Celebrity hairstylist Ricardo Rojas has a jet-setting life filled with celebrity clients, glittering Hollywood red carpets, premieres, and more.
His mojo is in creating groundbreaking runway styles for Versace, Chanel, and Dolce & Gabbana, weaving his magic on the tresses of A-list celebrities, including Donatella Versace, Mariah Carey, Jessica Chastain, and Anne Hathaway, to name just a few.
Rojas was recently cast to guest star in the HBO Max Sex and the City spinoff, And Just Like That, as world-renowned hairstylist Juan Jose – an art-imitating-life moment that he truly relishes.
The popular new series picks back up on the lives of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), who are now in the more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s. Season 2 of And Just Like That will air on HBO Max later this year.
Ricardo’s celebrated work as Hollywood’s hairstylist has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Allure, InStyle, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, and many other magazines across the globe, and he created groundbreaking runway styles for Versace, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, and Gaultier.
Rojas first fell in love with acting at the age of 6 when his father took him to see vintage Charlie Chaplin films. His father entered him into a talent competition, and his passion eventually led to him securing a contract with a local theater company.
It was around this same time that he also discovered his gift for creating innovative, imaginative hairstyles. He made the move to New York City and began taking acting classes with Stella Adler, Susan Batson, and Richard Pinter. When his hairstyling career began to take off, he fully immersed himself in beauty. Now he is finally returning to his love of acting.
He is also known for his eponymous hairline Ricardo Rojas Haircare — a collection of shampoos, conditioners, treatment masks, and his “must-have” styling products, uniquely infused with Argentinian Yerba Mate, herbs, and minerals that enrich and nourish each hair follicle, giving a silky, shiny, energetic finish. He proudly said that he dedicates the new haircare line and all of his endeavors to his mother, who he thanks “for teaching me how important it is to feel beautiful.”
Of his jet-setting lifestyle, he said, “I go to London, Paris, Dubai, and The Maldives. I will go everywhere with my clients. I’m part of the luggage. They pack for themselves, and they pack me,” he exclusively told Monsters and Critics.
Read on to learn more about the life of celebrity hairstylist and jet-setter Ricardo Rojas and how he received the opportunity to tame Cher’s tresses.
Monsters and Critics: How long have you been a hairdresser? And how did you start in the business?
Ricardo Rojas: I’ve been a hairdresser since I was in my 20s. I started when I was 22 or 23 because acting came first. My father was an actor, and he wanted me to be one. By ’93 I met Oribe and I started with Oribe in his salon on 54th Street and Fifth Avenue. I was part of the team, and everything was wide open regarding the industry here in the U.S.
Before I got to Oribe, I had to do an audition. Back in the day, you had to present a book in which you have to be able to do hair editorial. Then I brought a model, and then things happened.
M&C: All of these years later, what do you still love about being a hairstylist?
Ricardo Rojas: I love this profession. I was talking with a client this morning about the fact that what I do is creative. It’s an art form for me. Just from the process of building a look, like creating texture, color, and shapes. And it goes through history. You have to go back to different times, most of the time, because you have a point of reference. When we do a photoshoot and when we create a look for the red carpet, it’s always going back to the ‘20s, ‘50s, ‘70s, or ‘90s. My house is full of books. And I go back to movies all of the time. It just keeps me alive. I really love this craft, and I always say no matter what happens with my career, most recently, the resurgence of my acting, I love what it is to be a hairdresser.
M&C: How did you get many of your celebrity clients? Where did they come from? How did they find you? How did you find them?
Ricardo Rojas: When I worked with Oribe in 1994, Oribe opened a salon in Miami, which was in the Collins House. I remember going to the opening, to the lounge with Oribe and Omar and a group of friends, when Francois Nars was launching this line, and I briefly met Donatella Versace. They did an article on the salon, and they sent me there. That was my first article in Allure. The year was late 1995, and I started working with Donatella. I went to do her hair at the St. Regis for the first time, and then right after, in Miami, I become her hairdresser for 10 years.
M&C: This must have opened up your world to many celebrities.
Ricardo Rojas: Yes. Through Donatella, I was able to meet her friends. She would host parties or events like the first show for her first collection called Versus by Donatella Versace. I would do Donatella’s hair and then also do the hair of whoever was going to be on the red carpet, like there were no more than one or two guests per hairdresser. At first, this is the way that I met most of my clients.
M&C: I know that hairdressers have extremely close relationships with their clients. Talk about this aspect of the business. It is creative and artistic, but also with some bonding, therapy, and friendship in there, as well.
