Getting to Know 13 Reasons Why's Newest Castmember JanLuis Castellanos

Hi.

Hey, hey, what's up?

Not much. How are you?

I'm doing very well. Thank you for having me. How are you?

Good. You have a really nice background.

No, I'm actually in my mom's house in New Jersey. They have like, you know, the fake ones. Like you know. No, this is real. It's pretty real. I love it.

Wait you from New Jersey?

Yeah.

You're from New Jersey, right?

Yeah, I'm from Jersey, yeah.

How's the weather? Have you been going to the beach? Are you close?

I have not gone to the beach. I'm still terrified of going outside, you know. Then again, I don't really go out too much so I try to stay in as much as possible. My dad's good enough for me, you know. The weather's good though. It's pretty nice actually. I think I I just got back from California so I think I brought the good weather with me.

Do you have siblings or are you just hanging with your mom?

No, no. I have uh uh siblings. I actually have like this ginormous family and it gets really loud in my house. So, the fact that you don't hear any background noise right now it's like winning the lottery.

Okay, so I read that you work out twice a day. Are you still working out twice a day at home?

I try to honestly implement some sort of workout routine nowadays. I've like the gyms are closed so I had to jump on Google and look up all this yoga stuff to do all of a sudden. I'm like yeah, I meditated today. I worked out, yeah, yeah. I'm like taking walks around the neighborhood, honestly just doing anything at this point to just feel healthy, you know. Not taking it too serious.

And you're joining 13 Reasons Why for their final season. Oof. You're Diego, right? The football star?

Ah, yeah, something like that.

How did you feel getting cast as the football star because you know in other shows the heartthrob is always the football star. Not necessarily. They're usually mean.

No. But, uh, you know, I was actually, uh, I was pretty, pretty excited about it because I I was able to personalize the character, you know, and, uh, I played football in high school growing up and all that stuff so I was like Back in my element. I can I can be a meathead all over again, you know. So, it was a good excuse to eat a lot. That was that that definitely happened.

Just a little bit about Diego. How did you personalize it? Like what does what's his character like?

He, uh, he's very charismatic. He's very loyal. He's, uh, you know, he's a very loyal leader and he's fierce. Though he's, uh, he's one of those that tends to think with his heart as opposed to logic. Then again, we're in high school so that happens a lot and there's just a lot of testosterone being built. So, Yeah. Diego has a a lot of emotion and his aggression, him being a meathead, tends to get in the way. So, we find him in a bit of a pickle, I guess you'd say.

In real life, would you say that you think with your heart? You think with logically?

Uh, my heart. I try to think logically but I will be truth in say I am a softy over here.

Love it. How how was the casting process? How did you hear about casting for it?

It all happened in like a a blink of an eye, honestly. I was in the middle of Wyoming when it happened. I came

What You were in where? Wyoming? What are you doing?

I was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I was doing this uh I was doing this modeling job, you know, and I was like still trying to get my next gig or whatever. I had just finished doing Don't Look Deeper. So, this is like Yeah. like nine days after I had just finished with Don't Look Deeper. I'm in Wyoming. I am submitting a self tape. All of a sudden, this job gets canceled. I'm like ready to go to bed. I get a call the next day. They're like, "Hey. You're coming to San Francisco. You got the offer for 13 Reasons Why." That's insane. Yeah. So, it all happens really fast and I'm really grateful for it. I'm just like, like, Okay. Like, what's happening, you know? So, I got to just take it and run with it. So, and and I'm I'm here.

And did you watch the season or did you watch the series on Netflix like when it was coming out and everything? Like did you know of the show?

Fun fact, I knew of the show but I didn't even know I wanted to be an actor when it had come out and I was watching it on Netflix back in like 2017, I believe. I was just like laying home one time. I was just like, "What am I going to do with my life?" Meanwhile, the show's out and it's like a full-time, yeah. Oh my God. So then this show comes on and I'm watching it until like now I think back and reflect and now I'm on the fourth and final season. It's like I don't know.

And when you watch yourself in shows and stuff, do you like cringe? Do you like it?

Yeah, just even just hearing it. It's because I'm like critiquing myself and I'm like hoping that I can go back to set and like reshoot that scene or something. So, but it's, uh, you know, it is what it is though. I I don't mind it. I like it.

Okay, we want to play a little game. Are you down?

Yeah, sure.

So, it's going to be a day with me. So, I'll read out some things and you're just basically going to describe your day, okay?

Okay.

Okay. So, the very first thing you do when you wake up.

Coffee. I wake up, I make my coffee and I make my bed and clean my room.

Do you make your bed every single morning?

Every morning I clean my room.

Two types of people in the world.

Okay. I have I have to. It's one of those things. If I need to get my day going, I have to clean my room. If I'm chilling today, it's a mess.

That's so funny. Okay. You do you wake up and work out or wake up and chill?

I used to wake up and work out. Now I'm waking up and chilling. So, yes. I gotcha.

Workout of choice. Say if life was normal.

If life was normal, I'd do some shoulders and arms.

Go to playlist to play when you wake up.

Oof. That's it's under my JLC Mood. It has a lot of Post Malone, you know, some Alec Benjamin, all that stuff. I don't know. It's uh, you know. So, it's really cool.

My feels. Your feels in the morning.

My feels where I'm just like, yeah, you know, in my mind, like let me be.

Go to breakfast.

Ooh, uh, egg whites, turkey bacon, avocado. All that healthy stuff for the healthy. Not even the healthy stuff. I like to add some waffles in there.

Midday snack.

Oof. Empanadas.

Midday mindset. What are you usually think about around like 11:00 AM?

Honestly, that's where I start focusing on like I'm usually really bombarded with emails around that time and trying to figure out like what's next. Every day, I'm always like, what's next? What's next? It could go by three hours and I'm like, still, what's next? You know, I don't know. It's the always trying to move forward.

You nap every day?

I nap. I'm a big napper. I can't I can't hide it.

You don't wake up groggy in the middle of the day?

I because I'm an early bird. I am an early bird. I wake up early in the morning and like

Like what time?

Okay. Today I woke up at 6:00.

Oh. Yeah. It is what it is though. That's why you nap. Okay, now it makes sense.

Yeah, I usually try to squeeze in Are we like around 2:00 now? 1:00? Okay. I usually like to nap around from like 2:00 to 4:00. That's my napping hour.

Okay. Most frequent thought throughout the day.

My next project.

Favorite golden hour activity.

Oof. You better say the beach. I-

You're in Jersey.

I know. I know. I I love the beach in Jersey but you know, it's uh, it's one of those things where you go so many times. It's like, do I want to go there again? You know. I love the beach. I I used to go all the time in LA. So, that was really fun. True. But yes, I guess I'll say the beach.

Favorite post-sunset activity? So, I guess when it's dark out, what do you usually do?

I like to read sometimes at night, you know. I think it's uh it helps me like escape all the work stuff that I had today, you know.

What do you usually do when you're on set?

When I'm on set, I'm probably usually reading in between scenes or just cracking some jokes and mimicking some of the crew members and making impersonations. I don't know. All that good stuff. Just being a wise guy.

What do you do right before you go to bed? The last thing.

Strip naked. I like to sleep in my birthday suit.

Well, thank you so much for talking to us today.

Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor. Thank you.