Gabriel Pontones

Gabriel (aka Rasta) was born August 13, 1973 in New Jersey to Mexican parents. He lived in the US until the age of 8 when the family moved back to Mexico. On this long road trip he discovered his fathers' 8mm camera and immediately began documenting, writing, shooting, starring and directing home movies and at that moment knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life: Shoot film and travel. After receiving his bachelors degree in communication and brief affairs working in advertising and radio he left to New York City to study film at NYU as well as directing courses at The School of Visual Arts and acting at Stella Adler Studio and in L.A. other film courses at UCLA and with Judith Weston Studio. His move from "behind the scenes" to "before the camera" came by coincidence when he was chosen to participate in Mexico's first reality show Big Brother, where he was runner-up but clearly the people's favorite. Since then, Gabriel has always been working on both sides of the camera as TV presenter and also as filmmaker and photographer mostly working on travel, adventure and lifestyle projects.