Mauricio Sanchez (born December 1973) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n actor.

Early life and education

Born and raised in Mérida, Venezuela, Sanchez is the son of local hoteliers Manuel and Rosarito Sanchez-Hernandez. He is the youngest of three brothers. When he was 17, Sanchez was an exchange student in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. After high school, Sanchez moved to

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the ...

to attend

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

. He enrolled in WKU's Performing Arts Program, where he had the opportunity to study theatre, dance, music and acting.

Career

After graduating from college, Sanchez moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he was a performer at Cowboys La Cage. He performed in New York for several years in a variety of productions and national tours, including the national and international tours for ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

''. He was cast for '' Center Stage'' in 2000 as a salsa dancer, his debut film work. Sanchez later moved to Boston, Massachusetts to study performing for film and TV. Eighteen months later, with studies and independent film work behind him, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in advanced acting classes and joined

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniqu ...

. He also made a short appearance in the movie ''

Woo Woo, WoO, WOO, W.O.O. and variants may refer to: People Woo or Wu, romanization of several East Asian names: * Hu (surname): 胡, 瓠, 護, 戶, 扈, 虎, 呼, 忽, 斛 * Wu (surname): 吳, 伍, 武, 仵, 烏, 鄔, 巫 * Ng (name): 吳, 伍 * ...

''. Over the summer of 2005, he regularly auditioned for opportunities which led to his being cast for the comedy ''

Date Movie ''Date Movie'' is a 2006 American romantic comedy parody film written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, directed by Seltzer, and produced by Paul Schiff and Friedberg. It was released on February 17, 2006 by 20th Century Fox and stars Alys ...

''. After his success in the role of Chamo on the VH1 series ''

I Love New York I Love New York (stylized ) is a slogan, a logo, and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm of Wells, Rich, Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote tourism ...

'', Sanchez appeared in the straight-to-DVD sequel '' Bachelor Party 2'' in 2008.

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

Mauricio Sanchez, Actor - Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Mauricio 1973 births Living people Venezuelan male film actors Venezuelan male stage actors Venezuelan male television actors