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Maximo and Family
Maximo
Maximo Gallardo Ramos
In the 1980s
In the 2020s
Played by: Enrique Arrizon (1980s), Eugenio Derbez (present day)
The protagonist. A young working-class man from Acapulco, Mexico who became a multimillionaire.
- Adaptational Wealth: The character is based on Maximo from How to Be a Latin Lover, an out-of-cash gigolo. Here, Maximo is an extremely wealthy Self-Made Man.
- The Beard: Maximo willingly pretends to date Roberta so no one will figure out that Roberta is actually his sister Sara's girlfriend. This causes some shenanigans when he ropes Memo in to bring Sara as his "date" to the Las Colinas holiday party while Maximo brings Roberta, intending to give them a night out...only for Maximo's crush Julia to start making jealous eyes and for Don Pablo to bring their mother to the party.
- Cool Uncle: He dotes on his nephew Hugo and treats him to fancy, expensive things, from shrimp cocktails to flights on the private jet.
- Nice Guy: Much is made of the fact that Maximo is an inherently good and supportive person who will do the right thing and look out for his friends and family, and Nora (who considers Las Colinas a den of iniquity) fears that working at the resort will change him.
- Rags to Riches: Maximo somehow goes from working-class pool boy to an extremely wealthy businessman who owns several beautiful homes.
- Totally Radical: In the present day he tries to impress Hugo with the phrase "bye Felicia", only for his nephew to say that nobody says that anymore.
- Unreliable Narrator: Maximo is relating his life story to his nephew (and narrating it to the audience as he does so), so the resulting product is not 100% accurate. He'll misrepresent personalities or misremember names and events sometimes, resulting in flashbacks being repeated with the right information after other characters correct him.
- Wealthy Yacht Owner: Maximo and his fellow Malibu mansion owners have yachts. In the second episode he tries to hit one of them with a golf ball but is upset that he hit his own yacht instead.
Hugo
Hugo
Played by: Raphael Alejandro
Maximo's teenage nephew and Sara's son, whom Maximo is subjecting to a story about how he gained his wealth.
- Audience Surrogate: Maximo's story is being told to him as much as it is being told to the audience, and Hugo will often react as an audience member would to outlandish details.
- What Are Records?: He's a gen-z kid, and Maximo has to explain to him what a pay phone is.
Sara
Sara Gallardo Ramos
In the 1980s
In the 2020s
Played by: Regina Reynoso (1980s), Bianca Marroquín (present day)
Maximo's younger sister, who helps tell his story to her son Hugo.
- Gayngst: While in the present she's married to a woman and has a son, Maximo's flashbacks show that when she was a girl, she struggled with needing to hide her sexuality in 1980s Mexico.
- Kids Play Matchmaker: Sara gets the idea to set up her single mother so that she'll be distracted from ragging on Sara.
- Soapbox Sadie: As a teen, Sara was prone to rants about capitalism and cultural exploitation. The show will occasionally poke fun at her for it, such as when Lupe "listens" to Sara tell her about socialism in exchange for Sara folding a load of towels.
Nora
Nora Gallardo Ramos
In the 1980s
Played by: Vanessa Bouche (1980s)
The occasionally overbearing but loving widowed mother of Maximo and Sara, whose failing vision is the impetus for Maximo's desire to earn money.
- Parents as People: She's concerned about her son's morals being compromised, worries after her daughter, and is hesitant about dating again out of loyalty to her dead husband. She also struggles to accept that her daughter is a lesbian and even temporarily kicks her out, but her love for Sara wins out in the end.
- Struggling Single Mother: She worked multiple jobs to support her two children, which is why Maximo takes the job at Las Colinas.
Las Colinas
Memo
Guillermo "Memo" Reyes
In the 1980s
Played by: Fernando Carsa (1980s), Hemky Madera (present day)
Maximo's best friend from Acapulco, who begins working at Las Colinas alongside him.
