Constantino "Tino" García Arguello (May 26, 1935 – September 26, 2015) was a Nicaraguan–Puerto Rican comedy actor who participated in a number of Puerto Rican and Hollywood series and films, including ''
Thunder Island'' and ''
Bananas
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...
''.
Early life and career
García was born in
Managua, Nicaragua
Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...
. His father, Constantino García Hernández, was a Puerto Rican from the city of
Aguadilla
Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is s ...
, residing in Nicaragua, and his mother, Eva Arguello Peñalba, was a Nicaraguan from
Leon
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
.
In 1936, when Tino was a one year old baby, his family moved 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 ...
, where Constantino Jr. attended
Colegio San José as a teenager, and then the
Gordon Military College in
Barnesville, Georgia
Barnesville is a city in Lamar County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,755, up from 5,972 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Lamar County and is just outside of the Atlanta metropol ...
. This led to him being admitted to
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
in Washington, D.C. He traveled to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
to take directing and producing courses at the local SRT school.
Returning to Puerto Rico, García became a prolific stage actor during the decade of the 1960s, participating in ''Una Ciguena Con Bigotes'' (''A Mustached Stork'') by
Emilio Huyke;
Rene Marques' ''
La Carreta
''La Carreta'' () is a 1953 play by Puerto Rican playwright René Marqués.Gil de La Madrid, Antonio.René Marqués, dramaturgo. ''Biografías de escritores puertorriqueños'', ''La Gran Enciclopedia Ilustrada del Proyecto Salón Hogar''. Access ...
'' (''The Oxcart''); ''La Pareja Dispareja'' (''The Odd Couple'') alongside
Elin Ortiz
Elin or Elín is a variation of Ellen and Helene used in Scandinavian and Celtic languages. Notable people with the name include:
*Elin Andersdotter (died 1569), Swedish lady-in-waiting and political conspirator
* Elin Brandell (1882–1963), Sw ...
and
Yoyo Boing
Luis Antonio Rivera (April 9, 1930 – November 30, 2023), also known as "Yoyo Boing", was a Puerto Rican actor, comedian and television show host, who was also one of the pioneers of Puerto Rican television.
Early years
Rivera Benítez was bor ...
; ''Cuando El Es Guadalupe'' (''When He Is Guadalupe''); ''La Marquesa Está en Tres y Dos'' (''The Marquess Is Undecided'') and the musical ''El Misterio Del Castillo'' (''The Mystery of the Castle'').
García started acting in a television
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 ...
series named ''Novelas Fab'' (after a sponsor detergent brand) on
Telemundo Puerto Rico. He appeared in ''
El derecho de nacer'' (''The Right to Be Born''), which became a major telenovela hit across Latin America, and ''Cuando Los Hijos Condenan'' (''When Children Condemn''). García moved to
Wapa Television to appear in ''Yo Mate a Una Santa'' (''I Killed a Woman Saint'') and ''Perdon Para Esta Mujer'' (''Forgiveness For This Woman''), among others.
Garcia's best known character was a drunken man, "El Borrachito", which he humorously played on many Puerto Rican television shows, including ''
La Taberna India'', a show sponsored by
India beer, a famous local beer brand. He reprised this role many times over the years, including also on short television sketches.
Late in his career, he appeared in the 2006 Puerto Rican teen comedy movie ''
Casi Casi''.
Personal life and death
Garcia was married to Lilliam Catala from 1957 until his death on September 26, 2015. He was buried at the Puerto Rico Memorial Cemetery in
Carolina, Puerto Rico
Carolina (; ) is a Carolina barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the northeastern coastal plain of Puerto Rico, immediately east of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan and Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, Trujillo Alto, n ...
. He had six children with her, including motivational speaker/actress Lily García, Eva, Giselle, Tino Jr., Nelly Ann and Ana Cristina.
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 ...
*
List of Nicaraguans
This is a list of Nicaraguans and people of Nicaraguan ethnicity:
Art
* Omar D'León (1928–2022), painter and poet.
* Franck de Las Mercedes (born 1972), painter.
*Armando Morales (1927–2011), painter.
* Hugo Palma-Ibarra (born 1942), painte ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Tino
Nicaraguan actors
1935 births
2015 deaths
Colegio San José alumni
Puerto Rican male actors
Georgetown University alumni
Gordon State College alumni
20th-century Puerto Rican male actors