You Aren't a True Sci-Fi Geek If You Don't Recognize This Mayans MC Actor Right Away
:upscale()/2018/08/27/780/n/1922283/00da95575b8438393f8585.39172852_.jpg)
On the new Sons of Anarchy spinoff, Mayans MC, Felipe Reyes is a tough, proud patriarch . . . who has fans scrambling to Google why he looks so familiar. Believe us, you have seen actor Edward James Olmos on screen before. He has been a staple in Hollywood for the better part of four decades with both small roles in niche movies and iconic lead parts you shouldn't have forgotten about. He is sort of a legend!
:upscale()/2018/08/27/777/n/1922283/netimgC5577J.jpg)
Mexican-American Olmos, now 71 years old, started out in music, playing in a band called Pacific Ocean before shifting into stage acting. He got his first big break in the 1979 play Zoot Suit, snagging a Tony nomination (and a role in the 1981 film version) as the narrator, "El Pachuco." Subsequently, he tackled a pretty wide variety of roles in films like Wolfen and even the original Blade Runner in 1982, playing Eduardo Gaff, a role he reprised later in Blade Runner 2049.
In 1984, Olmos landed arguably his biggest role yet as reclusive CIA-agent-turned-cop Lieutenant Marty Castillo in Miami Vice. He stayed with the show for its entire five-season run and even got a Golden Globe and an Emmy along the way. These wouldn't be his last major award nominations, either. In 1988, he became the first American-born Latino actor to be nominated for best actor at the Oscars for his role as math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver. This marked a crucial point in Olmos's career, as he focused on breaking down Hispanic and, specifically, Chicano (Mexican-American) stereotypes in film and TV.
:upscale()/2018/08/27/777/n/1922283/netimg0EzTAu.jpg)
But the role that might be the reason you're sure you've seen Olmos before is most likely his part as Selena Quintanilla's dad, Abraham, in Selena, costarring Jennifer Lopez. Who can forget his most famous quote in the film: "Bustiquela? Es un bra!"? After that iconic hit, he did a 180 for a recurring role as a judge on The West Wing.
For sci-fi fans, Olmos is an indelible icon for a very different reason: from 2003 to 2009, he played Commander William Adama in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. His fan-favorite character was a war-weary, dignified leader (and the love interest for the show's lead, President Laura Roslin) and instantly catapulted Olmos to the highest levels of the geek sphere. He returned to the sci-fi realm in 2015 with an arc on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
If his voice is what sounds familiar, that's probably because of Disney Pixar's Coco , where Olmos blended his Chicano roots with voice work as Chicharrón — yes, the old man forgotten by his family who disappears from the Land of the Dead. His scene made us all weep.
Olmos has spent his career playing dignified, sometimes morally complicated men of authority, and it looks like his role in Mayans MC will be no exception for the legendary actor.