In the Spotlight: Dino

A Rising Star, Dino Fetscher

Acting is more than just a performance. It requires emotional strength, persistence and tenacity. In the cut-throat industry, many will be broken, but some do rise above the challenges and form into a better version of themselves. Dino Fetscher provides Blowout with a deeper understanding on his journey to becoming an actor.

He’s calm and collected, and unlike many others, posing in front of a camera and it’s whole team, seems to come naturally to him. There’s no hiccups or technicalities, or issues of any kind really. Outfit changes transition smoothly like the seasons and before I know it, the photoshoot is actually done. Are you sure you’re not a model Dino Fetscher?

Dino is a rarity. He has this contagious smile which makes you want to grin ear to ear when you catch sight of it and I’ve honestly never met such a relaxed and easy-going individual in my life. As he opens up about his experiences and career, I can see the genuine happiness and excitement on his face.

So how did an energetic teenager from Cardiff end up being a star?

“I kind of got into acting because I was a very hyper-active child and because of that, my mum put me into the Sherman Youth Theatre in Cardiff and I loved it. That was up to the age of about 15. Then I was a teenager and I was quite a big teenager and I didn’t want the spotlight on me, so I completely stopped acting,” Dino stated.

“I didn't do it for GCSE or A levels or anything like that, but when I finished my A levels, I thought this is the only thing I want to do. So, I pursued it on my own and I auditioned for drama schools and then I trained at Central School of Speech and Drama. I've been professionally acting now for the last five years!”

“My mum is like a super hippy/spiritual person and when I told her I wanted to be an actor, she told me to follow my dreams. My dad thought it was more of an unstable career and he advised I go to University and study drama, because if the acting didn’t work out, I could be a Drama teacher.”

Dino has some amazing credits in both television and film. You might recognize him as Stanley from the popular science fiction television series, Humans, which originally aired on Channel 4 in 2015. Or, you might remember him as DC Alec Wayfield, from the British crime drama series, Paranoid, which began broadcasting on ITV and streaming internationally on Netflix in 2016.

Amongst other appearances, we’re pretty sure he would have caught your eye somewhere and if he hasn’t, I’d urge you to binge watch everything he’s ever been on immediately. You won’t regret it!

“My favourite thing about being an actor is the people I get to work with and the people I get to meet. The people in this industry; that’s actors and all creatives, form an energy when we’re all together. I love the collaboration and I love how something comes from a script/idea. Then everybody works magically together and in six months you have this amazing show or play,” he professed. 

Acting, for some can lead to a confusion in identity. For a large part of your life you take on a scripted narrative and a character that you embody wholly. For this reason, before anything else, one might classify themselves foremost as an actor and nothing else. As someone who likes to be involved with projects also outside of acting, I asked Dino if being an actor was what defined him.

“It's a huge part of who I am. It's hard to explain because some people have a job and then it's the weekend or it’s 5 p.m. and they’re done. For me, it's a big part of who I am. For a long time, I think I did let it define me and I think that wasn't healthy for me because it is a tough industry,” he pondered.

“Now, I've made an active effort to really focus. I'm learning German because my mum is German. I'm very much into my fitness and yoga and I like writing. I tried to have lots of other focuses, so it doesn't become a pressure thing. Ultimately, I wouldn't say it defines me, just that it's a huge part of who I am.”

The career can sometimes consume your life; it’s a competitive field, where you have no idea when your next job is going to be. For a lot of the time, you’re auditioning against so many others who could be at the same level as you, just starting out or have tons of experience behind them. Either way, everyone has to audition, and one person is going to be chosen. I can’t imagine the emotional stress to be an easy one to deal with.

“I’ve never thought about throwing in the towel. The good thing about me and acting is that there's no other option for me. I've gotten to that point where I’m pursuing it because it's the only thing I want to do and will ever do, so at least when it is really tough, I just think to stick it out somehow,” Dino confidently states. “There's nothing else that I would want to do that would make me this happy.”

“Working with certain actors like Katherine Parkinson in Humans was a big lesson for me.Just things about size of performance with camera and stuff and then all the things I’ve learnt in drama school. You learn a lot in drama school, but I've learnt so much more from actually professionally acting and being in the business. You do pick it up as you go.”

With stardom, also comes a list of achievements. Every person has their own visions and goals and most often will be completely different to the person next to them, but whichever way you look at them, they are achievements, nevertheless. I think in any field, when it comes to your career, having both small and big ones really make you realise how far you’ve come and not only give you confidence in your work, but really motivate you to keep persevering.

As tricky as it was to land on the ultimate one, I managed to get Dino to narrow down his thoughts on the matter.

“It’s tough because I'm really proud of all the stuff I've done but I’d probably say my role as Stanley in Humans is my proudest work. Just because it was such a physical transformation; he's a sentient biomechanical being and then spoiler alert, he's kind of unconscious and then you realise he's actually a sleeper agent the whole time. So, just the levels of kind of being unconscious into conscious and the kind of dexterity and nuances of finding that I really enjoyed that. Also, the physical side of it was amazing. I got to a point with that series where I just felt I really understood the character.”

We’re also aware of Dino’s rising status on Instagram, where he now has 26.3k followers and yes, he has the little blue tick, which can only mean one thing; he’s officially verified. In this day and age, social media and its use is a very big thing and something people do take into consideration. There are constant debates about platform and whether it has more positive or negative affects on individuals. I asked Dino about his thoughts on the matter.

“I'm aware of social media and I'm aware of myself as an actor and a brand, so I truly try to keep a balance of my genuine self. But I am slightly wary of it in terms of things like body image. Sometimes you can just be caught in a mindless scroll and then all of a sudden, you’re thinking that you’re inferior. That’s why I’ve tried to unfollow things that I find to be a bit toxic. A lot of stuff on there is not real, it's just people perpetuating this lifestyle that they want others to think they have and it’s easy to be sucked into that. I try to just have fun with it and not take it too seriously.”

I think Dino is just an easy-going soul in all aspects of his life. When asked about his happy place, he responded,

“when I’m actively engaged in my creative mind.” This is a man, who clearly loves his work and has a great passion for anything that he undertakes, regardless of what it is. I’ve not seen someone light up so much when talking about their work in the way that he did and it was refreshing, to say the least.

So, what else can we expect from our favourite Welsh actor this year?

“Well, you will have to wait and see!” Dino laughed.

Whatever it is, we will be on the look-out and we already know, it’ll most probably be amazing.

Words by Syeda Uddin