Rodrigo Massa (born March 26, 1989,
São Bernardo do Campo
São Bernardo do Campo () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo.
It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 810,729 (2022 census) in an area of .
According to 2021 data from ...
, São Paulo), is a Brazilian actor, singer and television host who lives and works between
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. Best known in Latin America for his work on Mexican TV shows such as
El Dragón: Return of a Warrior,
La Piloto
''La Piloto'' is a Spanish-language crime drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radi ...
and
Like
In English, the word ''like'' has a very flexible range of uses, ranging from conventional to non-standard. It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, quotative, and semi-suffix.
U ...
, Rodrigo took his first steps in Hollywood five years ago, where he landed his first leading roles on
Lifetime's Merry Textmas and on
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films ''Cabin Fev ...
's
Urban Legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
. He is currently part of the main cast of CTV's
The Spencer Sisters, alongside
Lea Thompson and
Stacey Farber, which is now airing in the United States, every Wednesday on the CW.
Biography
At age 20, after studying four semesters of Linguistics at the University of
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
, he decided to leave his studies and his work as a teacher of languages and move to Mexico to try his luck in the show business. His artistic career began in 2007, when he made his first appearances in TV commercials. After graduating from CEA (the acting school that belongs to Mexican TV Network
Televisa
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April ...
), where he studied acting, singing, TV hosting and dancing, he participated in more than 150 advertising campaigns in Mexico,
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
,
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
and United States, making him one of the most sought after faces of Latin American advertisement.
In 2012 he was offered his first opportunity as a TV presenter, hosting the music show México Suena, also on Televisa. He went on to host a great number of shows with themes that ranged from sports (Tú Diriges –
Televisa
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April ...
) to fashion (Elle México Diseña –
E! Entertainment Television
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movie ...
), kids (1 2 3 Clic –
Televisa
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April ...
), lifestyle (Zona Trendy –
E! Entertainment Television
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movie ...
), electronic music (Latin Stage –
Ritmoson Latino), travel (Top Five –
TLC (TV network)
TLC is an American multinational cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learn ...
), home shopping (
CJ Group
CJ Corporation (), doing business as CJ Group () or simply CJ, is a South Korean conglomerate holding company, operating internationally. It is one of the largest chaebol headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous businesses in ...
) and many others.
As for his acting career, in 2013 he played an FBI agent in the highest-grossing Mexican film of all time
Instructions Not Included
''Instructions Not Included'' () is a 2013 Mexican comedy-drama film directed, co-written, co-produced by, and starring Eugenio Derbez. The plot follows a Mexican playboy who is suddenly saddled with a love child at his doorstep, and sets off to ...
. He landed his first major role in a TV show in 2014, giving life to Amador Zúñiga on
The Color of Passion, produced by
Televisa
Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April ...
and distributed around the world in over 50 countries. Another opportunity came in 2015 with the premiere of Un Mal Date on Latin American digital platform
blim, where he played Omar Santiago, a cheating boyfriend who became a huge disappointment to Laya, played by Mexican popstar
Ximena Sariñana.
In 2016, Rodrigo signed a two-year contract with
Ocesa Teatro which led to his first theater play Verdad o Reto (Truth or Dare), a musical tribute to the 90s, where he played the lead role Pepe for two seasons. His second theater challenge, one year later, was the role of Juan Ramón in the British comic opera
Iolanthe
''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...
, which had an entire sold-out season at the National Arts Center in Mexico City. It's worth mentioning that not a single person in the all-male cast consisting of 32 actors had an understudy during the entire season. But his biggest theater success was yet to come:
Mentiras el musical, the longest-running musical in the history of Latin American theater – 10 years of uninterrupted performances. Rodrigo was hired in early 2017 to play the only male part in the musical: Emmanuel, being witness to two of the play's most important celebrations – the 3000-performance mark and the one-million-viewer record.
In February 2018 he announced the release of his first single "Acabo de Soñar Contigo" with a double launch on digital platforms, both in Spanish and in his mother tongue Portuguese. The single was followed by a music video that was praised by the critics due to its shocking plot twist which reveals a gay romance towards the end, portrayed by Italian-Venezuelan model Fabrizio Sassano and Rodrigo Massa himself.
After a long streak of Mexican shows, he joined the cast of Hallmark's Destination Wedding as AJ. In 2018 he played Aldo Tapia on Netflix’s La Piloto. He then went on to join the next Netflix Original series El Dragón - Return Of A Warrior, where he was cast as Piero Scarinci. The show was in Netflix’s top 10 in over 30 countries. At the best moment of his career, he decided to move to LA and landed his first lead in a US-based production: Merry Textmas, which premiered on Lifetime on December 4, 2022. He also sings the main song within the soundtrack alongside European popstar Andra - How Could I Have Known. Recently, he joined the cast of the horror show Urban Legend, where he plays one of the leading roles, Ben. The series was written and produced by Eli Roth. It premiered on the Travel Channel and is now available on Discovery+ worldwide. He also landed a role in the feature film Cheat, produced by Matchbox Pictures, which is currently in post production.
Rodrigo is currently part of the main cast of CTV's ''
The Spencer Sisters'', alongside Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber. The show was filmed in Winnipeg, Canada, and is currently airing in the USA, Portugal, Belgium, France, Germany and Japan. Rodrigo plays Antonio, an LGBTOI+ character who is much beloved by the community of Alder Bluffs. Married to Zane, he is one of Darby's (Stacey Farber) best friends, and always gets caught between her and her mother (Lea Thompson) in their quarrels. His character becomes much more prominent after episode 4, where Antonio is the victim of a mysterious hater who tries to ruin his business and his life.
In 2024 he collaborated with Canadian singer-songwriter
Adrian Sutherland on "Don Politico", a mixed English-Spanish version of Sutherland's 2019 single "Politician Man".
[Marissa Lentz-McGrath]
"'People over politics': Northern singer's protest song goes international"
'' Sudbury.com'', September 11, 2024.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massa, Rodrigo
1991 births
Brazilian male telenovela actors
Living people
21st-century Brazilian male actors
Brazilian male television actors
21st-century Brazilian male singers
21st-century Brazilian singers