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Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican-American actor.

Personal

He was born in East Los Angeles, California to a Southern Baptist Mexican immigrant with 1/4 Hungarian Jewish ancestry (the family name was originally Olmosh) and a Mexican American Catholic mother. Olmos grew up wanting to be a professional baseball player and became the Golden State batting champion. In his teen years, he turned to rock and roll, and became the lead singer for a band he named Pacific Ocean, so-called because it was "the biggest thing on the West Coast".Cast:William Adama, scifi.com (accessed 2 December 2006) For several years Pacific Ocean played various clubs in and around Los Angeles and released a record in 1968. At the same time, he attended classes at East Los Angeles College and California State University, including courses in acting.

In 1971, Olmos married Kaija Keel, the daughter of actor Howard Keel. They had two children, Bodie Olmos and Mico Olmos, before divorcing in 1992. Olmos married actress Lorraine Bracco in 1994, but she filed for divorce in January 2002 after five years of separation. He is currently married to actress Lymari Nadal. Olmos also has three adopted children: Michael D. Olmos, Brandon Olmos, and Tamiko.

Career

In the late 1960s, Olmos branched out from music into acting, appearing in many small productions, until his big break portraying the narrator, called "El Pachuco", in the play Zoot Suit, which dramatized the World War II-era rioting in Southern California brought about by the tensions between Mexican-Americans and local police. (See Zoot Suit Riots.) The play moved to Broadway, and Edward received a Tony nomination for his portrayal as El Pachuco. He took the role to the filmed version in 1981. Other film appearances followed, including Wolfen, Blade Runner and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.

In 1984, Olmos starred in his biggest role up to that date as the authoritative police Lieutenant Martin Castillo in the television series Miami Vice, for which he was awarded a Golden Globe and an Emmy. Returning to film, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, portraying a real-life math teacher, Jaime Escalante, who turned his students into math whizzes, despite their disadvantaged backgrounds. He directed American Me in 1992, and starred in the multigenerational story of a Chicano family in My Family/Mi Familia.

Olmos has often become involved in social issues, especially those affecting the Hispanic-American community in the United States. In 1998 Olmos founded Latino Public Broadcasting and currently serves as its Chairman. The Latino Public Broadcasting funds programming for public television which focuses on issues affecting Hispanic-Americans and advocates for diverse prespectives in public television. Also, in 1998, Olmos starred in the uplifting and Latino movie The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, that breaks stereotypes and transcends the normal stigmas of most Latino oriented movies. Olmos also makes frequent appearances at juvenile halls and detention centers to speak to teenagers at risk. He has also been an international ambassador for UNICEF. In 2001, he was arrested and spent 20 days in prison for taking part in the Navy-Vieques protests against United States Navy target practice bombings of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

Olmos played Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the 2001 movie In the Time of the Butterflies. He also appeared as a recurring character, Justice Mendoza, in the TV series The West Wing.

In the early 2000s he starred as the recently widowed father in a Latin L.A.-family, in the PBS drama American Family: Journey of Dreams.

In 2003, he starred as Commander Adama in the Sci Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and in the TV series that followed.

In 2006, Olmos produced and played the bit part of Julian Nava in the HBO movie Walkout about the 1968 Chicano Blowouts.

Filmography

Trivia

• Olmos is the second performer of Mexican descent to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, the first being Anthony Quinn.
• His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
• He was the first choice of director Leonard Nimoy to play the role of Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, but producer Harve Bennett preferred Christopher Lloyd.
• Olmos was given creative control over his role as Lt. Martin Castillo on Miami Vice and, among other things that became Castillo's trademarks, he decided to mumble his lines to add to the character's enigmatic side. The sound department was not happy with this, fearing that audiences would not be able to understand his dialogues - but Olmos insisted and won the argument.
• In an episode of South Park, the character Kenny McCormick is awarded second place in the Halloween costume contest for his "Edward James Olmos" costume. However, in the episode, Kenny is a deceased, rotten corpse surrounded by rats and is not dressed up at all. This may be a reference to Olmos' scarred appearance.
• In an episode of Family Guy the character of Death carries a picture of Edward James Olmos along with another picture of Olmos' ass in his wallet.
• Did a scene with Albert Finney in the film, Wolfen atop the East tower of the Manhattan Bridge in New York City. As Native American Eddie Holt, Olmos does not appear to use any safety harness like Finney had and he moved around quickly at the end of the scene considering he was hundreds of feet above the East River. He was 33 or 34 years old at the time of filming.
• Recently featured in the music video for Snoop Dogg's "Vato", which addresses the violent divide between blacks and latinos in California.

Notes and references

External links

• Edwards James Olmos' Television Schedule
• Interview with EJO at PBS
• EJO Speaks at Pennsylvania State University
• Official Site

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