It took a decade to become an overnight success, says 13 Reasons Why star Christian Lee Navarro

It took a decade to become an overnight success, says 13 Reasons Why star Christian Lee NavarroIt took a decade to become an overnight success, says 13 Reasons Why star Christian Lee NavarroActor Christian Lee Navarro, who plays the role of Tony Padilla on Netflixs popularseries 13 Reasons Why, has become the kind of overnight success that Hollywood actors dream about - except, of course, took a full decade for the 25-year-old to really make it. The show focuses on the character of Hannah Baker aftershe has committed suicide. In the show, herbei friend Clay Jensen is trying to understand Bakers decision after he receives 13 tapes that she recorded prior to killing herself. Navarro plays Jensens friend Tony, the kind of strong supporter we all want to be able to lean on during times of crisis.Navarro was strategic about his career he chose the role to move out of the typecast Latino roles that had limited scope. He wanted to stretch, and 13 Reasons Why was his chance to break free of labels. Navarro shares success tips andtells Ladders abouthis unorthodox path to acting andwhy simply being nice can be a huge career boost.Ladders Whats the one word you would use to describe your reaction to the success of this show?Navarro Humbling. I was part of aelendher project called Vinyl, which I was incredibly proud of, but it doesnt have the weight or the relevance that something like this has. I think when you get a letter from a fan who says, A week ago, I was being bullied and the students in my class saw the show and decided not to bully me anymore,thats so gratifying. When you are working on it, you arent too sure of the outcome, you just hope its good. Receiving letters and emails similar to that is for sure a humbling experience.What inspired you to get into acting?Both my parents are cops my dad has been retired for 20 years and my mother still has six more years on the job. They would tell me not to do something, and the quickest way for a kid to do something is to tell them not to do something. I was always pushing the envelope, and spent a lot of time punished, so I was in my room only with books. I only had those to read incessantly, and then act them out, so I started entertaining myself and found that it was easier to be these other people and tell their stories, and I wanted to explore that. I wanted to see if I could figure out who I was by taking a little bit of a character that I played or read or came across from a movie.Then, I spent my later years in Catholic High Schools and dealt with the restriction of that, and when I was a sophomore I did a play and made the decision to pull myself out of the one that I was going to in the Bronx. I didnt tell my dad, and when September came around he was like You have to go buy some new shirts and ties,and I was like I dont think so. I then auditioned for a big-time show, got into it, and it was the best decision I ever had. For the first time, I was around people who were like-minded in t heir creativeness and just as rambunctious and rebellious as I was, and we felt each others souls and I knew that I wanted to be part of that family. There is always a part of us that feels like we arent enough and trying to seek that out, thats where it started. I fell in love with the art of it, and the realization that I could help a wide range of people just for doing what I love is such a gift. I believe it was Confucius who said, If you do something you love, youll never have to work another day in your life. would cut, not sure Confuciussaid this??-MTell me about the biggest hurdle in your career and how did you overcome that?I think the hurdle for me was having the industry start to realize that with this role, that I am not the Latino Gangster/Drug Dealer that they want me to be. There is only so many roles for an eloquent, intelligent Latino. You really have to grab that. At first, I thought I wasnt right for this role because Im a little bit older, but it was an opportuni ty to put a Latino character who wasnt defined by his sexuality, his race, his classthis guy is multifaceted. And there arenot a lot of roles written like that, so I feel like having played this role and doing my best at ithas given me the chance to break that stereotype. I started my career at 15 and Im 25 now, so it has taken over tenyears in order to get over this hurdle, and Im happy to have gotten to this point.What would you say is the biggest piece of advice who are trying to become successful in their own career?There are a million people who are going to tell you,You cant do it.I love my family, and it comes from a distribution policy of love, but they would always say,You should get a job, this is a pipe dream.And then, of course, when you do something miraculous like thisthe doubt turns into congratulationsSo keep your head down, believe in yourself to a point where it seems like yourecrazy - you know, that blind determination. And work harder than everybody else, and if you do those two things, good things happen. Above all be kind, because there are no successful a- holes. There are people that might not be nice, but you have to be a good person and look out for other people.