Grown-ish: Henri Esteve on Javi and Ana, His Hopes for Season 4 [Interview]

Henri Esteve started filming Grown-ish just a few days after learning he’d gotten a part on the show.

“My dog was in Miami. I had left my dog in Miami while I was finding a place in New York. So I flew straight to LA from New York, filmed my first episode, and then had ten days off and flew back to Miami, got my dog, came back, and shot out the rest of the season,” he recalled. 

His dog, Charlie, actually makes an appearance of his own during a scene this season. “You could see the back of my arm,” Esteve said. “Charlie’s face is tattooed on it.”

Esteve plays Javi on Grown-ish, a graduate student who falls for Ana (Francia Raisa) shortly after they begin interning together. I recently had the chance to chat with him about his role on the series, the obstacle Javi and Ana faced with their relationship this season, and his hopes for Grown-ish Season 4. 

One of the things Esteve said he likes best about his character is how committed he is to growth.

“This is his first relationship since he has really found his faith and committed to being celibate for now,” he noted. “His commitment to finding something like faith and celibacy and then just jumping right in and trying to transform his lifestyle, I think is just commendable. It takes a bunch of discipline. I’m just always appreciative of being able to play something that is so locked in on growth.”

He also spoke to how all of that affects Javi’s relationship with Ana, and the challenges it presents.

“It’s fun to have that push and pull between us all the time,” Esteve said. “It’s also Ana’s first time doing this. So I think having both characters not know really what’s okay, or what. Like where you’re toeing the line of where you’re putting yourself in a position to fail or slip up.”

“It’s been fun and it’s definitely been playful,” he added. “We found so much humor in it.”

Grown-ish is known for tackling all kinds of topical issues, and Esteve appreciates the way these characters are portrayed when it comes to religion, and that it’s all still lighthearted.

“I think it’s really cool that we are handling these topics and showing different sides of that topic. And that’s kind of my favorite thing about Grown-ish is just, it does a really good job of being really light-handed, but talking about different sects of society and social issues that we’re dealing with today.”

“If we think about someone being celibate, and Republican, and Christian, I think we get a stereotypical idea in our head of what those people would be like or move like or act like. And I think both Ana and Javi are not whatever that stereotype in your head would be,” Esteve said. “It’s always fun to break stereotypes like that.”

Javi and Ana do find themselves faltering with their commitment to celibacy. Esteve spoke a bit about what it was like filming those scenes and making sure everyone was comfortable.

“I think you just try to be as aware and conscious of your partner as possible and make sure that they’re feeling comfortable with everything that’s happening.”

“That little montage took a whole day to film. So we definitely were just exhausted and kind of just in bed all day because it’s just so hard to get those angles. And it ends up being really mechanical too. It’s very awkward,” he said. “I’m trying to move my head three inches to the left to make sure I don’t cover Francia’s face because they’re bringing the camera over my shoulder or vice versa. It’s moving my arm to make sure she’s covered from camera in case the blanket or the sheet moves.”

“It was handled super well. And I think also the director and writer of that episode specifically were friends, and they’ve been friends of mine for seven years or something. So we’ve known each other for a while and then, and Francia is also friends with Ben. I think it was a very intimate sort of group that nobody really felt uncomfortable around each other.”

It’s clear by the end of Grown-ish Season 3 that Ana and Javi are about to face another challenge. That’s something Esteve is excited to explore further next season.

“I think him and Ana were in this honeymoon phase for most of Season 3. Towards the end of Season 3, we started to see a little friction between them. I’m excited to go there and let that build,” Esteve said.

That friction occurs when Ana realizes Henri has been contacting someone who is only listed as “Somebody” in his fun. That obviously makes her suspicious. Esteve shared that more of that story had been filmed, but was cut from the season. Instead, we’ll have to wait until Season 4 to find out what’s going on there and how it will affect them.

“I guess my thing with Javi a little last season was just having him so perfect,” Esteve laughed. “I’m excited to see his flaws kind of come up and be able to play them.”

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*Featured image credit: Emily Knecht

Grown-ish Season 4 is set to premiere this summer on Freeform.

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