Biographies: John Ortiz - Actor

Biographies

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John Ortiz is an American film and stage actor, as well as the artistic director and co-founder of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City. Ortiz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where lived up until 2010 when he moved to California with his wife and child. He made his film debut playing Al Pacino's younger cousin Guajiro in "Carlito's Way" (1993), which set off a long career in films, television and made-for-TV movies, including "Amistad" (1997), "Before Night Falls" (2000), "Take the Lead" (2006), "El Cantante" (2006), and "Fast & Furious" (2009). He's played in a number of critically acclaimed films like "American Gangster" (2007) opposite Denzel Washington and "Jack Goes Boating" (2010) directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 1992, Ortiz formed the Latino Actors Base with thirteen other Latino actors to provide themselves with a place to work and the opportunity to form a tightly knit ensemble. The collective is now called the LAByrinth Theater Company, an award-winning troupe of over 100 artists and a slew of successful productions under its belt. Ortiz made his Broadway debut in Nilo Cruz' Pulitzer Prize winning play "Anna in the Tropics," which he followed with more stage work, including three world premiere plays by Puerto Rican playwright Jose Rivera.

• 7 January 2013
• Ines Farag