Actor drawn to South America
When Richard Short was cast in the Lifetime series “Mary Kills People,” he had already booked a trip to France to watch the European Football Championships. Though he knew there was a chance that going away could result in his missing the start of filming, he took the risk. “I chose to fly there for a jam-packed, three-day feast of football, friends and fromageries,” says Short, 41. “I also encountered an inevitable French airport strike and almost missed the start of filming, (but) I didn’t want to cancel the trip.” The British actor currently splits his time between homes in Los Angeles and Lizy-surOurcq (outside of Paris).
An edited version of our conversation follows.
Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?
A: Let’s just say South America. A country such as Brazil left me feeling I’d left a piece of myself behind — as if I’d lived there before, particularly in Salvador, Bahia. The people were welcoming and generous. Like family. As always, I find those that have the least give the most; likewise in Chile. South America knows the importance of those that make the engine of a city work and respects them so. Uruguay is such a beautiful country too. Ultimately, the people are the greatest asset of that fabulous continent.
Q: What was the first trip you took as a child?
A: The very first trip abroad was with school, at about 12 years old, to Boulogne, France. This was before the days of tunnels under the English Channel and low-cost European flights, so we boarded a ferry that took several hours. I adored what felt so exotic at the time. Pungent cheeses and horse-meat butchers, people looking impossibly stylish and cultured. I guess you could say it captured me, as I now speak some French and own property there. My first trip alone was to visit a friend in Munich, Germany. I’d never flown before and it was a turbulent journey on a now extinct airline. With a sick bag between my thighs, I saw this country appear below me, a country I’d been taught to distrust as an Englishman. By the time I left, I wanted desperately to live there. I’ve since visited almost every German city and speak the language. It’s a phenomenal country.
Q: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from traveling?
A: Travel should be the primary form of education for every passing generation. I’ve learned one simple yet powerful thing during my travels, which is only ever confirmed even
Qmore each time I cross another border — that we are all, every single race, the same. Truly. Discover the common language we all share to eat, drink, enjoy life, love (and) live. Some enjoy couscous, some enjoy pork. Some drink alcohol, others can’t bear it. We all love beautiful language, no matter which tongue it’s spoken in, and we all love a beautiful melody, regardless of the instrument. All of us are here for a finite amount of time and want to spend it by loving and being loved.
Q: Have you traveled to a place that stood out so much that you felt compelled to incorporate it into your work?
A: As an actor, I incorporate everything I ever experience into my work in some form, usually by allowing shards of memories of people and places encountered to flavor a moment onstage or on camera. As a writer, I felt so embraced by Brazil and Chile. I shaped my time spent there into two books, “Upon the Fields of Green (And Gold)” and “Pino, Che & Pinochet (My Copa Runneth Over).” For more from the reporter, visit www.jaehakim.com.