Randy Vasquez

Randy grew up on the beaches and baseball fields of southern California and in the mountains and basketball courts of North Carolina as a result of his parents divorce. His father, Ralph, was a high school business teacher and accountant in Escondido. His mother, Joyce, from North Carolina, was a secretary and elementary school teacher. His older brother Perry is an art professor in San Diego. After performing plays in elementary school and high school, Randy was accepted to UCLA where he tried to join the theatre department and baseball team but was rejected from both. He dropped out after one quarter and struck out on his own in Los Angeles. In 1981, he met his acting teacher and mentor, Antony Ponzini. Through Tony, Randy met his future manager, Robert P. Marcucci. The Taylor Hackford film, The Idolmaker, was based on Robert's life as the manager of pop singers Frankie Avalon and Fabian. Bob represented Randy for over 25 years, a relationship that included four series regular jobs for Randy; Acapulco H.E.A.T., Love Boat: The Next Wave, JAG, and First Monday. Randy has done over forty plays in theaters throughout Los Angeles and appeared Off-Broadway in Jose Rivera's "Each Day Dies With Sleep" in 1990 at the famous Circle Rep Theatre, as well as a few off-off Broadway productions. In 2003, he began a successful collaboration with Mexican director Beto Gomez beginning with Punos Rosas in 2005, Saving Private Perez in 2011 and Volando Bajo in 2014. Randy has directed and produced three award winning documentaries; "Testimony: The Maria Guardado Story," about a Salvadoran woman surviving death squads in1980 and her journey to the United States; and two American Indian themed documentaries, "The Thick Dark Fog" and "Badger Creek," which have both aired on PBS. He lives with actress Marilyn Sanabria.