I

n between acting, actor Nino Fernandez spends time pursuing his other passion: hunting for the perfect cup of coffee.

Whenever he has free time — which is not very often — he likes to go to all kinds of coffee shops, both upscale and downscale, so much that he plans to open one of his own with the help of a friend. He said his coffee shop would be called Kopi Kecil.

 “I want to open a coffee shop where people will feel at home, but at the same time the coffees are affordable. That way, people from the middle and even lower income bracket can enjoy it too,” said the 32-year-old.

He said good coffee should not exclusively be for richer people. “My aim is that, say, if ojek [motorcycle taxi] drivers or security officers want to buy tubruk coffee, then they’d be able to get one for maybe
Rp 13,000 [about US$1],” said Nino.

At his coffee shop, he would serve as a barista, the skills for which he learned when he was 18.

“When I was 14, I stopped receiving money from my parents. If I wanted to buy something, I had to work. So I worked in F&B [food and beverages]. I started out by cleaning restaurants, up to the point where I got to be a manager,” said Nino.

“But my passion was in making coffee. At the age of 18, I started learning barista skills, but I only started learning it again last year, with an Indonesian barista champion.”

And Nino did not study with a champion just for the sake of it. This year, he will be participating in the Indonesia Barista Championship (IBC). If he wins, he will compete abroad to represent Indonesia.

“But now I can’t call myself a barista just yet, because everybody can be a barista. When the time comes when I am behind a counter, making coffee and serving it to someone, and that person likes my coffee, that’s when I can call myself a barista,” he said.

In the entertainment industry, he shines bright. In his latest movie, Koala Kumal, he plays the role of James, an attractive doctor for whom the lead’s girlfriend falls. The movie by Raditya Dika, who wrote, directed and starred as the lead actor, has garnered nearly 2 million viewers since it was released early July.

Born in Hamburg, Germany to a German father and an Indonesian mother, Nino worked his way into his acting career by starting out as a video jockey (VJ) for MTV Indonesia when he was 22.

He had just returned to Indonesia after graduating from the University of Hamburg with a degree in Business Management and his curious young mind was motivated to explore here and there and to try new things — hence his VJ career.

It turned out he loved what he did in the entertainment industry and decided to go deep into it, and so in 2006, he starred in his first movie, Terowongan Casablanca (The Casablanca Tunnel).

From that point on, he started taking role offers here and there, and has acted in a lot of sitcoms and movies including Get Married 2 and its sequels as well as Wa’alaikumussalam Paris.

Yet Nino admitted there were roles that in truth, he was reluctant to play.

As an actor, he says, he is aware he has to be consistent and strive to become better with every movie but at times, there can be characters that don’t really support that goal.

“I ended up playing some of these characters and it became a disappointment for me in the end. So now I tell myself to make sure that I will only play in movies that I really want to be in, no matter how much money I’m offered or despite any outside coercion.”

Currently, he considers several factors before accepting a role, including taking into account the film’s director, scriptwriter, production house and other actors.

“An actor can only play in around four movies a year. If we don’t choose wisely, we may end up acting in less desirable movies and that can ruin our reputation anytime, even though the pay may be high,” Nino said.

He named three directors — Mastur, Guntur Soehardjanto, and Benni Setiawan — with whom he really enjoys working. He also feels close to actor Abimana Aryasatya and actress Acha Septriasa since the three have worked together in four movies.

“We three have basically clicked. Abi is a fatherly figure who’s got a wife and four children. Acha is a friend who’s always lively and full of expressions. Our lives go up and down and that’s what we share together: from shooting and acting matters to our personal lives,” said Nino. “Sharing is caring, you know?”

He also finds people around him mean a lot, especially his fans, who motivate him to become a better person, and his family, who always have his back.

“My sister, man, people would think we’re dating. Seriously, my sister and I are so close that sometimes I have to tell her to back off so that people won’t get the wrong idea. But it’s just that we both go through thick and thin together,” he says.

“I’m also close to my Dad, but my sister and I, our paths are alike, and that’s why we get each other.”

In life, Nino said he still wants to do more movies and do things that he enjoys.

“My goal in life — I’m saying this from the bottom of my heart — is to be happy. That’s it. Seriously. I want to do things that make me happy to be alive.”

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post