As
a desperate husband of a Desperate Housewife, Ricardo Chavira finds
himself enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous plotlines
on Sunday nights at 10/9 p.m. central. Chavira plays Carlos Solis,
the jerky husband of Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) on ABC television’s
saucy runaway hit Desperate Housewives. And he’s enjoying
the ride.
Chavira, who delivered a commencement address at Warren in June,
has had roles in over a dozen other shows, including The Grubbs,
24, NYPD Blue, Philly, Joan of Arcadia, and last summer’s The
Alamo, but this is the first time he has
had to get used to being in the public eye. Although he was slightly nervous when he first started shooting
the show, he now takes it in his stride. “Efficiency is key,” he
says. “You want someone who can do it in one to three takes,
as opposed to say, thirteen. At the beginning, it took me longer.
But it’s a learning process,
and I think I’ve improved a lot since I
was on NYPD, four and a half years ago.”
The Golden Globe award-winning dark dramedy runs
on eight-day workweeks and Chavira’s schedule is as
unpredictable as the show’s success. His shooting calls have
ranged from 6 a.m.
to 4 p.m. and his longest stint on the set was over 18 hours.
Not that Chavira is complaining. He has his own trailer at the Universal Studios set, and enjoys
working with the cast and crew. “Everyone’s really friendly and
professional,” he says. “It’s one of the most enjoyable
sets I’ve worked on.” Chavira still gets a thrill from performing live theatre. He recently
starred in the Seattle Repertory and Missouri Repertory’s co-production
of Living Out, about working women taking care of their children.
“I find theatre to be much more challenging and refreshing,” he
says. “It feeds me a lot more creatively than television
or film.” As for the future, Chavira is crystal clear in his pursuits: “More
work, more work, more work, more work,” he says, without a
hint of desperation. —
Evelyn Hsieh, ’05
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