Braulio Castillo Jr. (born August 30, 1958) is a Puerto Rican actor and radio host. He is the son of
Braulio Castillo
Braulio Castillo Cintrón (March 30, 1933 – February 28, 2015) was a telenovela actor in Latin America. His two sons, Braulio Castillo, Jr. and Jorge Castillo, are also actors. He was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
Castillo played in the ''Or ...
, an actor across Latin America, and the brother of the lesser known Jorge Castillo, also a television and theater actor.
Biography
For a short time during the 1970s, he was first known in
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
doing newsbreaks for WKBM-TV Channel 11 in
Caguas
Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality in central eastern Puerto Rico. Located in the eponymous Caguas Valley between the Sierra de Cayey and Sierra de Luquillo of the Central Mountain Range, it is bordered by San Juan and Trujillo Alto to ...
, now
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
WLII
WLII-DT (channel 11), branded on-air as , is a television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving the Territories of the United States#Permanently inhabited territories, U.S. territory as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. Owned b ...
.
Castillo reached national fame in Puerto Rico when he participated in the 1984 Spanish soap opera '' Coralito'' at
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to:
* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* San Juan, Argentina
* San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines
San Juan may also refer to:
Places Arge ...
-based
WKAQ-TV
WKAQ-TV (channel 2) is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, serving as the U.S. territory's dual Telemundo and NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-TV's studios are loc ...
Channel 2. There, he shared star billing with
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
actor
Salvador Pineda
Salvador Pineda Popoca (born June 16, 1952, in Huetamo, Michoacan, Mexico) is a Mexican actor, who has participated in over 20 Mexican telenovelas and Mexican movies, as well as two Hollywood low budget movies. Born to Mexican politician Salvado ...
and with Puerto Rican actress
Sully Diaz
Sully may refer to:
* Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (born 1951), American pilot notable for landing his disabled airliner on the Hudson in 2009
** ''Sully'' (film), a 2016 film by Clint Eastwood about Sullenberger
Places France
* Sully, Calvado ...
. Afterwards, Castillo reached teen idol status across Puerto Rico. In 1985, he was one of the stars of the successful telenovela'' Tanairi'', alongside actress Von Marie Mendez. That year (1985), Castillo was hired to co-host a game show named ''Adelante Juventud'' (''Come on, Youth'') alongside
Myraida Chaves
Myraida Chaves Carbia (March 12, 1960 – April 22, 2021) was a Puerto Rican show host, actress and television and theater producer. Chaves was the daughter of the well-known Puerto Rican actress, Awilda Carbia.
Early life
Chaves was the d ...
. He also starred in three telenovelas alongside fellow Puerto Rican actress Millie Aviles.
Castillo subsequently acted on numerous telenovelas in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
,
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
and
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
.
In the 1990s he starred in the
sitcom
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
,''Tres Hombres y...'', inspired by the movie ''
Three Men and a Baby
''Three Men and a Baby'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy. It stars Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the ...
'', alongside
Raymond Arrieta
Ramón Emilio "Raymond" Arrieta Vázquez (born March 26, 1965), is a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican actor, comedian, host and philanthropist. Starting his career as a comedian in various local shows, Arrieta gained popularity in the 1990s when ...
and
Alba Nydia Díaz
Alba Nydia Díaz (born April 27, 1955) is a Puerto Rican actress who has worked in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Early years
Díaz was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The roles she portrayed in her early days and years after were not leading roles, from ...
on the WKAQ-TV Telemundo de Puerto Rico network. Castillo also was the leading man of the
telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...
''Karina Montaner'', opposite
Giselle Blondet
Alba Giselle Blondet Gomez (born January 9, 1964) is a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican actress and TV host. She also founded the non-profit organization "Fundación Arte por La Paz".
Early biography
Giselle Blondet was born Alba Giselle Blonde ...
, broadcast by
WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the flagship and namesake station of Guaynabo-based WAPA Media Group.
WAPA-TV maintains studio facilities on Luis Vigoreaux Avenue ...
Channel 4 in San Juan. For several years, Braulio starred in various
soap operas
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originated from radio dramas original ...
in
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
.
In 2003, Castillo starred in the film ''
Los Diaz de Doris
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
Velda González
Velda González de Modestti (April 10, 1933 – April 20, 2016) was a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, comedian, politician and former senator. She was a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1981 to 2005.
Early years and studies
Velda Gonzále ...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
player Cirilo Cruz.
In 2006, he performed the role of Zacks in the musical ''
A Chorus Line
''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical conceived by Michael Bennett with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante.
Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is cent ...
Daniela Droz
Daniela Droz (born August 16, 1977) is a Puerto Rican actress, singer, and television host.
Early years
Daniela esenia Droz Serranostarted her acting career during childhood. Her stage debut took place in 1987, at age 10, in the San Juan produ ...
, among others. Castillo was acknowledged not only for his acting, but for his phenomenal attributes as a stage dancer.
Starting in 2007, he co-hosted a daily radio morning
talk show
A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...
alongside Mirayda Chaves while keeping on performing in numerous theatre productions in San Juan.
Also in 2007, Castillo performed the leading role in director
Jacobo Morales
Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and author born in Puerto Rico.Ángel''.
In 2011 he starred in the Puerto Rican premiere of
Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza (; born 1 May 1959) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays ''Art (play), 'Art and ''God of Carnage''. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. ...
's play
God of Carnage
''God of Carnage'' (originally in French ''Le Dieu du carnage'') is a play by Yasmina Reza that was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents; the son of one couple has hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The parents ...
at the Tapia Theatre in San Juan.
He starred in the Puerto Rican production of Jerry Herman's La Cage Aux Folles as Georges, opening in August 2013 at the Luis A Ferré Performing Arts Center in San Juan.
Early in 2014, Castillo revealed that he had battled
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
in 2011.
On early October 2020, he revealed that he had gone through an emotional crisis, due to a personal situation as well as the uncertainty of the pandemic, which lead for him to seek help at the hospital for depression symptoms.
Acting career
See also
*
List of Puerto Ricans
This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...