“I am an artist, I live and look at life that way and I am crossed by my vocation. I listen to my desire and I am in a constant process of reflections and questions, more than certainties”, he says. Fernando Dent by way of presentation.
Actor and singer, Fer —as everyone knows him— did theater, television and cinema, recorded albums and is an unavoidable reference in musical theater —Hairspray, The Sound of Music, Almost Normal, Aladdin, Peter Pan, among others-. Since he was a child he had a passion for theater and when he started on the artistic path he had no doubts that there he would find his reason for being. He was also and is passionate about horse riding.
Last week he returned to the stage with the second season of Kinky Bootsthe successful musical premiered in 2019, in which he stars alongside Martin Bossi and Laura Esquivelwith address of Ricky Pashkus at the Astral Theater.
On Mondays and Tuesdays he films a series for Disney in São Paulo and, in addition, runs his own musical theater school together with his partner Ricky Pashkus. The Argentine Institute of Musicals It has three locations in CABA and more than 500 students enrolled.
She is dating actor Nicolás di Pace and wants to be a father at some point. And, after going through turbulent times in his life, he claims to be very happy with the person he is.
News: What does it mean to be an artist?
Fernando Dent: It has to do with the search for honesty, with being personal, with being more and more like who I am. Discover what is in essence and see if that essence needs to be worked on, modified or given free rein. Not everything genuine is positive.
News: What are its luminous aspects and which are the most complicated?
Dente: My enthusiasm, my passion, my determination, my discipline. My anxiety is something that I still have a hard time taming or directing better.
News: Do you act impulsively?
Tooth: Sometimes, yes, but I also make decisions that I think about more. I am a prisoner of my desire. If there is something I want and there is the possibility of doing it, it is very rare that I end up giving up. If it makes noise in my belly, it is more likely that I will do it and not have a good time than not doing it and wondering what would have happened.
News: How do you choose your jobs? What do you prioritize?
Tooth: At first, it was what I wanted to do. In musical theater work is earned. You have to choose your battles, which show you’re going to audition for. There, desire prevailed, which excited me the most, because I knew that I would be brighter to compete and have more chances of being chosen. Today, I think a lot about who I want to be and if the work I’m going to do is going to add up, it’s going to be fertile ground to continue growing.
News: Why did you choose Kinky Boots?
Tooth: I first turned it down because I wasn’t convinced. Later, they proposed it to me again and I said yes, but I did not move forward with absolute conviction. But the first day we took the photos with Martín Bossi I said: “It’s here”. There was a very magical connection, the same thing happened to both of us, there is something similar that we have in our blood. There we began to build something very magical. We have a wonderful bond, we love each other very much and we are crossed by passion and desire. Martin generates a lot of admiration and empathy for me. It is a very nice communion.
News: Is the musical genre particularly difficult?
Tooth: Yes, it is more difficult because it demands that your instrument is always in a certain degree of training and demand. You have to know how to sing, dance, act. The more tools you have, the richer the work and the more resources the director has to tell stories.
News: How much talent, work and luck do you have to become a good artist?
Dente: It’s all work. To be good at anything what sustains is work. Afterwards, talent has to do with how one works, knowing where to study, how one conducts oneself. Of course, it is also being in tune and having conditions, but that is a very small percentage. I don’t really know what luck is, but it will always come to anyone who is working.
News: Do you think there is a marked destiny?
Tooth: No, I think one can maneuver. The facts may be marked, but what makes the difference is what one does with what happens to him.
News: How was your artistic path until here?
Tooth: Very easy because I really enjoyed it. The most important thing is to be able to enjoy the path towards what one wants, that the path be pleasant. At the age of ten I began to study in a very amateur way. At fourteen more professionally at Hugo Midón’s school. At fifteen I started working with him in theater, I did it for two years and, in parallel, I continued training in theater, singing and dance. At 17 I entered High School Musicalpray, then I did musicals and more musicals and here I am.
News: Where do you want to go?
Dente: I want to be an expansive and powerful person and to be able to nurture everything that summons my view of the world. My perspective as a teacher in my school, as an artist, as a person, my creative perspective as well. I have so many things to explore that I am no longer afraid to dive into these new waters, because I have developed a confidence and I know how to do it. I know how to walk places and that leaves me calm.
News: When he was a boy he was passionate about horse riding. What happened to that?
Tooth: It was my vocation, I was going to be a rider. I had no idea I was going to be an actor. My family had a house in a country, where there was an equestrian center, and I rode and jumped. When I was 14 years old we sold the house and then I did a year of riding in Capital. The following year I found Hugo Midón’s school that had the same price and I had to choose. I chose to study theater. Later, in my twenties I went back to riding, I quit and two years ago, before the pandemic, I spent a whole year riding, I returned to the federation and skipped the nationals. It fascinates me, I love it, it produces a wonderful level of disconnection and at some point I will return to it.
News: How is your affective world? Who does he lean on?
Dente: My boyfriend, Nico, is my great partner, with whom I think and review everything. We have been together for a little over two years and we really enjoy accompanying each other on this path. Then my best friend, Agustina Vera, who is like my sister, my friends, my family.
News: A few years ago you said that your biological father had been a priest and that your mother had revealed it to you before she died. How did such news impact you?
Tooth: I found out two years before my mom died and it was very surprising to me. It was eye-opening and I think it was positive. It made me feel an even greater admiration for my mother for having dared to live a love, for having chosen to have me and for having raised me as she raised me. On the other hand, my relationship with my father Pepe, who raised me and gave me all his love unconditionally, gave me a much more significant meaning.
News: Did you get to meet your biological father?
Tooth: Yes, I met him. He is a divine person, he is no longer a priest and he has his family.
News: You don’t have a link with him?
Dente: No, I have no bond.
News: And you want to be a father? Can you imagine yourself in that role?
Dente: Yes, I’m very excited about the idea. We always talk about it with Nico, it’s quite an issue, you have to think about it a lot, but it’s not a short-term plan. It is a wish that I have.
News: Are you satisfied with the person you are being?
Dente: Yes. Up to 15, 16 were very difficult years for me.. My parents got along badly and I had a really bad time. It was very tedious, distressing and painful. And I always had my vocation like a hot air balloon that took me out of that place. But it was almost impossible to become an actor because there were no artists in my family. At 18 I went to live alone and at 23 my parents had already passed away. I got things from a very young age, I managed to put together a life like the one I dreamed of, I assumed who I am and I live freely with that. I look at what I went through and I am very grateful for what I had to live through because it built something that now supports me a lot. I was armed, I was supported and that also made me attract beautiful people into my life. I am very happy with the person I am and with this new stage. The other is part of the memories and I don’t have to take revenge for that anymore. I turned the page.
