Colombian artist Juan Pablo Raba arrived in 'Dutton Ranch' with the kind of résumé that already tells several stories at once and showcases perfectly his extraordinary talent. He arrived to an interview with this reporter filled with mirth, ease, and joy. Sitting next to Marc Menchaca, the other Latino with an important role in Taylor Sheridan's new 'Yellowstone' spin-off, Raba exuded something that is extremely rare in interviews in the junket format. The message was, "I am happy to be here, and I am happy you are here."
This reporter was definitely happy to be talking to him, even for a short period of time via Zoom.
For Latino audiences, he is the galán who became an international heartthrob with 'Mi gorda bella,' the Venezuelan telenovela that traveled across Latin America and helped turn him into a familiar face in millions of homes. His latest job in Spanish is in 'La Casa de los Espíritus.' For American viewers, he is the actor who moved through 'Narcos,' 'Six,' 'The 33,' and 'Echo 3' with the discipline of someone who knows how to cross borders without losing himself. For social media followers, he is the creator and host of the fantastic and often moving Spanish-language podcast 'Los hombres sí lloran.'
Now, with Joaquín in 'Dutton Ranch,' Raba has what may be his biggest role in American television yet: a place inside the Yellowstone universe, one of the most dominant franchises on U.S. TV. The series premiered May 15 on Paramount+ and follows Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, played by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, as they start over in South Texas after the events of Yellowstone. The cast also includes Annette Bening, Ed Harris, Menchaca, Jai Courtney, J.R. Villarreal, and Natalie Alyn Lind.
Raba plays Joaquín, a controlled, strategic figure tied to Beulah Jackson, the formidable ranch matriarch played by Bening. He is Beulah's "level-headed fixer," the kind of man who knows how to make problems disappear. This reporter saw the first episodes to prepare for this interview and his relationship to her is not clear yet, but he is her son's brother....for telenovela fans: You know what this may mean.
That description could easily become a cliché, but Raba's hands, becomes a whole universe. Joaquín is not just another dangerous man in a cowboy drama, and the maybe lovechild of the matriarc husband. He carries polish, silence, guilt, and calculation. For Latino viewers, that distinction is important, as westerns have often given Latino men two options: disposable labor or disposable threat. Raba arrives as neither. He enters the frame as someone with power, restraint, efficiency, a cold head and a deeper history.
"This really is the most exciting thing that has happened in my career," Raba said of working with Bening. "Annette everything that you can imagine and more."
He described the experience as a return to acting school, not because he was intimidated, but because Bening's precision forced him to sharpen every instinct. "Working with her is like going back to class," Raba said. "The level of attention is exquisite."
He is more than aware of the attention he will get thanks to Joaquín. 'Dutton Ranch' places him inside a quintessentially American myth, the land, the ranch, the inheritance, and the violence, and asks him to complicate it for the beloved couple who has just arrived to Texas after all that happened in Montana.
Marc Menchaca, who plays Zachariah, comes to the series from another angle. A Texas native and Texas A&M graduate, Menchaca called playing a cowboy in the series "like a childhood dream." "Every day work and then my days off, getting to go out and rope with the cowboys was the best," Menchaca said. "We'd ride out and doctor calves. It was the best days off I've ever had on a job."
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