“The Bridge” star Demian Bichir hails from an acting family. His father is a theater director and his mother and two brothers are all actors. Obviously talent runs in the family. Now fans of the FX series get to see some of the familial dynamics played out on the small screen.
That’s because Demian’s younger brother Bruno Bichir has a recurring role on the “The Bridge” this season. He plays Sebastian Cerisola, the CEO of wealthy Mexican business corporation Clio Grupo Internacional. In this week’s episode, titled “The Acorn,” detectives Marco Ruiz (Demian Bichir) and Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) pay a visit to the business to find out why a U.S. banker who turned up dead had been calling the corporation. And that’s when Marco recognizes the man as someone he has dealt with before – the business leader is also an advisor to Mexican cartel leader Fausto Galvan.
During a recent visit to the set of “The Bridge,” SpoilerTV talked to Damian Bichir about what it was like to work with his brother. “That was incredible,” he tells us. “Two of the finest actors I know are my brothers. Bruno is one of them. We have done many things together ever since we began acting.”
Bichir says the two have performed in theater and many films together, but this is the first time they have acted side by side in a television series. The star relished the opportunity. He told us, “It’s a privilege to have my brother so close in the same show and be able to play together. It was great because Bruno is always so busy in Mexico that he was able to come over here. All I can say is that it must be an amazing trip for my parents that this thing they love called theater, acting - their three kids do it, too.”
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| Demian and Bruno Bichir celebrating "The Bridge" season 2 premiere party with their mother. |
The star of “The Bridge” revealed to us that his brother’s TV role was written specifically for him after the show’s writer and executive producer, Elwood Reid, met Bruno. “He came last year to the premiere of the Bridge,” Bichir says about Bruno, “and that’s when Elwood saw him. I remember [Elwood] saying, ‘I love your brother’s face, let’s write something for him.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s do that.’ You hear so [much] BS all the time. But this guy’s the real deal for many reasons. And a year later, wah-lah, he actually wrote something for him.”
Bruno’s character is currently putting Marco in a tough spot, forcing him to lie to his partner Sonya about why the businessman pulled him aside. He also ordered Marco to convince Sonya the company is not involved with the scandal. It looks like even though the cartel no longer needs Marco to find their asset Eleanor, they have no intention of leaving him alone. After all, he still owes Galvan a favor and we’re betting Galvan will not forget that. The good news for us is the entanglement allows the Bichir brothers the chance to share more scenes together. For that reason alone, we’re looking forward to whatever happens next.
You can catch the Bichir brothers on "The Bridge" Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.
Related: See SpoilerTV’s exclusive video story from the set of “The Bridge.”
Also soon, look for Tonya Papanikolas’ interview with Franka Potente, who plays Eleanor Nacht, and Brandon Rowe’s post with more show details and pictures from “The Bridge” set.