Ricardo Rojas: Well, it becomes that. At first, you meet someone and then, of course, not with everybody, but with a lot of clients, you really get that special relationship. Yes, it is in the DNA of a hairdresser to forge that close bond with his clientele. I make sure that this is what it is all about when I work with someone for two hours. It’s really that relationship that is kind of like a healing process. Everybody comes with different moments in their life in which we can share something super happy, a wish of I want to be working or I’m buying this house, my daughter is getting married, I just met this great guy. These are the moments I have been living with since I became a hairdresser.
M&C: Your role in And Just Like That, The Sex and the City reboot, how did that happen for you?
Ricardo Rojas: I cannot say much, but I’m going to say what I can. I already filmed two episodes. My character is the king of hairdressers, the king of blowouts in New York City, and is a friend of Seema, (Sarita Choudhury), who comes to my salon. My friend, who is now my acting agent, called me and said, “Ricardo, I’m going to send you something I need you to read. It’s for this part in this TV show.” I’m thinking really like they want me to go and do the look of someone for a certain scene, which I don’t do. She’s like, “I really want you to do this because this is totally for you.” And she told me it had to be done in two days. So, I flew to L.A. jetlagged, and they wanted to see me again.
Then after I got the callback, I got the part. It was a great deal of fun. The people, the whole production, everything about it was so wonderful and welcoming, especially the director, Michael Patrick King. He was so warm and welcoming. It was a beautiful experience to be part of this Sex and the City family.
M&C: Were you a fan of the original show?
Ricardo Rojas: Of course, I grew up with it. Everyone in the ‘90s that I knew loved the show. It’s part of me growing up and everything about being in New York City. I just cannot believe that all these years went by. It shows you different aspects of our culture in New York, and it’s a truly beautiful show.
M&C: It sounds like you are extremely fired up about acting on this popular HBO series.
Ricardo Rojas: I love the acting part of it. It came back to me. I’m taking classes with an amazing private coach. I’m taking singing and jazz classes. I’m getting into the groove because if something else happens, I want to be ready.
M&C: Can you please share a favorite celebrity anecdote?
Ricardo Rojas: Being with Donatella Versace has been such a fun time. What can I say? One day we were at the Ritz Carlton in Paris, and she’s like, “You know, we’re doing this show. Ricardo, whose hair do you want to do? My sister-in-law or Cher?” I look at her, and I’m like, “Are you kidding me? Of course, Cher.” She’s like, “Okay, I’m going to send you to do it.” After that, I worked with Cher for a long time. She has her main person in LA, but she took me to Paris with her for a photoshoot when she did with Chrome Hearts. I did a photoshoot for one of her records.
M&C: Talk about seeing your clients through so many big moments.
Ricardo Rojas: I think that is the relationship that we always have as a hairstylist, friend, hairdresser, hair confidant, glam confidant; whatever you want to call it. But, yes, now I see kids who were 10 when I met them, and now, they are getting married, and others are having babies. You go through marriage, funerals, and so on with them. And I am always there for them.
Basically, I have to tell you one of the things that stay on my mind; the relationship that Alexandre de Paris had with Elizabeth Taylor. At one point, my mentor in Buenos Aires used to say, “Ricardo, do you want to go to New York? Why don’t you go to Paris?” This was in 1986 or 1987, and Paris was on fire, but I picked New York. I just felt there was something really waiting for me. I think it was because I wanted to work with Oribe, and I did. I really loved working with such a master.
M&C: What advice would you tell somebody who came to you who wants to either do what you’re doing or do something else that they’re very passionate about? How would you guide them?
Ricardo Rojas: I will say find your first mentor. You can have three of them. You have one in which immediately you know who’s going to be your mentor. Stay with a mentor for at least two or three years because this is the period of time that you’re really going to get the basic of the craft. And then you start shopping around. Like I worked with Odile Gilbert in Paris. I ended up working with Odile, Galliano, Chanel, and Christian Dior.
M&C: What else would you impart from your years of valuable experience?
Ricardo Rojas: For this craft, you need to know the story, the references, what this craft is about, and how it converges with music, history, painting, and more.
M&C: What are some of the challenges of your work?
Ricardo Rojas: Sometimes I have to show up at 5 or 6 a.m., and I am extremely tired. But I show up ready to give it my best because, after all these years, I still deeply love what I do. I enjoy my clients, the artistry, the discovery, and everything in between. It is my passion.
Next, And Just Like That showrunner says Willie Garson’s role would have been much bigger