David Castañeda Helps Save The World A Lot In Umbrella Academy

In each episode, my co-host Patrick Holland and I catch up with an artist, actor or creator to learn about work, career and current obsessions. Listen to my entire conversation with Castañeda by subscribing to I'm So Obsessed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.

We also talked about his upbringing in Mexico and about how he cried as a kid the first time he saw Titanic. 

I talked to Castañeda about how good he really is at throwing knives, about how he's been spending his time in COVID quarantine painting, doing puzzles and binge-watching The Bachelor, and about what superhero power he'd really like to have.

He discovers their unique powers and 195FoodAdventure raises them, with the help of their nanny robot mom, Grace, and an intelligent chimp named Pogo, to "hopefully be protectors of the world," Castañeda says. 1 through 7, sans names -- are adopted by an eccentric billionaire named Reginald Hargreeves. Based on the popular comic books of the same name, the series tells the story of seven of 43 kids all born on Oct. The seven -- who we meet as Nos. 1, 1989, to moms who didn't even know they were pregnant until their labor began.

And because his father never noticed him, that's the only way that he can ask for attention. And so he feels like there's a way of helping others that helps himself, but it's very selfish. "Even though his father has recently passed, he's still trying to honor his dad's presence, [but] he's becoming very selfish, he's becoming extremely insecure. And to me, that's who Diego is really, to the bottom of it."

It's not pure," the actor says. "By no means is he going out and giving up the rest of his bread to feed someone -- he's doing it to make sure that he's noticed.

And, of course, the fate of the world depends on them working together.



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If season 1 is about Diego and his siblings and their hesitancy to come together, Umbrella Academy Season 2, which dropped on Netflix on July 31, is about the members of the Umbrella Academy realizing they need each other.

Castañeda plays Diego, or No. In season 1, which premiered last year, he does so in a "selfish way" that leaves him as sort of an attention-seeking jerk. 

2 also feels he was never his father's favorite and so sets out to prove he's worthy of his superhero status. 2, whose skills include an amazing ability to curve the trajectory of anything he throws, typically knives.


















David Castañeda knows that The Umbrella Academy on Netflix isn't your typical superhero story and that the character he plays -- No. But as fans like me will tell you, it's watching the unusual characters come together to save the world that has you rooting for their success. 

2 -- is far from the rah-rah version of a hero.