- Fat Best Friend: He's more heavyset than his best friend, the protagonist Maximo, and his subplots tend to be more comedic.
- I Have Brothers: Despite not being particularly experienced at dating himself, Memo knows a lot of advice regarding girls' feelings because he grew up watching his multiple older sisters' romantic travails.
Julia
Julia Gonzalez
Played by: Camila Perez
A girl who works the front desk at Las Colinas. Maximo develops a crush on her, although she's dating Chad.
- Nice Girl: Julia has a unerringly kind and friendly personality. For example, upon learning that Sara is a lesbian and was unofficially kicked out of the house as a result, Julia not only is instantly understanding, but also lets Sara stay with her a while. Keep in mind this is 1980s Mexico.
- The One That Got Away: It quickly becomes clear that Maximo and Julia are not together in the present, but judging from how she features so heavily in his stories and he keeps the bracelet he had meant to give her all the way back in 1985 with him, he has not completely gotten over her.
Don Pablo
Pablo Bonilla
Played by: Damián Alcázar (1960s-1980s), Daniel Fuentes Lobo (1940s)
The operations head of Las Colinas. He is from the same street as Maximo, who idolizes him.
- Mentor Archetype: He's an older employee of Las Colinas who takes an interest in Maximo's career at the resort and helps him try to rise through the ranks.
- Insistent Appellation: Everyone calls him Don Pablo, and Maximo repeatedly corrects his mother when she calls him "Pablo".
- Sherlock Scan: On his first day at Las Colinas, Don Pablo demonstrates his potential to the owner by instantly deducing that she has recently arrived from Europe based on her appearance, accessories, and that her watch is set hours ahead.
- Rags to Riches: Maximo looks up to him because he is from the same poor street and managed to claw his way up to the cushy position of a high-ranking employee of a fancy resort.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: "Time After Time" reveals that he had a son who adored him as a kid, but the demands of his job (and his tendency to enjoy the high life the resort provided) kept him from coming home too often. Eventually his wife left him, and he doesn't reconcile with his son until the latter is well into adulthood.
Diane
Diane Davies
Played by: Jessica Collins
Las Colinas's owner in the 1980s and mother of Chad. She is a former Hollywood actress.
- '80s Hair: Fitting for a rich woman in the 80s, she's got big, poofy, blonde curls.
- Alliterative Name: A celebrity who will gleefully say her catchy full name, Diane Davies. Season 2 reveals that this is a stage name, and her real name is the significantly less glamorous and alliterative Beatrice Gruszczynski.
- Defiled Forever: Her A Day in the Limelight episode reveals that she lost her shot at being a movie star after falling pregnant and refusing a Shotgun Wedding. She spent the next decades being called a harlot for daring to be a single mother.
- Everyone Has Standards: She's a spoiled and inconsiderate boss, but she despises tabloids and how they exploit celebrities because of her own experiences with them, and willingly humiliates herself on live TV to protect a starlet.
- Large Ham: Diane is naturally bombastic and flamboyant from decades of being a soap opera star.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Although she encouraged the proposal to please the investors, Diane doesn't actually want Chad to marry Julia and tries to stop the wedding.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: Diane will not hesitate to bring up her glory days as a soap actress at every opportunity. When a magazine director describes her as a "C-list actress turned A-list hotelier", she latches on the "A-list hotelier" description and ignores the former. It is later elaborated that part of the reason she left Hollywood was to escape the scandal of being a single mom in the 60s, and she doesn't regret her decision even if she misses the limelight somewhat.
- Workout Fanservice: In addition to her soaps, she's also famous because she made a series of sexy workout videos.
Chad
Chad Davies
Played by: Chord Overstreet
Diane's son, whom she has installed as general manager of the resort, and Julia's boyfriend.
- Changing Yourself for Love: Julia is shocked to learn that when Chad was dating Kelli, he was a meditating, vegetarian brunet to match her. Diane later uses this as evidence that Chad doesn't know who he is.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: By the tail end of the second season, he becomes agitated at how he doesn't actually know who he is and what he wants to do, and sets off for Los Angeles to try and find out.
