San Angelo Man Menchaca Says ‘Dutton Ranch’ Role Fulfills Childhood Cowboy Dream

FORT WORTH, TX — Marc Menchaca, a San Angelo native who grew up wanting to be a rodeo cowboy, said his role as Zachariah on the “Yellowstone” spinoff “Dutton Ranch” feels like his childhood dream come true. 

The 50-year-old actor, who has nearly 100 film and television credits, including “Homeland,” “Ozark,” “The Creator” and “The Outsider,” plays a character who joins Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler on their South Texas ranch after his release from prison. Menchaca told the Star-Telegram in a Zoom interview this week that the part hits close to home.

“I’ve said it to my parents and my wife and all my friends, I’m like, ‘This is like my childhood dream,’” he said. 

Menchaca graduated from Texas A&M University in 1998 with an English degree. Though he dabbled in acting in college, his interest began earlier. As a high school football and soccer player in San Angelo, he was hesitant to join the theater department but was inspired by the movie “Dead Poets Society.”

“That movie made you want to explore outside of the bounds that you are in,” he said. “If I can act like a fool and do that, and make people laugh, or make them feel something, then I’m gonna give it a shot.”

At Texas A&M he took community theater roles and appeared in a school production while remaining an English major. He considered transferring to the University of Texas at Austin for its theater program, but decided against it to finish college on time. A summer acting intensive in New York followed. He credited A&M instructor Larry Reynolds with inspiring him, likening Reynolds to Robin Williams’ character in “Dead Poets Society.”

Menchaca said he seeks strong material in new projects, even unpaid independent films that let him experiment and work with new directors. 

He immediately connected with the atmosphere of “Dutton Ranch,” which films with real cowboys handling horses and cattle. “They’re like just salt of the earth, incredible guys and girls,” he said. “It’s like I’m getting to work with the people that I wanted to be growing up.”

Menchaca described Zachariah as still and reflective, a blend of the script and his own interpretation shaped by the character’s prison backstory. In one scene from episode 4, he and co-star J.R. Villareal’s character Azul share a light moment tossing a football in a hardware store amid a grim task involving infected cattle — a beat the actors and director Greg Yaitanes crafted to add sweetness to a dark situation. 

Menchaca also draws on music when developing characters, selecting theme songs to guide his performance. He cited Tyler Childers’ “Whitehouse Road” as an example from his work on “The Outsider.”

“Dutton Ranch” airs Fridays on Paramount+ and the Paramount Network.