Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos, a renowned American actor, and director was born on 24th February 1947 in Los Angeles, California to Eleanor and Pedro Olmos who was a welder and mail carrier. His parents got divorced when he was eight years old. Since then he spent his free time playing baseball so as to keep away from drugs. He wanted to become a baseball player during his childhood days and also became Golden State batting champion.

He graduated from Montebello High School in 1964. By the age of 13, his interest grew in music and he taught himself to sing and play the piano. Soon he became the lead singer for the band, Pacific Ocean, and performed in many clubs at night while attending East Los Angeles College and California State University during the day. During the late 1960s his interest shifted from music to acting and during 1970s he divided his time between working to deliver furniture, music, and acting classes.

Edward got his first break in the play, Zoot Suit, in 1978 which went to Broadway and he was nominated for the Tony Award. Soon his career grew as he went on to play supporting roles in various films including Wolfen (1981) and Blade Runner (1982). After that he played the role of Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice for which he earned Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award in 1985.

He got an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in Stand and Deliver. His first direction was for the movie, American Me (1992), where he also played a role. In 1997, he acted in Selena opposite Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lopez aka Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an Ameri >> Read More... . Apart from movies, he also played many roles on television like in The West Wing, American Family: Journey of Dreams, etc. In 2006, he directed, acted and also co-produced Walkout. He also acted in Dexter in 2011.

In 2016, he acted in El Americano: The Movie. He also voiced for the American sitcom, The Simpsons The Simpsons is a funny, highly popular American s >> Read More... , in 2016. While singing for the band, Pacific Ocean, he dated actor Howard Keel’s daughter, Katija Keel, and married her in 1971. They had two children, Bodie and Mico. They got divorced in 1992. Edward then adopted four children, Daniela, Michael, Brandon, and Tamiko. In 1994, he married actress Lorraine Bracco which ended up in a divorce in 2002.

In 2002, he married American Gangster’s actress, Lymari Nadal. Edward was always engaged in social activities. Apart from singing and acting, he devoted his time towards the right of children. He tried to motivate the children against drugs, gangs and wanted to deliver in them proper education. He even engaged himself in cleaning up the communities with a broom in Los Angeles during the Rodney King Riots in 1992.

In 1997, he co-founded a non-profit organization, Latino Literacy Now. In 1998, he established Latino Public Broadcasting which was used for funding the television programmes that focused on Hispanics. He had also been an ambassador for UNICEF. In 2001, he was sentenced to jail for 20 days because he participated in protests against US Navy practicing bombings on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. In 2003, President George W. Bush guaranteed to end testing.