{"id":820675,"date":"2026-08-21T05:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T05:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820675\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T05:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T05:38:15","slug":"jason-sudeikis-says-it-was-a-joy-for-former-cast-members-real-life-sister-to-join-ted-lasso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820675\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Sudeikis says it was a \u2018joy\u2019 for former cast member\u2019s real-life sister to join Ted Lasso"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ted Lasso<\/a> star Jason Sudeikis has spoken about the \u201cjoy\u201d of having the real-life sister of Dani Rojas actor Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez<\/a> join the cast for the show\u2019s latest season.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez made Rojas a fan-favorite character during his time on the series, playing an effervescent footballer whose catchphrase was: \u201cFootball is life.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In the new season, which focuses on Lasso becoming the coach of a women\u2019s team, Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s real-life sister Paloma Cinco plays his character\u2019s sibling Maria Rojas, an aspiring footballer.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Deadline<\/a>, Sudeikis said the show has endeavored to replicate real-life relationships onscreen, pointing out that Leslie Higgins actor Jeremy Swift\u2019s on-screen wife is played by his actual spouse, Mary Roscoe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love when we do stuff like that,\u201d said Sudeikis. \u201cWhenever we have a love interest on the show, we encourage them to pick someone because they\u2019ll have that natural chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Real-lifeReal-life siblings Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez and Paloma Cinco play brother and sister in the ‘Ted Lasso’ universe (Matt Winkelmeyer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Sudeikis continued: \u201cSo to have Cristo\u2019s sister Paloma on the show, who we had all known personally\u2026 the two of them are just a joy to be around. And that joy remains with them as individuals. I love that she did it and that she did it with gusto. She was so funny and so sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate interview with the publication, Cinco revealed that she and her brother had actually conceived of the idea themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cCristo and I had the idea to pitch that Dani has a sister,\u201d said Cinco. \u201cAfter that, at an Oscars after-party, a member of the press asked Cristo if he would be returning to Ted Lasso for the new fourth season. He said no, but then jokingly added, \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be cool if his sister was?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cFrom there, we started to process what that could look like. We recorded an audition based on that and sent it along. In our version, Dani\u2019s sister is named Daniela Rojas. She was similar to the character you meet, Maria Rojas, in that she\u2019s equally as positive, energetic, and charismatic, like her brother Dani. There was another version where Daniela was grumpy and dark, the complete opposite of Maria. In our version, she was a good soccer player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PalomaPaloma Cinco as Maria Rojas in ‘Ted Lasso’ (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Fern\u00e1ndez made his debut as a professional player in a game for El Paso in a USL Cup match against New Mexico United.<\/a><\/p>\n

Before his acting career, Fernandez was an accomplished youth player, competing with Tecos FC in Liga MX. However, injuries ultimately shifted his path towards acting.<\/p>\n

His return to professional soccer began with a tryout for the Chicago Fire’s reserve squad earlier this year, which subsequently led to another tryout with El Paso and a contract.<\/p>\n

In an ESPN interview in May, he explained: \u201cFootball has given me both the best moments, the sad moments. I guess that’s why, for me, football is life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88],"class_list":["post-820675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}