Rafael José Diaz (born April 22, 1955) is a Puerto Rican actor, singer and television host.

Biography

Early life

Rafael was born in Manatí,

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 ...

, where his father, a physician born in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, was the medical director of the local hospital. His family eventually moved to Mayagüez in Western Puerto Rico where he grew up. While living in Mayagüez he sang and acted in various amateur radio and television broadcasts, as well as in high school talent shows. His reputation as a powerful singer followed him to

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, while attending medical school. His family supported his singing career on the condition that he finished the

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

program at the University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine. He interrupted his studies for close to eight years when his singing career took off, but eventually finished his degree and became a dentist (although he rarely practices his profession nowadays).

OTI Festival

In 1978, he was selected by

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

to represent

in the seventh edition of the OTI Festival, which was held in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. His song entitled "Háblame" (Talk to me), which was warmly received by the audience and by the international jurors gave him the fourth place. In 1980, he won the ninth edition of the Festival OTI, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, with his interpretation of the song ''Contigo Mujer'', which scored 36 points in the event and became an instant hit all over the Puerto Rican

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

. The song was composed by singer

Ednita Nazario Edna María Nazario Figueroa (born April 11, 1955) is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer who has achieved stardom both at home and abroad. She has been in the music business from a young age and has released twenty-three studio albums, seven live ...

(Who had represented Puerto Rico in the same festival the previous year) and Laureano Brizuela. Another radio hit was "Yo Quiero Hacerte Olvidar", the theme song for 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 ...

"Martha Llorens".

New projects

He soon began acting on television in various

s and in 1983 became co-host of the Saturday night program ''A Millón'', along with Héctor Marcano and Sonia Noemí on

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 ...

. He proved to be a talented TV host and lasted there for various seasons. During this time, he and his then wife, actress Magali Carrasquillo, had a son, Juan Pablo. In 1986, he joined Roberto Vigoreaux in hosting another WAPA-TV game show, ''Sabado En Grande'', when ''A Millón'' was moved to Sunday nights. During this time, he also performed with Antonio Sánchez in the hit sitcoms '' El Cuartel de la Risa'' and ''Adultos Solteros''. In the late 90s, he was hired as a television host by

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 ...

in Miami, Florida. José then became a recognizable face with Latino audiences in the United States with the movie showcase program ''Tu Pelicula''. Later on he joined the morning show ''

¡Despierta América! ''¡Despierta América!'' ( – ) is an American Spanish-language morning television show airing on Univision. Debuting on April 14, 1997, the program's primarily targets the Latino population in the United States. It is broadcast from the netwo ...

'', along with Fernando Arau, Ana María Canseco, Neyda Sandoval and fellow Puerto Rican Giselle Blondet. In 1998, Jose covered the

1998 Fifa World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

as a commentator for Univision. In 2005, he started hosting Univision-Puerto Rico's successful night show Anda Pa'l Cara. At present, he is a co-host of the night program "Que Noche" on WIPR-TV in

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 ...

. In 2013 he starred in the Puerto Rican premiere of Jerry Herman's La Cage Aux Folles as Albin/Zaza, opening in August 2013 at the Luis A Ferré Performing Arts Center in San Juan. In 2018, José joined WAPA as one of the show hosts and television reporters of variety show '' Lo sé todo'' where he remained until 2019 when he shifted to the station's daytime variety show !Viva La Tarde! alongside Tita Guerrero and Jaime Mayol where he currently (as of 2023) remains as host.

References

External links