Demian Bichir visited “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” Tuesday to discuss how an audition for Twilight Saga’s New Moon turned out to be an opportunity to play a gardener named Carlos Galindo, which has earned him an Oscar nomination for the role in A Better Life.

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Bichir recalls meeting Chris Weitz “to audition for New Moon…but it was not in my plans to be a vampire or anything….Then we started talking about this gardener, you know, and he began telling me the story, and so I got a little bit confused.  I didn’t know if he was a vampire gardener, and just trimming the bushes by night!…And then he was about this story, A Better Life, that I read a year later, and I found a beautiful story and amazing character.”

Bichir explains the story of A Better Life “is about the love of a father for his son, and how you can overcome any obstacle to give your son, your kids a better life.  The great thing about this story is that usually you see these stories with a mom and the kids, and here you have this ‘Mexican Macho’ becoming the best mother on earth taking care of his son in a really difficult world under difficult circumstances.”

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Demián close friend and Univision entertainment reporter, Jessica Maldonado, reminiscing how she told him he would one day receive an Oscar for his talent and now his nomination has come. She says, “We are so proud of him in Mexico….He’s been busting his butt off working as a waiter when he first arrived in New York City…Nobody deserves it more than Demián Bechir.”