FELIPE OTAÑO
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Trained in theater and with a career spanning the stage, television, and film, actor Felipe Otaño gained international recognition for his portrayal of Carlitos Páez in Society of the Snow, J. A. Bayona’s acclaimed Netflix film. Based on the 1972 Andes tragedy, the production became a global phenomenon and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film, cementing its place as one of the defining cinematic achievements of recent years.
But Otaño’s story reaches far beyond awards and acclaim. His approach to acting begins from a deeply human place—one rooted in observation, sensitivity, and an ongoing search for the truth that brings each character to life. Every role becomes both unexplored territory and an opportunity to better understand himself through someone else’s perspective.
For this edition of Casa Zoreli, we sat down with Felipe Otaño to reflect on the journey that brought him here. Beyond the characters and the spotlight, he opens up about the experiences that have shaped the way he sees the world, the challenges that have fueled his growth, and the philosophy that now guides both his career and his life.
Steady Steps
Long before acting found its way into his life, Felipe Otaño had already discovered another way of shaping his identity. Sport was the first place where he learned the value of discipline, consistency, and friendship. Football took up much of his time, while tennis and running gradually became part of a routine he still maintains today. Some passions fade, while others simply evolve, finding new ways to stay with us throughout life.
What he never imagined was that his future would unfold somewhere entirely different.
Unlike so many stories that seem destined from childhood, Felipe didn't grow up dreaming of becoming an actor. Acting wasn't an ambition, a lifelong goal, or even a possibility that occupied his mind. At first, it was simply another school activity, just another class on the weekly schedule—until something began to happen that he himself couldn't quite explain.
Offstage, he was quiet and reserved. He preferred listening over speaking and naturally avoided the center of attention. But every time he stepped onto a stage for a school play, a completely different version of himself emerged.
“My parents could tell there was something about it that I truly loved. They saw me transform. I was incredibly shy, but whenever I stepped on stage, something inside me changed.”
It was his mother who decided to take the next step, enrolling him in a theater course—not because there was a carefully mapped-out plan, but because she recognized the importance of nurturing something that genuinely lit him up. That seemingly small decision would ultimately change the course of his life.
At first came fear. Then excitement. Acting gradually became the one place where he felt completely free. His first professional opportunity arrived in the most unexpected way: a classmate shared an open casting call with their theater group, Felipe auditioned without expecting much, and landed the role. His career had already begun before he could answer the question so many young people feel pressured to solve far too early: What do I want to do with my life?
Perhaps that's one of the most meaningful lessons in his story. Purpose doesn't always reveal itself from the very beginning, and vocation rarely arrives as absolute certainty. Sometimes life asks for something much simpler—and at the same time, much harder: to remain open. Exploring new interests doesn't mean abandoning who we've been. It means allowing ourselves to grow into new versions of who we are.
Felipe never left behind the things that shaped him. Sport remains part of his daily life, his childhood friends continue to hold an essential place, and the person he was before cinema is still very much intact. What changed was his willingness to embrace opportunities he never imagined possible.
And perhaps that's where a quiet truth lies: the future rarely arrives in the form we expect. More often than not, it disguises itself as an ordinary class, a conversation with family, or an opportunity that seems far too small to change everything. The difference lies in having the courage to find out what happens when you choose to take the next step.
Society of the Snow
When Society of the Snow premiered on Netflix in 2023, it quickly became one of the platform's biggest cinematic successes. Directed by J. A. Bayona and inspired by the 1972 Andes tragedy, the film moved millions of viewers around the world while bringing renewed attention to a story that, more than fifty years later, continues to speak to the extraordinary power of solidarity, resilience, and hope in the face of unimaginable adversity.
For Felipe, the road to the film was defined by nearly nine months of auditions and waiting.
“The first thing I felt was relief,” he recalls when asked about the moment he learned he had been cast.
"Playing Carlitos Páez meant taking on an unusual kind of responsibility," Otaño tells Casa Zoreli.
This wasn't a character built from imagination. It was the story of a man who is very much alive.
To prepare, the cast traveled to Uruguay, visited the places where the events had unfolded, and spent weeks immersed in rehearsals and research. Felipe also had the opportunity to meet Carlitos himself, getting to know him up close and observing the subtle details that rarely make it onto the page—the way he greets people, the cadence of his voice, the rhythm of his breathing, even the way he holds a glass of water.
When production reached the avalanche sequence—one of the film's most emotionally devastating moments—Felipe Otaño was no longer surrounded by a cast of strangers. After months of preparation, rehearsals, and filming, something much harder to manufacture had taken shape: trust, camaraderie, and friendships that deepened alongside the story they were telling.
