Los Angeles (USA), May 10 (EFE).- Cinema has helped actor Diego Tinoco overcome the aftermath of bullying he suffered when he was little, and that is why he likes the message of “never giving up” that it conveys his character as Nero in “Knights of the Zodiac.”
This is how he tells it in an interview with EFE in which he also claims to feel very “proud” to embody this orphan who becomes the Phoenix Knight, a hero with special powers that allow him to read minds and fly.
That a Latino incarnates this role of hero is something “that is not usually seen on the big screen,” according to this 25-year-old Californian actor with Mexican and Ecuadorian roots.
“Many times they put us like the gang member, like the cholo, in jail… This movie puts a Latino superhero… It is a very big moment,” he insists.
He is also delighted to participate in the first live-action film version of one of the most successful animated series in Latin America and Europe in the 1990s.
The film, directed by Tomasz Baginski, is based on the saga of “The Knights of the Zodiac” created by Masami Kurumada.
In this installment he tells the story of five orphans who are recruited to form a cosmic force of warriors dedicated to protecting the Earth and the Greek goddess Athena.
Diego Tinoco confesses that his character is a story of improvement like the one he himself has experienced, after overcoming the bullying he experienced at school during his childhood.
A skin problem, known as vitiligo, on his left hand made him a target for his peers. “Everyone was afraid of me. They said: do not go near him because you will get infected, ”she recalls.
That is why he did not have many friends, but he managed to find a refuge in the cinema and especially in Tim Burton’s films, with whom he hopes to work one day.
“That was the first time in my life that I felt connected, that I didn’t feel like a monster”, he confesses about his relationship with the characters of the director of “Beetlejuice”, “Edward Scissorhands” and “Charlie and the chocolate factory”.
Now, he says he has been able to show that a minority person can be a hero. “I hope this opens the door for future Latino kids who want to do what I do,” she insists.
“I want them to see this movie… to see that I, the son of immigrants, did all this and that they too can do what they dream of. They can do it too; They have to want it, it’s not going to be easy but they can do it, they have to believe it, ”he points out.
Tinoco is not the only one who is full of pride for his participation in this film, his family in Latin America is also “very excited.”
And it is that the young man born in Anaheim did not experience the era of success of the animated series, but several members of his family in Mexico and Ecuador did, and they encouraged him to accept the role.
Now he does not rule out that the film is the first of a franchise. “You always have to think big and never give up on chasing those dreams,” she points out.
Ana Milena Male
