Anthony Ramos’ Assassin Character in ‘The Beauty’ Inspired by His Dad (Exclusive)

Anthony Ramos’ assassin character in his latest project, The Beauty, drew inspiration from an unlikely place — his late father.

“No TV or film character [inspired my role], but kind of my dad,” the actor, 34, told PEOPLE exclusively at the New York City premiere of the new FX series, referring to his villainous character, referred to simply as The Assassin, and his dad, Mario Martinez.

“My dad, he was really charismatic and funny, but he was also, like, kind of sinister,” Ramos continued. “Like, my pops would say things, and you’d turn your head.”

“You know when somebody says something, and they say it’s so nonchalant, like, ‘Yeah, I slit him in the throat,’ and then talk about, like, oranges or something random after? They’ll just glaze right over that? The Assassin is the kind of guy that would do something like that too.”

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The Beauty is a sci-fi thriller about a sexually transmitted treatment that turns users beautiful, but with lethal side effects. It was created and written by Ryan Murphy and Matthew Hodgson.

Alongside Ramos, the cast also includes Evan Peters, Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall and Jeremy Pope, and the show features a variety of celebrity guest appearances from stars like Bella Hadid, Ben Platt, Billy Eichner, Isabella Rossellini, Peter Gallagher, Vincent D’Onofrio, Meghan Trainor, Amelia Gray Hamlin, Lux Pascal and Nicola Peltz Beckham, among others.

Further comparing his role of The Assassin to his late father, Ramos told PEOPLE, “He’s just super charismatic and funny, but, again, like, really sinister and really kind of psychotic.”

“It was fun getting to dive into a guy like that,” the A Star Is Born alum continued.

Anthony was born in November 1991 to dad Martinez and his mom, Mildred Ramos. His father struggled with substance abuse and was often in and out of their lives, so he and his siblings — older brother Mario and younger sister Stephanie — were raised by their mom.

The actor began reconnecting with his dad in early adulthood, and Martinez even attended the 2016 Grammys alongside Mildred to watch their son and the rest of the Hamilton cast receive the award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Anthony and his dad later appeared together in a 2024 episode of PBS’s Finding Your Roots. Shortly after filming, Martinez died, according to a Facebook post from the series’ host. (Anthony has not yet publicly commented on his father’s death.)

The Beauty’s first three episodes are available to stream now. New episodes will be released on Hulu and FX at 9 p.m. EST / 12 a.m. PST every Wednesday, until the series finale on March 4.