Felix Avitia is known for playing Gustavo in Pete the Cat and Neil in Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home. He also recently starred as Guerra in the Snap Original series Breakwater from Retrofit Films, set in the not-too-distant future after climate change has destroyed the California coast. Humans struggle to survive in a hostile environment in this dystopian future, so they turn to a lottery system to decide who lives and who dies.
Avitia is drawn to roles that deal with issues like climate change. The young actor takes social activism to heart in his personal life as well as where he actively works to preserve the climate and is a vocal LGBTQIA+ ally. Recently, he and the Raven’s Home cast participated in the Disney walkouts in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.
I recently had a chance to speak with Avitia about playing the antagonist Guerra in Breakwater, Raven’s Home, climate change and his dream roles (thwip, thwip).
This interview is condensed for length and clarity.
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Felix Avitia
Rebecca Kaplan: Breakwater is a made-for-mobile series. What was it like filming something in a vertical format?
Felix Avitia: Very interesting; that’s for sure. I didn’t notice it too much during scenes, but when you go and peel back the curtain to see what you’ve been shooting, that’s where you realize it’s different. Like the spacing between the actors and the angles, they have to get. Because again, with it being in vertical format, there are certain angles and specific dimensions they hit shooting, so that was interesting, but I didn’t feel it too much during the scenes.
RK: Can you tell me about your costume in Breakwater?
FA: They gave me these cool crown/royal goggles, but they were pretty vicious. It was a cool concept. Like to push them up, it looks like a crown. When you pull them down, it’s like these spikes. The crown almost embodies fangs or thorns, which I thought looked wicked in the show.
It did not look very comfortable, though. However, it was surprisingly comfortable to wear. I didn’t have an issue acting with it. Then, Guerra went from the EDM DJ to warlord. He goes through two different variations of his suit. The first one was cool. I felt like I was in a rave the whole time, like Coachella or something. I don’t wear mesh shirts daily, so it was something that I was not used to, but it was fun. I thought it was a cool look.
It always helps when you’re playing a character that is so different and in such a different world when they look different. It allows you to tap into feeling different because it separates reality from the show. I liked the second suit. It just looked wicked. When he’s interrogating at the end, I thought it was sleek. It was black, and it had gold accents to it. I thought it looked like what Guerra represents, being named after the word ‘war.’
RK: How was it playing the antagonist for the series? How did you develop the role of Guerra?
FA: Working with the writers helped because I had some questions, and they were very wonderful about clarifying. It’s a big world, and a lot is going on, so I wanted to make sure I was giving them the image they had envisioned in the first place. The character was my first time playing a villain or a bad guy. I usually play hero roles and good guys. Finally, getting a chance to play a villain was a new experience for me.
I knew that intimidation is crucial with villains and that it’s difficult to pull off properly. I’m not the most intimidating person. I’m skinny and relatively tall. I had to bring out the intimidation or the intensity of Guerra. I wanted to have him be calm and controlled and lead with his words more than muscle or brute strength because that’s not who he is—he’s a thinker.
RK: Did you have any characters in mind that you pulled from?
FA: An excellent example of that is Heath Ledger‘s Joker from The Dark Knight. I remember feeling like he was a dude I didn’t want to mess with if I was in a room with him. Not because he was loud, but because he was quiet because he was gentle because he was what you wouldn’t expect.
He was the one in control of every situation, every room he was in. I try to capture that feeling just in a different way because Guerra is a very different character. However, that feeling of intense control through quiet, patient presence was something I tried to replicate and capture. So I’d say [Ledger’s Joker] was probably the character and actor I pulled from.
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RK: Breakwater deals with climate change. What was it like making a show about climate change? Is that an important issue to you?
FA: Yeah, most definitely. I think climate change is a big issue right now. I’ve looked into ways of trying to be more climate conscience, especially for future generations, because it’s not really about me and my generation. It’s about the generations to come. Will my kids be OK? Will the kids after my kids be fine? Being planet conscious and more eco-mindful now will allow us to have a healthier and more sustainable future. I think that’s what any rational person would want.
I always try to be conscious. I don’t drive the most planet-friendly car, but I’ve already looked into trying to go electric. There are so many resources to be more eco-friendly now, and it’s becoming more mainstream. It’s a very livable lifestyle and a very possible lifestyle. I love doing a show about climate change when it is a focal point in my personal life. It was awesome for my two worlds, my personal life and my work life, to share a common message and a common goal. I thought it was a beautiful thing.
