Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Ghosts’ Román Zaragoza

Triple threat Román Zaragoza has quickly emerged as one to watch with the diverse stories he’s brought to life on the stage and screen.

This fall, he can be seen in the critically-acclaimed new series Ghosts.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Román about his multifaceted career, Ghosts, and his work as an advocate.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling?
Román: That’s a great question. My passion for storytelling definitely goes back to both my parents and my grandparents on both sides. My father is of Akimel O’odham and Mexican descent, so we had a lot of people in our family that loved telling stories. I spent most of my summers at my grandma’s house in Gilroy, California surrounded by our big Latino and Native family, and a lot of that came from them.

On my mom’s side, I would hear her tell stories about how her family immigrated from Japan when she was three and how she grew up in New York City. Her family’s from Taiwan and Japan.

Having that background and having my family come from all walks of life was a huge influence. Every time someone asked me the question “What am I?” it was always so complex. My family and folks were passionate about making sure that I knew who I was and loved who I was and that I knew the story behind that.

PC: That might be the answer to the next question. Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Román: Definitely my father. My father is an actor. He’s been acting for almost forty years. When I was three years old, he was on Broadway doing Annie Get Your Gun. He played Chief Sitting Bull. Being involved in that world at such a young age was really inspiring.

I’ve had so many mentors throughout the years, like Randy Reinholz of Native Voices at the Autry. I’ve worked with the Native American Theater Company in LA for the last ten years. I’ve had a lot of amazing mentors in my life that I’m so grateful for because they’ve been huge influences in my career.

And then of course there are people that I’m not personally connected to that have influenced me. Bruce Lee was a huge person that I looked up to as a kid because he showed me that smaller Asian guys can be leading men and can be cool too. That was really exciting.

PC: In addition to acting, you’re also a director and producer. How has your work behind the scenes made you a stronger actor and vice versa?
Román: I love working behind the scenes. I feel like it really gives you more of an appreciation for everything that’s going on. I feel like a lot of your job as an actor involves navigating: navigating the scene, your scene partners, the set, everything. Sometimes it’s really nice to be able to be like, “Okay. I know what the director is doing right now, so don’t disturb them. We can figure this out on our own. They have twenty thousand things that they have to think about. Let’s just try this on our own.” We’ll be like, “Let’s fix this for them because they’ve got so many things going on.” I feel like it really helps. I just love our crew. It’s been fun to communicate with our crew, and I love being able to communicate with people behind the scenes because actors are great. I love actors too, but sometimes it’s nice to mix it up because it’s such a team effort. Films are such a team effort. I like to make sure I’m engaging with everybody.

PC: You’ve used your platforms to support causes and issues that you’re passionate about. How did you discover your voice as an advocate?
Román: Discovering my voice goes back to my family and hearing stories about everything that my family has gone through. It’s been such a complicated and difficult journey for both sides of my family. Through those challenges comes perseverance. Through that perseverance comes wanting to help and to change things for the better.

A lot of my activism has stemmed from the indigenous rights movement when Standing Rock was happening. I was freshly in college. Watching that happen really showed me that we can do something. We have the power. We can stand up to the big guy. We can come together. We can do something.

I feel like that’s a big reason why I like to speak out because I love being an actor. You actually get a platform to talk about issues that you’re passionate about. I’ve been really, really grateful for my career and how it has enabled me to talk about these issues and also all the things happening to Asian people right now with Asian hate.

It’s a crazy world that we’re in right now. But through that we can come together and talk about issues that really affect each one of us personally. We can educate others to see how we can all help each other.

Ghosts

PC: You’ve got a new series out now. Tell us about Ghosts and your character.
Román: Ghosts is an amazing show. Firstly, it’s so much fun to work on. It’s a half-hour comedy on CBS about these nine ghosts who haunt this house in Hudson Valley in upstate New York. A couple inherits it, and unbeknownst to them there are ghosts there.

Then one of our protagonists has a nasty fall and can actually see and communicate with ghosts afterwards. Then all the mayhem ensues. It’s been such a blast.

I play Sasappis who we can describe as both a young spirit and old soul. Because he’s the youngest ghost in the house, but he’s been dead for five hundred years. He’s this wise old elder that definitely loves drama and lashes out when things go wrong, either in his favor or not in his favor. It’s been an amazing character to play. He just loves drama but also tries to be the voice of reason sometimes. It’s been an amazing journey. This team, this cast, there’s so much talent in one room. I’ve been trying to soak it all up and learn from everyone and have fun at the same time.

PC: Speaking of that, there’s great chemistry that comes off the screen between you and the rest of the cast. How are you all able to build that so quickly and then during a pandemic?
Román: That’s an amazing question. I don’t even know. Everything just clicked. Everything clicked on the pilot. The pilot was incredible. I came in very last minute. They were supposed to shoot in March of 2020, and then the pandemic hit. A lot of the cast had been with the project for nine months. Then I came in a week before shooting the pilot in December. So there was already a family there. We have a group chat that’s been going on since March of 2020. That’s one of the ways for sure. We’ve always stayed connected. Everything was really natural. We clicked automatically. We’ve had weird connections. Like Rebecca Wisocky, who plays Hetty, worked with my dad doing underground theater. There’s this amazing connection to this cast, and then on top of that, everyone’s a really nice person. There hasn’t been any drama. We’re all hanging out.

PC: You were talking about soaking up the experience. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned being a part of this project that you’ll apply to future projects?
Román: I would say one of the biggest lessons has to do with energy conservation. Your energy is so valuable. As an actor, you have to know how to navigate that because you can’t be 100% all the time. On your off days, what are you doing? Are you exploring Montreal or are you sleeping? I feel like I have really focused in on my energy and have realized how important that is to the show and to my art.

Sometimes, we have fourteen-hour days. You come home and have to do your own life. You also have to balance out and make sure that you pay bills on time and things like that. How do you navigate all of that? It’s an amazing job, but you have to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Román: My go-to is How I Met Your Mother. That’s been my go-to most of my life. It’s not even a guilty pleasure.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Román: I love any Adam Sandler film.

PC: Favorite book?
Román: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Román: Rent for musical. As You Like It for play.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Román: I’m a big Ben Platt fan.

PC: Dream role?
Román: My dream show is Warrior. I want to be on that so badly.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Román: Oh, man. I don’t know. You’ve got to find an Asian/Native American person. When you find them, let me know. It would be funny if Simu Liu played me. That’d be great. That’s a good question.

To keep up with Román, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Ghosts every Thursday at 9/8c on CBS.

Photo Credit: Kim Newmoney