Adrian Bellani talks RPM Miami, racing, and revolutionizing television

Growing up my mother would treat herself to a variety of novelas (soap operas) after a hard day of work and taking care of two kids. Not to mention English language soaps like All My Children and Days of Our Lives helped mami learn the language when she first came to America.

Being so young, I wasn’t even allowed in the room when she would watch them! As a result, I would end up bewildered about what goes on during that hour! It wasn’t until I was an adult that I was able to fully grasp why it was so prohibited.

I’ll never forget the day I tuned into Passions on NBC and discovered one of the hottest men on daytime television, Adrian Bellani who played the role of Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald. Casting agents must have only met with guys who looked hot topless. In most scenes, Adrian was shot sans shirt and I for one was converted into a soap opera junkie!

Even though the show ended in 2007, I can now return to admiring the Salvadorian hunk on the hit bilingual show RPM Miami on Mun2. (Make sure you also follow him via Twitter here.)

I had the pleasure to chat with Adrian last week before he took off to his native El Salvador for some much deserved time off.

Bellani plays the role of Alejandro, a military man who has just returned from Iraq after losing his best friend Mike during the war. He vowed to look after his wife Louisa (Fernanda Romero) and their young daughter if something were to happen to him.

Little did he know that upon his return he would find his father missing and a sketchy dude named El Guajo with crazy sideburns holds the key to the mystery. Alejandro teams up with his fathers business partner Ramón (Frankie J) as they enter the dangerous world of Miami street racing to look for clues.

RPM Miami broke records as they became the network’s highest rated launch during prime time in more than three years, beating all Hispanic cable networks, and music-lifestyle cable networks MTV, MTV2, BET, and FUSE!
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Rosy: RPM Miami is a fantastic step forward for Hispanic Americans. Not since “Que Pasa USA” in the 70′s have we seen a show integrate Spanish and English into one program.

A. Bellani: I think RPM Miami is a show that caters to bilingual Americans. If your a gringo who doesn’t speak Spanish you won’t sit at home and watch it by yourself. But for example, I sit and watch it with my girlfriend and she didn’t even know Mun2 existed!

She was thrilled to be able to watch it, to listen to the Spanish while reading the subtitles. Hopefully people could even learn something.

We are doing something that really has never been done and the timing is perfect for it.

Rosy: So far the first two episodes have been awesome! What can fans look forward to this season?

A. Bellani: “During the first episode we pretty much established what the problem is and what the relationships of the main characters are. In the 2nd episode you get to meet the younger memebers of the cast. You start to hear more English on the show and it’s really cool!

I was thrilled to hear the news about the ratings and the fact that we broke records beating out networks like MTV,BET, and MTV2, it was really great news!

Rosy: I had the chance to meet your beautiful co-star Fernanda Romero during the RPM Miami Launch party. I am absolutely loving the chemistry that is going on between both your characters Alejandro and Luisa. Could you please tease us with juicy details we can look forward to?

A. Bellani: I can’t really give too much away! I can tell you this, I am definitely not shirtless in every episode like I have been in the past! It’s really hard to explain it to you with a simple answer when you have seen so few episodes.

At the end of the premiere you realize that there is something, at spark, la chispa! Alejandro clearly knew who she was but I don’t think he wasn’t expecting to see her there. You see him call her in the first episode because he promised to call her as soon as he arrived, but he didn’t have the balls to talk to her.

He is a guy who feels awful and is tormented. He can’t sleep at night because he couldn’t save his best friend during the war. For him to come back to Sunny Harbor, his main concern is to take care of Luisa and their daughter and give them a better life. This is the promise that both he and Mike made to each other; if something happened they would look after each others family.

There is always that chemistry that leaves you thinking, Whats going to happen? Are they gonna do it? Are they going to take it to the next level? You are going to have to watch and see what happens! Alejandro is not too ok with it, its that struggle and that fine line he doesn’t want to cross.

But its tough when a very beautiful woman is involved.

Rosy: The next big aspect of the show is all the car racing! Did you get any special training for the role? How much of it are you actually even doing?!

A. Bellani: Every scene that you see where the cars are moving really fast, tires skidding, and tires are screeching….we all had a stunt driver for that. I was really dissapointed.

There are certain scenes where they weren’t able to remove my face from a scene or put a stunt driver in, like when I was driving slow. I could do stuff like that. But as far as the actual racing and the more intricate and more delicate, risky situations, we always had a stunt driver on set.

Rosy: Growing up you spent time in Miami before moving to your native El Salvador. Were you excited to shoot this series here as it must have been a sort of homecoming for you.

A. Bellani: “I spend a lot of time in Miami because I have family that lives there. So when I lived in El Salvador it was an easy, two hour flight there. I lived a few years in Miami during the Civil War years in El Salvador but I always returned to see my grandparents.

Shooting in Miami was great, it’s beautiful there. And because of what we were trying to accomplish with the series there was no better place to do it than Miami. The city has a mixture of cultures and that is what we are trying to convey on the show.

For example, my character was originally supposed to be Mexican but I fought for him to be Salvadorian. I think the most amazing thing was to be able to a show where I spoke in my authentic accent and be able to speak in Spanish because I never had that opportunity before.

I’ve played Latino roles in the past but with RPM Miami I have the opportunity to play a Salvadorian who is an American Citizen and that is fighting for his country.

Rosy: For anyone who has missed out on the first two episodes, tell them why they should tune into the show.

A. Bellani: They really have to tune in so they can appreciate something new and different and that has never been done before. People should really take notice in the work we are doing to portray Latinos in a positive light.

You won’t see a stereotypical Latino gardner on the show, or a Latina who is a maid or the typical Latino who is tatted up and in handcuffs. You’re going see the typical Latinos that we are that have dreams, aspirations and are doing something to succeed at life.

Take Ramon for example who is played by Frankie J. He owns his own shop and is not just an employee. Then you have Alex who fought for his country. Then you have notice the typical problems that we face and that is love, you’re gonna see problems that my character has with his sister. It’s very authentic to the Hispanic way of life and its a show they have to watch.

To catch Adrian Bellani, Fernanda Romero, and Frankie J in an all new episode of RPM Miami, tune in to Mun2 Sunday nights at 9pm.

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