Luis Guzmán (born August 28, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actor. His career spans over 40 years and includes a number of films and television series. He has appeared in

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. Often described as one of the most preeminent writer-directors of his generation, List of awards and nominations received by Paul Thomas Anders ...

's films ''

Boogie Nights ''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic ...

'' (1997), ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

'' (1999) and ''

Punch-Drunk Love ''Punch-Drunk Love'' is a 2002 American Absurdist fiction, absurdist Romance film, romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It follows an entrepr ...

'' (2002), and

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventiv ...

's films ''

Out of Sight ''Out of Sight'' is a 1998 American action comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Scott Frank, adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1996 novel. The first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and actor George Clooney, it was ...

'' (1998), ''

The Limey ''The Limey'' is a 1999 American crime film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs. The film features Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Barry Newman, Nicky Katt, and Peter Fonda. The plot concerns an English care ...

'' (1999) and ''

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

'' (2000). His other film credits include '' Q & A'' (1990), '' The Hard Way'' (1991), ''

Carlito's Way ''Carlito's Way'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma and written by David Koepp, based on the novels '' Carlito's Way'' (1975) and '' After Hours'' (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres. It stars Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelop ...

'' (1993), '' Snake Eyes'' (1998) and '' Keanu'' (2016). For his role in ''The Limey'', he received a nomination for the

Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male The Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male was one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It was first presented in 1987, with Morgan Freeman being the first recipient, for his role as Fast Black in '' Street Smart''. It was last pres ...

. On television, he starred as Raoul Hernandez on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

prison drama '' Oz'' (1998–2000),

José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha (14 May 1947 – 15 December 1989), also known by the nicknames ''Don Sombrero'' () and ''El Mexicano'' (), was a Colombian drug lord who was one of the leaders of the Medellín Cartel along with the Ochoa brother ...

on ''

Narcos ''Narcos'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are about Colombian narcoterrorist and drug lord Pablo Escobar, leader ...

'' (2015), Jesse "Mama" Salander on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

medical drama A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...

'' Code Black'' (2015–2018), Hector Contreras on ''

Perpetual Grace, LTD ''Perpetual Grace, LTD'' is an American neo-noir thriller television series that premiered on Epix on June 2, 2019. The series is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions, with co-creators Steven Conrad and Bruce Terris writing each episod ...

'' (2019), and

Gomez Addams Gomez Addams is the patriarch of the fictional Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for ''The New Yorker'' magazine in the 1940s and subsequently portrayed on television, in film, and on the stage. Cartoons In Charles Addams's ...

on ''

Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In English, the name is derived from Old English and Middle English , 'day of Woden', reflecting ...

'' (2022–present).

Early life

Guzmán was born in

Cayey, Puerto Rico Cayey (), officially Cayey de Muesas, is a mountain Cayey barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in central Puerto Rico located on the Sierra de Cayey within the Cordillera Central (Puerto Rico), Central Mountain rang ...

, and was raised in New York City's Riverdale and the surrounding

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

neighborhood. He went to

Seward Park High School __NOTOC__ The Seward Park Campus is a "vertical campus" of the New York City Department of Education located at 350 Grand Street at the corner of Essex Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It was the location of the form ...

on the Lower East Side. His mother, Rosa, was a hospital worker, and his stepfather, Benjamin Cardona, was a TV repairman. Guzmán graduated from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

, and shortly after began his career as a

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

er and moonlighted as an actor, eventually becoming heavily involved in

street theater Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves, college or university ...

and

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

Career

Luis Guzman at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Guzman's numerous movie credits include ''

'', '' Carlito's Way: Rise to Power'', ''

'', ''

Welcome to Collinwood ''Welcome to Collinwood'' is a 2002 American caper comedy film written and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and starring William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, Sam Rockwell, Michael Jeter, Luis Guzmán, Patricia Clarkson, Andrew Davoli, George Cl ...

,'' '' Stonewall'', '' Waiting...'', '' The Salton Sea'', and ''

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' (also simply known as ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'') is a 2004 American black comedy adventure film directed by Brad Silberling from a screenplay by Robert Gordon, based on the first th ...

''. He has also appeared on the TV shows '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

'' (as himself) and '' Oz'' and voiced Ricardo Diaz in the video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' and its prequel '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories''. Guzmán starred in the short-lived 2003 television comedy ''

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

'', and is a commentator on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's '' I Love the '80s,'' as well as ''

I Love Toys ''I Love Toys'' is a miniseries on VH1 and the eighth installment of the '' I Love the...'' series that premiered on March 6, 2006. It is a countdown of the 100 greatest toys, chosen partially through public voting on vh1.com and also considerat ...

'' and its sequels, including '' I Love the '70s'' and '' I Love the '90s''. He co-starred on the 2007

series ''

John from Cincinnati ''John from Cincinnati'' is an American drama television series, set against the surfing community of Imperial Beach, California. It aired on HBO from June 10 to August 12, 2007. Overview ''John from Cincinnati'' is the result of a collaborati ...

'', which lasted one season. In early 2008, Guzmán starred in "''Naturally Aged'' Cheddar Hunks" TV ads for

Cabot Creamery The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is an American dairy agricultural marketing cooperative owned by Agri-Mark. The cooperative has a plant in Cabot, Vermont, but its administrative headquarters is in Waitsfield, Vermont. History The original ...

. He also appeared in the music video "Yes We Can." In 2010, he starred in HBO's '' How to Make It in America'' and appeared in a comical series of

Snickers Snickers (stylized in all caps) is a chocolate bar consisting of nougat topped with Caramel#Candy, caramel and peanuts, all encased in milk chocolate. The bars are made by the American company Mars Inc. The annual global sales of Snickers is ...

commercials that played during that year's

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

Personal life

Guzmán resides in

Cabot, Vermont Cabot is a six-mile-square town located in the northeast corner of Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,443 at the 2020 census. It contains the unincorporated villages of Cabot Village, Cabot Plain, South Cabot (Hooker ...

. Guzmán endorsed Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in the

2016 U.S. presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and ...

. In 2018, Guzmán, along with

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

all-star

Bernie Williams Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. (born September 13, 1968) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and current musician. He played his entire 16-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees from 1991 through ...

, appeared in a season six episode of Jon Taffer's ''

Bar Rescue ''Bar Rescue'' is an American reality television series that airs on Paramount Network (formerly Spike during the first five seasons). It stars Jon Taffer, a long-time food and beverage industry consultant specializing in nightclubs, bars and p ...

'', offering assistance not only to the El Krajo Tavern in Loiza, but the town's community center, after it was devastated from

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

. During

Telegramgate Telegramgate, also known as Chatgate or RickyLeaks, was a political scandal involving Ricardo Rosselló, then Governor of Puerto Rico, which began on July 8, 2019, with the leak of hundreds of pages of a group chat on the messaging application ...

, Guzmán was interviewed by

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

for his opinions on the situation in Puerto Rico and he expressed that " Ricky had to go" and that corruption on the island was a major problem that he hoped would be solved.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guzman, Luis Living people 1956 births California Democrats City College of New York alumni Hispanic and Latino American male actors Male actors from Manhattan Male actors from Vermont New York (state) Democrats Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners People from Cabot, Vermont People from Cayey, Puerto Rico People from Greenwich Village People from the Lower East Side Puerto Rican male film actors Puerto Rican male television actors Vermont Democrats 20th-century Puerto Rican male actors 21st-century Puerto Rican male actors