RK: How was the experience of filming in a lot of water?
FA: Honestly, it was freaking awesome. It was very cold, and it was like 1 AM. It was a very intense and physically demanding shoot because we were freezing our butts off, but I loved it. You read a great scene like that, and you get excited as an actor. It’s hard to feel or envision precisely how it’s going to be until you’re there, and at that moment [on set], you’re in ocean water, waist-high. Then, there are huge sprinklers showering you with huge raindrops. You’re just soaked, and the intensity and excitement for the scenes come to life.
RK: You’ve previously done a lot of voice acting, like Gustavo in Pete the Cat. How does developing a character for animation and live-action differ?
FA: Very different. A simple way to put it is, with voice-over, they can’t see you. So any emotion you feel in the scene for your character and as your character cannot be displayed subtly through faces and physical movement. You have to project all of that emotion into a microphone and use your voice to still dictate that same emotional presence you would have in a live-action scene.
RK: Snap Originals has a large Gen Z audience. Breakwater had a very anti-capitalism message. Why does that appeal to younger audiences?
FA: Honestly, I thought our whole audience was at least 65 and up. I thought we were popular in retirement homes and bingo nights. With topics like anti-capitalism and global warming in Breakwater, which has an audience of young people and young minds, they can easily sink their teeth into those topics and relate to those characters and messages. They can relate to what you’re saying and what is going on in your story.
I think older generations can get stuck in their ways because they’ve grown up with a different way of life. There might be some pushback when you’ve got some young kid trying to tell you things need to change. I understand where those older generations come from and why they feel that way, but at the same time, changes are good as long as it’s healthy, and they’re pushing us forward as a society and not holding us back.
RK: When I was researching for this interview, I felt that you like comics or at least comic book heroes. Do you have a favorite?
FA: Yes, I do. Wow. Thank you. I’m glad this is becoming so well known. I’m a huge nerd. No one believes me unless you know me, and then you’re like, oh, he is the biggest nerd of all. My favorite of all time is Spider-Man. I’d love to the next Peter Parker. When I tell you I wanted to be Spider-Man my whole life, I mean I wanted to be Spider-Man my entire life. I’ve been training to be the next Spider-Man since I was 3. I’m very ready.
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RK: Do you have a particular era of Spider-Man you like?
FA: That’s a very comic book fan question. I love the original from 1962. Or, when Peter gets the black suit, it was such an iconic moment for comics and a great era for Peter Parker and the story of Spider-Man. And to see the darker side of Spider-Man, which I love, and which we all know he has inside because he’s a hurt kid. You see, he’s got a lot of anger and pain.
My favorite saga is Ultimate Spider-Man. It has some of the best stories of Spider-Man ever, and some of the best Peter Parker stories too, which are often not simultaneous because the character lives two different lives: Peter Parker, the underdog nerd high schooler trying to get the girl and struggling with a job, a struggle that we all feel, and Spider-Man, this larger than life superhuman taking on epic villains.
RK: What’s next for you?
FA: Right now, I’m on Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home. I wasn’t in Season 1 – 4, but they did a soft reboot. Now, it’s Season 5, but it’s more like Season 1. It’s back in San Francisco, back in the old Baxter House. It feels way more like That’s So Raven than before. New main characters are joining Raven and Booker, and I’m one of them. I play Booker’s best friend, Neil, which is great. If you want to see me play the complete opposite character from Guerra, you can watch me play Neil, the sweetest, most good-hearted kid.
We just premiered this past Friday. It went fantastic, and the show is super funny and great. We air every Friday at 8:00 PM, and it’s such a great character and great show. I love every bit, and they’re the coolest people on planet earth. Everyone on the show is fantastic. I aspire to be as wonderful and as talented as all of them.
So now, Raven’s Home, then in the future, who knows? Hopefully, Spider-Man, or something like Star Wars. Also, Batman just came out, so I would love to play Dick Grayson. You know, Robin? He would be such a fun character.
You can catch Felix Avitia on Snap Original Series Breakwater, which just ended. You can also see Avitia every Friday on Raven’s Home on Disney Channel.
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