Exclusiva: Eugenio Derbez Opens Up About Conquering America

By Michael Lopez

Face it, it's only a matter of time before Eugenio Derbez becomes a household name. The famed Mexican comic has already made waves in Adam Sandler's Jack & Jill and is now a regular on the CBS sitcom ¡Rob! Still humbled by it all, Eugenio took some time to talk to us about his big crossover.

"I'm really excited and happy to be doing this crossover," he said. "I've been working with a dialogue coach on my English and I'm giving these opportunities my 100 percent!"

Clearly America is starting to take notice. ¡Rob! (which also stars Rob Schneider and Cheech Marin) has scored incredible ratings since its debut, which is something Derbez seems very excited about.

"¡Rob!'s doing great numbers for CBS," he told us. "This week we'll find out if we get a second season. I think it's a really good show and it's getting better every week."

And though Eugenio's only been in a few scenes so far, he assured us that there are plenty of big plotlines in store for his character, Hector.

"The next episode is going be a really good one for Hector," he went on to say. "He'll be getting into some funny stuff and causing all sorts of trouble for Rob."

Despite the fact that Hector and Rob don't always see eye-to-eye on the show, Derbez assured us that everyone gets along great off the set.

"I've struck up a great friendship with Rob Schneider," he said. "We go out to dinners together. Cheech too! He's an awesome guy and he's been giving me some great advice."

But ¡Rob! seems to only be the beginning for Eugenio. He'll next be seen in the Eva Mendes movie Girl In Progress and, as he told us, he's still getting tons of recognition for his "abuelita" role in Jack & Jill.

"I LOVED it when they let me play the grandma in that movie," he said. "I actually paid tribute to one of my Mexican characters, Armando Hoyos, with the glasses I wore. That was a subtle tribute to all of my Latin fans out there."

Well we're sure Eugenio will have plenty of new fans on the horizon as 2012 kicks into gear.

Are you looking forward to seeing more of Eugenio Derbez? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags ¡Rob!, Blogger: Michael Lopez, Cheech Marin, Eugenio Derbez, Exclusive Entrevistas, Girl In Progress, Jack & Jill, Movies & CineMás, Rob Schneider, Television, Tr3s Exclusives