‘Heroes’ star: I don’t know what is coming

Shalim Ortiz, who plays
Alejandro, said the actors need to be spontaneous.

By GLENN GARVIN

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

MIAMI — On the night during Hurricane Andrew when palm trees were falling all around Shalim Ortiz’s ears, he wished with all his might for superpowers.

Fifteen years later, he’s finally got them — on “Heroes,” NBC’s hit science fiction drama about genetic mutants trying to save the world from nuclear war.

“Alejandro can’t fly or time-travel, but he does his part,” says Ortiz of his secretive and stoic character, a newcomer to the show this season. “And we don’t know everything about him yet.”

Ortiz, 27, who lived in the Miami area as a teenager, means it quite literally when he says “we” don’t know. He makes it a point to not learn anything about where the show or his character is headed — in fact, he doesn’t even read scenes from new scripts unless he’s in them.

“I learn it week by week, just like the viewers do,” he explained in an interview conducted before a key plot development occurred (spoiler alert: it’s at the end of this story). “I like the story to take me by surprise. I think it’s the same case with most of the actors in the cast. You have an idea where everything might go, but you don’t get the full picture. They want to keep the show’s spontaneity. An actor knows what he’s supposed to know, nothing more.”

That means the characters of Alejandro Herrera and his twin sister Maya (played by Dominican actress Dania Ramirez) remain just as cryptic to Ortiz as they do to the rest of us. With little explanation or background, they turned up this season trying to slip across the border from Mexico into the United States looking for medical help.

What is clear is that, like everybody else in “Heroes,” they have some extraordinary abilities. The easily angered Maya literally delivers looks that can kill (in a really yucky way, too — greasy black stuff drips out of their eyes and ears). And only the gentle Alejandro can stop her.

It was Alejandro’s character, rather than “Heroes” itself — which, he admits, he had rarely seen — that made Ortiz desperate to land the job.

“I loved the character more than the show,” he says. “I loved what a tender human being he is. I was mesmerized by how he loved his sister so much that he would leave everything behind to help her through life. I loved the character before I loved the show ... though after I started working, I caught up and I became a fan.

“What’s interesting about Alejandro is the fact that he can neutralize his sister’s ability. He can take in the pain that she has inside. Twin connectivity is one of the things the producers wanted to portray. This is a show about genetics, after all. It’s not only about having cool superpowers. It portrays how genetic factors can be something bad, something uncontrollable.”

We’re glad we got our interview when we did.

Ortiz only made it through 10 episodes — in Monday night’s chapter, “Truth & Consequences,” Alejandro will indeed be killed by the most evil Hero, Sylar.

Ortiz mentioned that he wanted to get back to his Latin pop-singing roots. He should have more time for that now. But don’t count him out entirely. With the series’ staples of time travel, regeneration and superpowers, the dead rise all the time.