“When I was 11, I was in a comic book store that was held up by a gang member,” revealed This Fool co-creator, star, and executive producer Chris Estrada during a TCA press conference. In the comedy series, Chris plays Julio, a man who works at a gang rehabilitation center whose life is upended when he becomes responsible for his cousin Luis, who just got out of jail. “Luis and Julio represent two different types of male representation in this world. Luis comes from this past that he was a gang member and he was in prison, so there’s that aspect to it. And then Julio is just a guy who has been through some existential dread, and seeing a guy like Luis who maybe lives in the moment a little bit more, and seeing Julio who just has existential dread and is kind of stuck in life and thinking about where he’s at constantly.”
(Tyler Golden/Hulu)
While Chris Estrada drew from his personal life to create This Fool, there are quite a few differences between the two. For starters, Chris was actually working as a stand-up comedian and paying the bills with a warehouse job when he got a call from executive producer Fred Armisen and development on the series kicked into gear. He wasn’t living with his mom the way Julio does, although he did have to move back home a few times in his adult life. And he was having an on-and-off relationship with his high school sweetheart, represented in the series by the character Maggie.
“Maggie’s character is unique to L.A.,” actress Michelle Ortiz shared. “I don’t think you see that kind of Latina rocker-punk vibes on the East Coast. It’s a very different type. But if you are a West Coast Latina, you might have gone through this phase in middle school or high school. For me, it is an homage to my 12-year-old self, middle-schooler, who definitely rocked the Emo Karen haircut. And now any time I see just a Latina out in the wild who has some kind of different colored hair I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a Maggie in the wild.’”
(Gilles Mingasson/Hulu)
Playing ex-convict Luis is Frankie Quinones, who was groomed for the role. “Chris and other people saw it in me and took the time to spend with me to really get the character dialed in and find what it became,” Frankie explained. Luis is based on Chris’ real cousin, and Frankie revealed that he drew some inspiration for his portrayal from his own father. “I wanted to respect Chris’ vision of what he saw Luis, but in that process, we read so many times, he worked with me so good, and then Fred and Jonathan and everybody helped out with that. And then once I got the part and was on the set, and then I had experienced actors like Michael Imperioli giving me notes on it, it just really helped me just dial it in.”
The name of the non-profit rehabilitation center Julio works at is called Hugs Not Thugs, founded and run by Minister Payne, played by Michael Imperioli. “He’s really angry at the world,” the actor explained, revealing that his character is somewhat trying to atone for some past misdeeds. “The back story of all his failed careers in the past really brought a whole other point of view to that character. Manager of a strip club, he was involved in banking and mortgages and things like that and building houses, which he didn't know how to do. The back story was really fun.”
(Gilles Mingasson/Hulu)
This Fool launched today on Hulu, but Chris Estrada got a sneak preview of audience response from his family and friends. “It’s been really positive,” he revealed. “I’ve shared the show with a lot of my friends, or a lot of friends early on read the scripts. A lot of my sisters, my friends and they felt it was an honest representation of our collective upbringing, and class, and neighborhood.”
Enter Chris Estrada’s version of L.A. with This Fool on Hulu.