How David Was Discovered
It was a Friday evening, about three months before NBC began taping Still a Stranger in the early winter of 1984. David Hernandez was with a good friend at Casa Central, located on California Avenue, front facing the infamous Humboldt Park in Chicago. The trip to Casa Central was to discover any new or special programs offered to the community. There was not much else to do that evening, considering it was a Friday, so it was more just something to do. It was intended to hopefully stay away from trouble. However, in those days just walking down the street was like playing Russian roulette. Like most community locals, David had no fear. It was what it was. Staying home for fear-based reasons was not going to happen.
While at Casa Central, coming down the hallway was a very impressive-looking woman, definitely Hispanic, with a walk of confidence and wearing a thick, long and authentic fur coat. Her swagger spoke volumes about her, and it definitely said: she is not from around here! She walked past David, and it was like he was invisible.
A few minutes later, someone said, "Did you hear? The lady in the fur coat is looking for people to come out in a movie." That perked up his ears. A movie? Wow, here in Humboldt Park? He asked, "Who is she?" The answer was something about her being a movie agent or something like that. "What's her name?" he said. "Myrna Salazar." Cool name, he thought. She better get out of the hood before her coat decides to take off on her.
"A movie! I can do that. I act every day," he thought. Then: meh, fat chance for me. Even though he liked entertaining friends and family. In fact, that's how he made and expanded his circles, by trying to be funny while on the streets. It helps to know when and how to be funny in the streets. It can mean the difference between hello and goodbye.
He did not ask for any more information and thought, if it's for you, it will find you. Then he wrestled with his mind: should he look all desperate and ask, or just leave it alone? So he took a deep breath, let it out, and said to himself, "Ah, forget it. Why bother?" That was it. She was gone, and he was not going to swallow his pride and ask about it. He would look stupid.
A few days later, David was on the corner of Augusta and Rockwell, in front of his grandmother's video game room business. Sylvia Giannini and Jack Ginay of NBC Chicago were filming a docudrama named Still a Stranger, and David was interviewed right there on the street. The NBC producer and director were so impressed with David, his captivating personality and animated ways, that he was asked to audition for a national role in Still a Stranger, a docudrama whose intent was to introduce the Hispanic people and culture to the rest of the world by showing real-world trials, triumphs and defeats faced by Hispanics.
That street encounter with NBC became David's impromptu, informal audition, unexpected and unorthodox. Sylvia Giannini then invited him to audition at the NBC studio, which was in the Merchandise Mart at the time. The studio audition was a formality, because he already had the part. At that audition, Myrna Salazar happened by, keeping her fingers on the pulse of the project. She volunteered to read the part of the mother. She was blown away by David and wanted to sign him as talent on the spot, but it would take a little more effort on her part to get him to sign. He portrayed Carlos, the son of the family. David's very first time on television was a prime-time, nationally broadcast, made-for-television docudrama special, co-starring René Enríquez of Hill Street Blues. Without any previous experience or training, David held his own alongside seasoned name actors.
So Myrna Salazar, of the Salazar & Navas talent agency, set out to find him. She drove around the neighborhood in a Mercedes-Benz, wearing her fur coat, looking for David Hernandez. News travels fast in the barrio. David didn't know until he arrived at his grandmother's video arcade game room, where his grandmother, Maria Mendez, handed him Mrs. Salazar's business card. After that, it seemed like even the alley cats wanted to tell him about the woman in the Mercedes-Benz looking for him. At the time, David was not living at home with his parents. He contacted the agent and traveled on his own by public transportation to see her at her office on Rush Street. David handled his business affairs without any adult supervision, and he began landing more and more work.
If it's for you, it will find you. The lady in the fur coat found him.
Fun fact: Susan was the secretary to Myrna Salazar and Trina Navas, handling much of the grunt work behind Salazar & Navas. She became very proficient at it and was well loved by everyone who met her, for her warm personality and hard-working nature. Eventually she branched out and opened her own agency, Encore Talent Agency. To this day, David and Susan are trusted, lifelong friends, and David has openly said she is like family.
Then life got in the way. David moved to Wichita, Kansas, for some time, and when he returned to Chicago, family matters came first. He stepped away from the industry and became an entrepreneur. Business gave him steady income that paid the bills, something the unpredictable life of an actor never could, and he loved it.
See the 1987 Chicago Sun-Times Vista Magazine cover story in the Press section.