Pedro Cernadas (born March
20, 1972 in Viedma
, Río
Negro
), better known as Segundo
Cernadas, is a telenovela
actor who has gained international
fame, both in South America and other
parts of the world. Cernadas is considered a teen idol in
Argentina
; many teenaged girls there
follow his career.
Cernadas began to show interest in becoming an actor when he was a
teenager himself.
Cernadas was convinced by a show business insider that he should
change his name, so he chose Segundo to be his artistic first name.
He chose the name to honor his favorite fictitious person, the main
character in a
book "
Don Segundo Sombra".
Pablo Ponce, a well known Argentine
acting instructor, was Cernadas' first professional acting teacher.
Soon after, Cernadas was accepted by one of Argentina's top show
business academies.
Although Cernadas' main acting interests were in the
theatrical area, soon after being accepted by the
academy, he made his
television debut,
acting in "
Montana Rusa, Otra
Vuelta" ("Rollercoaster, (let's go) One More Time"). He
followed that by participating, as a
married medical doctor in
"
90-60-90 modelos".
In 1997, Cernadas made his third appearance at a telenovela, in
"
Ricos y Famosos" ("Rich and
Famous"), which became a major international hit.
1998 was
an important year in Cernadas' life: after participating in
"Milady: La Historia
Continua" ("Milady: The Story Continues)", which was the sequel
to Argentine soap opera classic "Milady", he was seriously considering moving to
Mexico
to work there, but he was convinced to stay in his
home country by producer Raúl
Lecouna, who offered Cernadas his first starring role as a
telenovela actor, in another soap that would become a major hit:
"Muñeca brava" ("Wild
angel"). This soap opera had such a wild success, that
Cernadas travelled across Argentina, and to many other countries,
to relive his character at various acting venues, for the next two
years.
In 2000, he played the role of "Bebo" in "
Los Buscas de Siempre" ("The (same)
Bullies of Always)". Later on that year, he would once again play a
doctor, in "
Los Medicos de Hoy"
("Today's Doctors").
Cernadas was severely affected by that year's
Argentine economic
crisis. Because of the general chaos around the country,
Cernadas saw himself forced to accept overseas offers for the first
time. Argentine producers were economically impacted by the
monetary problems, and they started to produce
reality shows instead of soap operas; reality
show stars did not ask the producers the amounts of money that some
celebrities ask for, and thus, the careers of Cernadas and many
other famous Argentines were affected by the general
situation.
Cernadas
visited Mexico once again, Miami
and Caracas
, in an effort to find a job. He was hired by
Venezuela
-based Iguana
Productions to star in "Todo Sobre
Camila" ("All About Camila"). He travelled to
Ecuador
during the filming of this telenovela, as the show
was co-produced by Iguana Productions, and an Ecuatorian
company.
But,
despite all the work that he had done, Cernadas would not become a
major international super-star until 2002, when he flew to Peru
to act in
"Bésame Tonto" ("Kiss me, Fool"),
alongside Gianella Neyra.
The soap
opera, which featured romantic, family and even mafia twists, became the number one show in many
countries, such as the Dominican Republic
, Chile
, Panama
and many
other countries. This soap opera marked the beginning of a
period in which Cernadas began to be recognized as a teen idol by
girls and young women outside Argentina as well.
In 2003, he participated in "
Dr. Amor"
("Dr.
Love") .
By 2004, Cernadas' fame had transcended into non-
Spanish speaking countries.
Univision began to show "Bésame Tonto" in the
United
States
; and Cernadas became the first Argentine actor to
star in a Philippine
soap opera, when he went to Manila
to
participate and team-up with Iza Calzado
in "Te Amo, Maging Sino Ka
Man" ("I Love You, Whoever You Are").
In 2005
he returned to Argentina
and worked at Amor en custodia (2005) and
Se dice amor (2006).
External links