That day became about far more than recreating one of the story's most devastating moments.
As Carlitos Páez watched two of the most important people in his life disappear beneath the snow, Felipe found himself looking at Feli Ramusio and Blas Polidori—his friends both on and off set—lying motionless in the snow, portraying death. The physical exhaustion only intensified the experience. After weeks of filming and a demanding physical transformation to authentically portray the extreme conditions of the Andes, Felipe was also shooting that day while running a fever.
“I looked at them, and they weren't breathing. They were so pale. They were my best friends in the cast. Seeing them like that completely broke me.”
The cameras kept rolling, but something had shifted. The group they had built together would never feel whole again.
The experience ultimately transformed far more than his career. When Felipe returned to Argentina after the film's release, he realized he had lived more in those two years than he ever thought possible. Spending so long immersed in a story like Society of the Snow left an imprint that extends well beyond international recognition.
When asked what he values most from the entire experience, his answer doesn't begin with awards, premieres, or the opportunities that followed.
It begins with people.
The friends who remain part of his life. Everything he absorbed by watching more experienced actors at work. The relationships that endured long after the final day of filming. Some films end when the credits roll. Others continue to live on in the people who made them.
ADAM X
ADAM X
WHAT WE DON'T SEE
Felipe admits that people often assume he's much more serious than he actually is. Rather than finding it frustrating, he enjoys surprising them. It's a reminder that even when we think we know someone, we're almost always seeing only a small fraction of who they really are.
He grows even more reflective when the conversation turns to fame.
“It's impossible to know someone based on what they post on social media. Everyone struggles. Everyone has problems. Nobody has the perfect life.”
We've become accustomed to judging lives through fragments. A minute-long interview. A carefully curated photograph. Fifteen seconds of video. From those fleeting glimpses, we build opinions. We admire, criticize, and sometimes even envy lives we've never truly known.
Perhaps the real challenge isn't to stop admiring the people who inspire us, but to remember that they're still people. Before they're actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, or athletes, they're human beings—people who doubt themselves, make mistakes, experience fear, navigate loss, and search, like anyone else, for a life that feels peaceful and meaningful.
Felipe doesn't speak about fame as either a destination or a burden. Instead, he speaks about something much simpler: the importance of staying connected to ordinary life. Because once recognition no longer defines who you are, what remains are the conversations with friends, time spent with family, the rituals of everyday life, and the moments that will never appear in a social media post.
There's something deeply moving about listening to Felipe Otaño talk about his career. It's not the restlessness of someone chasing fame, nor the urgency of someone afraid of being left behind. Instead, there's the quiet confidence of someone who understands that building a craft—and a life—isn't defined by the spotlight, but by the consistency with which you show up for yourself.
When the cameras stop rolling, Felipe doesn't become someone else. He simply returns to who he's always been: someone who stays close to the people who knew him before there was a character to play, someone who understands that success without roots is little more than fleeting noise. Perhaps that's the quietest—and most powerful—lesson he leaves behind: authenticity isn't an act of rebellion. It's an act of remembrance. It's knowing who you were before the world began telling you who you should become.
As he continues bringing new characters to life on screen, his creative world is expanding in other directions. He writes. He's thinking about directing. He's developing stories of his own.
Rather than a change in course, it feels like the natural evolution of his craft. Acting is no longer the only place from which he wants to tell stories. He's become just as interested in how they begin, how they're built, and everything that happens behind the scenes. For him, curiosity doesn't end when the scene does.
Perhaps that's why spending time with him leaves you with the sense that he's not searching for a final version of himself. Instead, there's an uncommon trust in time, in the creative process, and in the possibility of continuing to evolve without feeling the need to arrive anywhere too quickly.
After all, the most compelling careers are rarely built on certainty. They're built by showing up for the work, even when the next chapter hasn't yet found its ending.
Felipe Otaño X Casa Zoreli
There is something quietly liberating about accepting that there is no final version of yourself.
Throughout this conversation with Casa Zoreli, Felipe reveals no urgency to define his identity or turn every step into certainty. Everything remains in motion—his ideas, his fears, his ambitions, even the way he understands success. The only constant is his willingness to keep evolving without trying to hold change still.
That's what makes it so difficult to separate the actor from the person. Not because they're the same, but because both are still being written at the very same time.
Casa Zoreli would like to extend its sincere thanks to Felipe Otaño for his generosity, honesty, and trust in sharing this conversation with us. More than a collection of answers, he leaves us with a perspective that reminds us the most compelling stories are never the ones that have already reached their conclusion, but the ones that continue to find new ways of being told.