'I Really Did Die That Day': Argentine Star Jorge Schubert on Leaving Fame Behind and Filming His Own Death

"I Really Did Die That Day": Argentine Star Jorge Schubert on Leaving Fame Behind, Filming His Own Death, and the Real Natalia Oreiro

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, June 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- RTVI US, the leading Russian-language media outlet in the United States, has released an exclusive interview with Jorge Schubert, the Argentine actor who played Pablo Monteagudo in the cult 1990s telenovela Ricos y Famosos ("Rich and Famous") — a show that became a defining cultural phenomenon for millions of viewers across Russia and the post-Soviet world, and the project that first launched the career of Natalia Oreiro.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Schubert speaks publicly about what drove him to walk away from acting at the peak of his fame in the mid-2000s — a decision rooted not in a career crisis, but in a debilitating wave of anxiety after the birth of his daughter. He also reflects on what it was like to film his character's death — one of the most emotional moments of the series — and shares what Natalia Oreiro is really like off-camera.

For audiences across the former Soviet Union, Pablo Monteagudo was one of the iconic romantic leads of the late 1990s, and his on-screen death was a moment etched into the memory of a generation. Schubert tells RTVI US the scene left a mark on him as well.

"Scenes like that are prepared in advance. It's a certain state. After all, you are about to die. So days like that become special, because you enter a state of very deep connection with yourself. Because something very deep is happening. And I lived that moment very deeply — in a sense, I really did die that day."

Ricos y Famosos was also the show that first brought real fame to Oreiro — before Muñeca Brava (known in the Russian-speaking world as Wild Angel) made her an international star. Asked about her, Schubert answers with a single word: "an angel."

"I've known her for a very long time. Not from childhood, of course, but from the time when she had just arrived from Uruguay. A real angel. Because she's very kind, generous, sincere. A very warm person. And at the same time, there isn't a trace of star arrogance in her. She's wonderful. Natalia really is wonderful."

It was at the height of his own career that Schubert turned away from film and television to focus on his family and an inner search. The turning point, he says, came with the birth of his daughter — when love for his child transformed into an almost paralyzing fear.

"For a year and a half I barely slept. If I heard my daughter breathing, I was afraid she was about to die. If I didn't hear her — I thought she had already died."

Today, the former actor writes books and hosts a podcast, Los Enteradores, built around the idea that a person is simultaneously the protagonist and the observer of their own life. Schubert has, in effect, chosen a life deliberately outside the entertainment industry — closer to that of a philosopher in retreat.

"We live our lives as if playing a role," he explains, "but at the same time, we can observe ourselves from the outside."

The full interview is available exclusively on RTVI US's YouTube channel "On Duty in America".

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Overseas Media Inc dba RTVI US
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