Kuno Becker is a proud fibber. "I love to lie," he says. "It's really awesome when you make somebody think something about you that's not true."
The Mexican actor managed that in Goal!, a feelgood rags-to-riches film with a soundtrack dominated by Oasis and a premise that suggests it's time Americans embraced soccer.
Becker plays Santiago Munez, a footballer whose talent takes him from the sun-parched pitches of Los Angeles to the muddy training grounds of Newcastle United.
When Becker says he enjoys dabbling with the truth, he's really talking about acting. He was even acting when he went into his first meeting for the part.
"I really had to lie to them and tell them that I was a soccer fan and I told them that I loved the game, that I used to play every time I could when I was a kid. And then time passed and they realised that I didn't really play and they started to go crazy. But they couldn't really find anybody else."
Born and raised in Mexico City, Becker spent 10 years training as a concert violinist at the Mozarteum of Salzburg before switching gears.
At 17, he dropped music to study at Mexico's Televisas acting school, and soon after began bagging the lead roles in several Mexican soap operas. At home, Becker is a TV heartthrob, or as he puts it, "I was the typical, traditional stupid guy who falls in love with the girl."
In 2002, after starring in a number of Mexican films, Becker headed to Hollywood, learnt to speak English "by watching TV" and started landing roles in small independent films.
"I realised I wanted to do something different and play different characters with a bit more substance. It was hard, the transition, and it was even worse to be in a different country. You have to do everything from the beginning because nobody knows you. It's really tough."
His luck changed when a script arrived for Goal!, a soccer trilogy to be shot at real stadiums with real footballers - David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Keiron Dyer among them.
In the sequel he transfers to - whaddya know - Real Madrid; the final will be filmed at the World Cup in July.
Becker trained for 14 weeks, up to eight hours a day, learning "ball skills, gym, pitch, everything you can imagine" and wound up with stress fractures in both ankles for his trouble.
"I still can't play. It's a whole different thing to play football and to shoot a football scene."
But like his character, Goal! is likely to propel the actor into the big league where his brooding good looks and screen charisma are already generating buzz. And then there's the shower scene.
"It's funny, but hopefully this is going to be a little bit more than that. It's not a dark, complex festival film but it's a film that hopefully makes people feel something. And everything else, if it helps the film, I'm happy."
* Goal! opens on Thursday.
Mexican actor playing in Hollywood's big league
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