Only if we can make decisions that can serve our biological self and choose memes— ideas, designs, tools—that elevate our collective well being today, will we live to evolve into the tomorrow.

And what makes you angry?

Social injustice. Apathy. Exploitive corporations and sham politicians. The prejudicial mob.

What do you do to stay fit?

I visit the gym several times a week, I work on my core with calisthenics, a circuit of weight training, and a cardiovascular activity. I eat healthy, predominantly a plant based diet, second to pescatarianism, with liberal exceptions when fine dining.

Do you wear glasses?

I used to wear glasses and contacts. Then when I was away and got my eyes checked by a different ophthalmologist who told me that I had a stigmatism all along which contributed to my distractingly imperfect vision I decided to get lasik. It was one of the best investments of my life. Color, definition, the conscious enhancement did not escape me for weeks.

A quality that you appreciate in a man? A Woman?

Genius and bravery so that it can make a difference; passion. Humor and Empathy are the top qualities.

Your Hero In Real Life?

Salvador Dali and AOC.

Is there time for love with your schedule?

A busy schedule is no match for falling in love. And once you fall, you make the time.

Friday or Sunday?

Friday.

Dogs or cats?

Dogs.

Wine or Beer?

IPA, the hoppier the happier.

What makes a perfect man?

A man who loves to love and leads with it. He is appreciative, mindful, stands up to injustice, is there for family, community, a leader in some regard, and is on the path of his own potential’s manifestation.

In this Story:

1-2. Davi wears sunglasses LOEWE IBIZA, turtleneck ELEVENTY BROWN, white trousers LORO PIANA and white sneakers PRADA, available at HARRY ROSEN. 3-4. Davi wears shirt SULVAM and trousers PRONOUNCE, available at WDLT117, Rey ring and Kusari bracelet VITALY, Bucket hat PRADA, yellow cashmere LORO PIANA, blue overshirt ZEGNA, white casual pants TOM FORD, available at HARRY ROSEN 5-6. Davi wears Olympic Patches Merino Wool cardigan THOM BROWNE, crew neck jumper ZEGNA, available at HARRY ROSEN, pant black dress trousers SONG FOR THE MUTE, available at WDLT117 7-8. Davi wears Double Layer silver necklace CUCHARA, Strain bracelet and Drift ring VITALY, Tiago jacket in Olive Night, Hetland jacket (layered under), Eric shirt and Pierre pants in Olive OFFICINE GÉNÉRALE, Turtleneck ELEVENTY BROWN, White trousers LORO PIANA and white sneakers PRADA, available at HARRY ROSEN 9-10. Davi wears Double Layer silver necklace Cuchara, Strain bracelet and Drift ring VITALY, Tiago jacket in Olive Night, Hetland jacket (layered under), Eric shirt and Pierre pants in Olive OFFICINE GÉNÉRALE

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