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As a child, television actor and singer Rafael de la Fuente never imagined leaving his home country of Venezuela to travel to the states to pursue a career in the film industry. "Growing up in a conservative Venezuelan family, becoming a performer was never really the expectation. I come from a super creative family. My dad is a guitarist so there was always music, but it was always more of a hobby. The more expected path was for us to grow up to become doctors or lawyers." But the 31-year-old actor had his sights set on another path. "I was 14 when I realized just how much I loved music and to this day, my dad remembers me telling him with such conviction that I was going to pursue singing. Then, when I turned 18, I was actually in a casting director's office in Venezuela and I landed a two-day guest star in a show. I fell in love with the whole process, everything about being on set --from the wardrobe, hair and makeup, working with the director and actors." He left Venezuela, and moved to Florida to study at the University of Tampa before hiring an acting coach in Miami. [Fun fact: He still uses the phone number he got when he first moved to the states.] "I had my own idea of what the industry was like. I thought about moving to L.A. or NYC, but being a Latino, I wanted to break into the Spanish market first and I thought moving to Miami would be a good first step." After about a year and eight months, to be exact, Rafael landed his first lead role as Diego Forlán on popular Latino TV series, Grachi --a Spanish language American fantasy series produced by Nickelodeon and broadcasted across all of Latin America. Since then, his acting career has been in an upswing with him landing roles on FOX's Empire and the CW's Dynasty reboot as Sam "Sammy Jo" Jones. "My agent called me about the role initially. When I read it, I really liked it," says Rafael, who returns to Dynasty for Season Two this fall. "Because I worked on Empire, I knew the genre very well. I was excited about the legacy of the title too, because it was huge in the 80s. So, I jumped at it. They told me right there that they wanted to take me to the network." The new Dynasty is a little different from the original. First, the setting has moved from Denver, Colorado to Atlanta, Georgia; Steven's homosexuality is a nonissue to Blake; and they made female gold digger Sammy Jo (originated by Heather Locklear) a gay man. "We were left with some major cliffhangers last season. Those cliffhangers are going to be major this season. They are going to reroute Sam. The core of the character will still provide tons of comedy, otherwise, it just wouldn't be Dynasty. I remember one of my favorite scenes was actually where Sam accidentally gets dosed with "dolly" --our version of Molly-- and starts getting up on the table and singing. As an actor, you get excited about filming scenes like that." Rafael promises that the upcoming season will be even bigger and better. "With any new show, the first season is where everyone finds their stride. The writers, actors, everyone gets to find themselves in the show. TV shows always evolve. People respond to different things differently. Now, returning for this second season, we know who everyone is. We understand the relationships." Will you be watching yourself in the new season? "I always find it odd to watch myself, but I've made an effort to separate myself from myself to see what needs to be adjusted to be a true professional. I can't attach my ego. I need to be objective in order to move forward. It's still a work in progress."