The premiere of Moria, Netflix’s series inspired by the life of Moria Casán, once again placed Joaquín Ferreira at the center of the spotlight. The Argentine actor is the one who steps into the shoes of Luis Vadalá, the businessman who was Casán’s partner for several years and who occupies an important place in the fiction.
Although to many viewers his face may feel new, Ferreira has an extensive international career. In fact, a large part of his career unfolded in Mexico, a country he arrived in at the age of 25, where he almost by chance discovered that he wanted to devote himself to acting.
Joaquín Ferreira: From studying Graphic Design and Fine Arts to becoming an actor
Before the cameras, Ferreira explored different paths. He studied Graphic Design, Architecture, Advertising and Fine Arts and he also connected with the art world: he paints canvases, held exhibitions and sold some of his works.
But acting was not originally in his plans. At 25, he decided to settle in Mexico, at a stage in which, as he recounted, he was looking for what to do with his life.
His foray into the world of cameras happened unexpectedly. While he was in Playa del Carmen, a woman asked him if he was an actor because they were looking for someone to participate in a commercial that would be filmed in the Dominican Republic. He did the casting, was selected and that job ended up functioning as the start of a new professional stage.
Afterward he studied acting and began landing new jobs until an opportunity arrived that would definitively change his career.
Joaquín Ferreira’s big leap with Netflix
International recognition arrived with Club de Cuervos, the successful Mexican Netflix series. Ferreira portrayed Potro Romani, a character who gained popularity over the four seasons.
The success was such that his character later received a spin-off, El Potro, which expanded the story of the footballer played by Ferreira. Since then, the actor has taken on roles in various productions and began to consolidate a career that transcended Mexican borders.
His journey also included productions such as La suerte de Loli, Paquita la del Barrio and Hija del fuego, where he shared scenes with . He also played Poli Armentano in Coppola, el representante and will soon be part of new international projects.
Joaquín Ferreira as Luis Vadalá in the Moria series
The most recent challenge arrived with Moria, the biopic that revisits different moments in Moria Casán’s life.
Ferreira portrays Luis Vadalá, one of the diva’s most significant partners during the 1990s. To build the character, the actor conducted research that included watching videos of Vadalá and speaking with people who had known him.
“When the script arrived, I felt he was very villainous. I had to justify him, give him a bit of sensitivity,” Ferreira explained about the challenge of interpreting a character whose portrayal could generate different readings.
To find that dimension, he worked with director Javier Van de Couter on certain aspects of Vadalá’s story that were eventually incorporated into the fiction. Among them, his desire to develop his own businesses and the frustration, according to the testimonies the actor received, of being relegated to a secondary role in front of Moria’s enormous public personality.
Moria Casán herself met Ferreira at the series premiere and congratulated him on his work. According to the actor, when the diva learned that he would portray Vadalá she told the director that he was “a very good actor.”
His present between Argentina, Mexico and Spain
After years of building a career mostly abroad, Ferreira began taking on more projects in Argentina. One of them was his involvement in Coppola, el representante, while now the role of Vadalá put him in front of a much wider audience in his country.
Currently, the actor splits his time between Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Madrid due to his commitments. In a recent interview he said he had spent three months in Spain starring in Un macho para papá, a Prime Video title, and that he would soon return to Madrid for the premieres of Marfil and to film Apego, a series for HBO. He also awaits the release of the second season of Coppola, el representante.
Despite this nomadic life, Ferreira acknowledges that one of his greatest professional desires is to work more and more in Argentina. “I always have a strong desire to stay in Buenos Aires,” he recently said.
This Sunday, moreover, the actor faced the Argentine public again by taking a seat at Juana Viale’s table, where he spoke about his beginnings, his international career and the challenge of portraying Luis Vadalá in Moria.
Thus, that young man who left for Mexico at 25 without knowing exactly what he wanted to do ended up finding in acting a profession that took him to Netflix, Mexico, Spain and various international productions. Today, his portrayal of Luis Vadalá marks a new chapter: that of an Argentine actor who, after conquering other markets, is finally seeking to establish himself also in his homeland.
