Conversations with Angel Fabián Rivera

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angel Fabián Rivera.

Hi Angel Fabián, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Puerto Rico with a deep love for storytelling, theater, film, television, all of it. I studied Drama at the University of Puerto Rico and built my early career there, producing bilingual children’s television, performing on stage, and eventually becoming the face of a national Lottery campaign. Puerto Rico gave me my foundation, my identity, and my voice.
Atlanta pulled me in because of its growing entertainment industry, and this city has given me more than I expected. I’ve had the chance to act in Lionsgate films, perform on NBC/Telemundo, work as a Teaching Artist at the Alliance Theatre, and build something I’m really proud of — a community of Latino creatives who are showing up, making noise, and refusing to wait for permission.
A few years ago I started asking a question I couldn’t shake: why aren’t there more Latino-led comedies on mainstream television? Not dramas about trauma, not immigration stories told through suffering, just a funny, warm, ensemble workplace comedy where Latinos get to simply exist and be hilarious. That question became Fossil Fuel Café. And everything I’ve done has been preparation for this moment.
I’m not just developing a show. I’m building something bigger than a pilot.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing about this road has been smooth, and I wouldn’t trust anyone who told you theirs was.
One of the hardest parts has been distance. Being away from family and friends in Puerto Rico carries a weight that doesn’t really go away — you just learn to carry it differently. But Atlanta has given me something I didn’t expect: community. Real, lasting community. People who show up, who hold each other accountable, who celebrate each other’s wins like their own. I’ve been intentional about building that, and it’s become one of the things I’m most proud of.
Career-wise, there have been plenty of bumps. Doors that didn’t open, projects that didn’t land, moments where I had to rebuild from scratch. But the thing that has always kept me moving is one simple rule I live by: I refuse to what if my life. I would rather go, try, fail, and learn than spend years wondering what could have been. Every decision I’ve made — the big swings, the risks, the moves that scared me — I’ve made them fully, and I don’t look back with regret.
That mindset is what got me here. And honestly, it’s what Fossil Fuel Café is built on too.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I wear a lot of hats — actor, writer, director, producer, podcast host — but the thread running through all of it is the same: I tell Latino stories, and I tell them for mainstream audiences.
People know me from my work on screen — a role in Lionsgate’s Plane alongside Gerard Butler, television credits with NBC/Telemundo, Spanish dubbing work for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. On stage, I’ve directed and performed at some of Atlanta’s most respected theaters, including the Alliance Theatre, where I’m currently Associate Director of an upcoming MainStage production. I also host Lights, Camera, Latino!, a podcast now dedicated to amplifying Latino voices in entertainment.
But what I’m most proud of — and what I believe sets me apart — is what I’m building right now independently. I am currently producing Fossil Fuel Café, a multicam workplace sitcom to be shot right here in Atlanta. It’s a Latino-led ensemble comedy, and I created it, wrote it, and am producing it through my own production company, FFC Media LLC. No studio handed this to me. No one greenlit it for me. I built it from the ground up.
We’ve had sold-out staged readings, pitched at SeriesFest in Denver, and the response from industry has been incredible. What sets me apart is that I didn’t wait for Hollywood to decide my stories were worth telling. I decided that myself.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I have this vivid memory of sitting in front of the television in Puerto Rico, watching American multicam sitcoms — laughing out loud at every joke, completely absorbed. My brother would walk in, look at me, and say “why are you laughing? You don’t even understand what they’re saying.”
And honestly? He wasn’t wrong. Spanish was my first language. English was still new to me. But somehow the timing, the energy, the rhythm of those shows — the way a perfectly landed joke could fill a room with laughter — I felt all of it before I could fully translate it.
Looking back, that memory means everything to me. Because now I understand that what I was responding to wasn’t just the words. It was the craft. The structure. The humanity of a group of people navigating life together and finding the funny in it.
And now here I am, producing my own multicam sitcom — in Atlanta, in English, with a Latino ensemble cast — and I think about that kid laughing at jokes he couldn’t fully explain yet. He knew something before he had the words for it.
Fossil Fuel Café is, in a lot of ways, the answer to what that kid felt.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/angelfabianrivera
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelfabianrivera
• Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/show/0kmOknkTYUC8AbES1stcoW
• Other: https://linktr.ee/fossilfuelcafesitcom