- Hair Flip: Tends to flip his hair after making a point, which Memo imitates during his impression of Chad.
- Upper-Class Twit: Chad prefers to coast on his privilege rather than exert real effort at his managerial job (that his mother got him). It even becomes an object of concern for Diane, who points out late in the first season that while she clawed her way up to the top, Chad was born at the top and is just floating.
Hector
Hector Valero
Played by: Rafael Cebrián
The cocky head pool boy when Maximo begins working at Las Colinas.
- Camp Straight: He is flamboyant, well-groomed, prone to wearing tight short shorts, frequently makes mockingly affectionate gestures at his male subordinates... and a total ladies' man.
- The Casanova: He's the type to hit on a bride at her wedding and, when rejected, move on to the bridesmaids. The first season finale also reveals that he's hooking up with Diane.
- Ladykiller in Love: He's a complete flirt, but legitimately falls for Diane after a few months of hooking up with her.
- Proud Beauty: Hector takes care to maintain his Pretty Boy appearance and is insulted when Maximo suggests that his curls are not aligned.
Lupe
Lupe
Played by: Regina Orozco (1980s)
The head of Las Colinas' laundry operations.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: She shockingly has a great singing voice, displayed at the Christmas party and the one time she gets her hands on the pool mic.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Boyfriend-Blocking Aunt in this case; she hates that Memo has a crush on her beloved niece Lorena and bodily threatens him to back off whenever she gets the chance.
- Mean Boss: Lupe is prone to dozing off on the job and threateningly passing on the duties to her underlings.
- Pet the Dog: She's a grump who treats her subordinates badly, and spends most of Lorena's time at the resort trying to stop her from spending time with Memo. But after Don Pablo reminds her that she used to have a workplace love of her own, she sets up a romantic dinner for them, showing that she's got a heart too. She even reunites them at Nora and Esteban's wedding.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A flashback to 1949 shows she used to be a sweet, hardworking young woman. A few decades later, Memo only semi-exaggeratedly describes her as an ogre.
Augusto and Adriana
Played by: Rodrigo Urquidi and Rossana De Leon
Las Colinas' lively poolside singers.
- '80s Hair: They spoof '80s rock/pop stars with their big, coiffed hairdos and eyeliner.
- The Dividual: They're performing together in most of their appearances, and are always together off the stage.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: The songs they perform are occasionally dead-on for the situation at hand, e.g. singing "Eye of the Tiger" ahead of Maximo's Lessons in Sophistication Training Montage.
Other Characters
Esteban
Esteban
Played by: Carlos Corona
A neighbor of Maximo and his family.
- Character Tics: Tipping his hat. He'll even unconsciously do it when not wearing one.
- Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: He harbors a crush on his neighbor Nora and is unnecessarily dropping in and out of the apartment to help her with odd jobs.
- My Beloved Smother: At least part of his neverending patience and demure nature is due to having an extremely overbearing elderly mother.
- Nice Guy: He's very sweet, accommodating, and nonconfrontational.
- Second Love: Nora was deeply in love with her deceased husband but later falls for and marries Esteban.
Lorena
Lorena
Played by: Carolina Moreno
Lupe's beloved niece. She and Memo develop feelings for each other.
- Satellite Love Interest: Other than being kind and sweet, not much is known about her; all the conflict in her relationship with Memo seems to be about her aunt's interference.
Isabel
Isabel
Played by: Gabriela Milla
Julia's friend, who delivers meals from her family's restaurant to Las Colinas.
- Family Business: She works at a restaurant owned by her loving and tight-knit family. Maximo is surprised to enjoy helping out there, finding it in contrast to his own workplace and family.
- Humble Goal: She and her family are happy running their one successful restaurant and reject Maximo's attempts to grow the business.
- Sticky Fingers: She makes it a point to steal something small from Las Colinas every time she visits to stick it to the man.
