Panchito Gomez (born November 2, 1963) is an American actor. His parents are from Ecuador and Puerto Rico.
Born in
Spanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...
,
New York, Panchito began his career at age seven with a television film: ''Street of the Flower Boxes''. His father, actor Caesar Cordova, realized early on that the young Gomez had raw talent and charisma to have success as a performer. It was in early 1971 that The
Children's Television Workshop was starting their second season, which is now the iconic children's show called ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...
''. Panchito went on to audition amongst hundreds of children for the role of "Antonio" opposite
Raúl Juliá
Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After ...
. He got the part and became the first child actor on ''Sesame Street'' to receive screen credit.
After a two-season run on the program, Gomez went on to do numerous commercials and television shows. In the late 1970s, Gomez and his family left their home in New York to go out west to California. Once there he became one of the most working child actors on television and film. His first feature film took the young actor to Colombia, South America to star in an independent film with José Ferrer, ''Paco''.
Filmography
See also
*
List of Ecuadorians
*
List of Puerto Ricans
References
Bibliography
* Holmstrom, John. ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995''. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 344.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Panchito
American male child actors
Living people
1963 births
People from East Harlem
American people of Latin American descent