Manuel Pérez "Manny" Batista (born May 5, 1969) is a

Dominican American Dominican Americans ( es, domínico-americanos, ) are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Dominican Republic. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Dominican descent or to someone who has migrated to the United Stat ...

actor who has appeared in the television series ''

Third Watch ''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 26, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...

'' and in the film '' Washington Heights''. He is the cousin of Pulitzer Prize-winning author

Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname * Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer * Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duke of Abrantès (17 ...

Life and career

Pérez was born in Baitoa,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

and currently lives in

Washington Heights, Manhattan Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defen ...

. Pérez is one of 11 siblings. By the time Pérez finished

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

he knew that he wanted to be an actor so he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

where he majored in drama at

Marymount Manhattan College Marymount Manhattan College is a private college on the Upper East Side of New York City. As of 2020, enrollment consists of 1,571 undergraduates with women making up 80.1% and men 19.9% of student enrollment. The college was founded in 1936. Hi ...

, graduating in 1992. He studied at Ensemble Studio Theatre and is a member of the LAByrinth Theatre Company, in

. Following his performance on the film ''Washington Heights'' (which he also co-wrote and produced), Pérez garnered praise from many critics. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' stated "Mr. Perez has charisma to burn." He won the 2002 Best Actor Award at The Milan International Film Festival in Italy for his performance in ''Washington Heights''. At the Santo Domingo Invita show he was honored as one of the most prominent Dominican actors in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. In November 2007 Pérez was honored in the Dominican Film Festival held in Puerto Plata along with

Dania Ramirez Dania Ramirez (born November 8, 1979) is a Dominican actress. Her credits include the roles of Maya Herrera in '' Heroes'', Alex in '' Entourage'', and Blanca during the last season of ''The Sopranos'' on television. Her film roles include Ale ...

for his humanitarian work in the Dominican Republic. When Pérez received the award he said that his first pair of shoes were given to him at the age of 5 by his father and that he only wore them to go to

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

on Sundays. Pérez also said that when he first got to the United States he was really fat and that he didn't know why since he was poor and didn't eat well until his mother took him to the doctor where they found out that his stomach was full of hookworms that got into his body through his feet since he would always walk barefoot. Pérez donated 10,000 shoes to families who lost everything after

Hurricane Noel Hurricane Noel was a deadly and very damaging tropical cyclone that carved a path of destruction across the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea to Newfoundland in late October 2007. The sixteenth tropical depression, fourteenth named storm, a ...

swept across the

. In 2012 he was elected by

Luz García Luz Margarita Cecilia García Guzmán (born April 15, 1977) is a Dominican people (Dominican Republic), Dominican TV hostess, theatre and film actress, and beauty pageant title holder. García is known in Puerto Rico as Lucy Amado. Caree ...

's ''Noche de Luz'' programme as a "Summer's Hot Body".

Filmography

Films and television series that Pérez has appeared in include:Manny Pérez

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

. Accessed September 23, 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Manny 1969 births Living people Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States Hispanic and Latino American male actors Actors from Providence, Rhode Island People from Washington Heights, Manhattan Dominican Republic male actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from Rhode Island American male film actors American male television actors

Life and career

Filmography

See also

References

External links