Rene Rokk

Rene Rokk was born Rene Pedraza del Prado in Miami, Florida on January 27th, 1961. His mother Pura del Prado (deceased 1996) was one of Cuba's most illustrious poet laureates. A comedic actress in her youth, she studied journalism and drama at the University of Havana and also participated in clandestine activities as a revolutionary during Cuba's struggles against dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Persecuted for her involvement with student revolutionary groups and hunted by Batista's State Police, she escaped to Mexico City to live with Castro's sister until Castro's successful overthrow of the dictatorship. René Rokk is also descended on his mother's side, from the Armand family theatre troupe which performed throughout Southern France and Spain at the turn of the century. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1971 when he was ten years old and he began acting in local children's theater groups there. Following his passion for theater and film he majored in Acting at New World Center for The Arts, in Miami, Florida under the inspired direction of his professor, Teresa Maria Rojas whose primary focus was Stanislavsky's famed "method" approach to acting which he has meshed with other schools of thought in developing characters for his theatrical, film and television work. His first feature appearance was the forgettable Invasion U.S.A. (1985)_ which led to various appearances in episodic television such as _Miami Vice (1980's)_. Working under the direction of Tony Richardson, alongside Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones in 1994's "Bluesky" was a watershed experience and garnered Jessica Lange a long-deserved Best Actress win. His mother's death in 1996 brought his acting work to a standstill. After transferring his mother's body to be interred in Cuba, he moved to Durham, North Carolina for a long, self-imposed exile and devoted the majority of his time there to his other craft, writing until moving to Potomac, Maryland in 1998. His translation of his mother's poem, The Island, was included in Oscar and Lori Hijuelos' anthology of bi-lingual translations of Cuba's major poetic voices by Simon & Schuster in 2006 under the name: Burnt Sugar. An essay about his childhood experiences as a first-generation American born of immigrant Cubans is due out by the same publisher and editors this summer (2008). He has written a spec screenplay based on his mother's life entitled, The Other Shore, which he is in the process of producing. He spends his time between his home in Potomac, Maryland, New York City and Miami, Florida.