Enrique Castillo

Enrique Castillo was nominated for a SAG Award for his stand-out role in Showtime’s wicked series “Weeds” where he plays the lethal Cesar. He guest starred on the CBS hit show “NCIS” and “Outlaw” opposite Jimmy Smits; and on the HBO series “Enlightened”. Most recently starred in the in the film “Kill The Dictator” which broke box office records in the Dominican Republic. His in a gut wrenching performance in Fanny Veliz’s indie film “Homebound” has earned critical acclaim. He recent guest starred in TNT “Major Crimes” in June of 2014.

Enrique is most recognized for his film role of Montana in Taylor Hackford “Blood In Blood Out” where he played the inspirational (albeit terrifying) leader of the Mexican prison gang. When the film was released, The New York Times singled out Mr. Castillos’s performance in their review. “Mr. Chapa, Mr. Bratt and Mr. Borrego are excellent, as are the members of the large supporting cast, notably Enrique Castillo, who appears as the leader of San Quentin’s Chicanos.” In Japan a film critic said of his performance of Montana “He plays the role with the wisdom of Torquemada and strength of a Sandinista warrior”

An accomplished actor/writer/director, Enrique began his career with Luis Valdez’s Teatro Campesino in 1969. As part of the Teatro, Enrique participated in workshops with English theater director Peter Brook’s theater group which included now Academy Award winner Helen Mirren. In the early 70’s Enrique traveled with the Teatro to Paris when they represented the U.S. at the World Theater Festival. In 1978 Enrique made the move to Hollywood and was cast in the hit play “Zoot Suit”, also created and directed by Luis Valdez, where he played the lead role of Henry Reyna opposite Edward James Olmos. Since then he has appeared in over 50 television shows and feature films, working with such notable film directors as Tony Scott, (“Déjà Vu”) Taylor Hackford, (“Blood In-Blood Out”) Stephen Frears (“The Hi-Lo Country”) Wim Wenders (“The End of Violence”) Gregory Nava (“My Family” and “El Norte”) Oliver Stone (“Nixon”) and Tim Burton (“Mars Attacks”).

Mr. Castillo was one of the founding member of The Latino Theater Company in the mid 80’s, where he starred in a variety of the company’s productions and was also was a writer on two of the company’s plays, Stone Wedding and the multi-award-winning play August 29.

In the mid 90’s Enrique adapted and directed the award-winning play “The Last Angry Brown Hat”, written by Alfredo Ramos which toured to rave reviews for over four years. He then wrote and directed “Veteranos: A Legacy of Valor”, a theater piece honoring the military contributions by Latinos in America’s defense which had two national tours to standing ovations and much critical acclaim. Veteranos was awarded a special recognition by the Hispanic Congressional Caucus at and received the prestigious Imagen Award for Best Live Theatrical Production in Los Angeles, CA.

Enrique has also written various screenplays including “Yo Solo” (I Alone), “The Cobra”, “Valley of The Dead”, “Deerdancer” and the screen version of The Last Angry Brown Hat. Valley of The Dead, the crime suspense thriller has been recently optioned by Concrete Images.

Enrique He is also Executive Producer of HOLA! LA the only English-language TV talk show hosted by Latinas airing on CBS2/KCAL9.