Taylor Negron

Negron was born in Glendale, California,{{cite web|publisher=KCET|url=http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/los-angeles/taylor-negron-royal-theatre.html|date=May 15, 2014|title=Taylor Negron: Art of the Everyman|first=Victoria|last=Looseleaf}} the son of Puerto Rican couple Lucy (née Rosario) and Conrad Negron Sr.{{cite web|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/mydesert/access/1839714811.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+24%2C+2001&author=Bruce+Fessier&pub=The+Desert+Sun&desc=Mayor+pro+tem%27s+son+laughs+way+through+life&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201041419/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/mydesert/access/1839714811.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+24,+2001&author=Bruce+Fessier&pub=The+Desert+Sun&desc=Mayor+pro+tem's+son+laughs+way+through+life&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 1, 2013|title=Mayor pro tem's son laughs way through life}} His cousin is singer and musician Chuck Negron, of Three Dog Night fame.{{cite news|last1=Looseleaf|first1=Victoria|title=For Negron, It's Totally Cool to Be Unhip|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-27-ca-56250-story.html|access-date=January 11, 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 27, 2001}} He grew up in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and graduated from the University of California Los Angeles.[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BN&p_theme=bn&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB195B7D713825B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Profile], The Buffalo News. Retrieved January 13, 2015.

Negron's career in comedy began while he was still in high school, with a stand-up performance at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood. After this appearance, Negron ventured into being a Hollywood extra, as well as a repeat contestant on Chuck Barris' ABC daytime show The Dating Game.

Before his film career began, Negron worked for dramatic and comedic legends Lee Strasberg and Lucille Ball. In a work-study program at the Actors Studio, Negron worked as Strasberg's assistant. At Sherwood Oaks Experimental College in 1977, Negron served as Ball's intern while she was a guest teacher at the school.

Negron's motion picture appearances included Angels in the Outfield, The Aristocrats, Better Off Dead, Call Me Claus, Easy Money as the tenacious son-in-law of Rodney Dangerfield's character, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, River's Edge, The Last Boy Scout, Nothing but Trouble, Punchline, The Stoned Age, Stuart Little, Young Doctors in Love, Funky Monkey, Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore, How I Got into College, and Vamps, in which he reprised his Fast Times at Ridgemont High pizza delivery scene.

Among Negron's television appearances are guest star roles on Hill Street Blues, That's So Raven, So Little Time, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Ben Stiller Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Reno 911!, Friends, My Wife and Kids, Seinfeld, Zoey 101, ER, Party of Five, and Falcon Crest. In addition to being a semiregular guest on Off Beat Cinema, he co-starred in Smart Guy and Wizards of Waverly Place. He appeared in Comedy Central's UnCabaret special as well as its Amazon episodes. He appeared as Melinda Hill's date in one episode of the 2013 web series Romantic Encounters.{{cite web|last=Walton|first=Brian|title= Pickstarter: Our Favorite Crowdfunded Projects 9/16|url=http://www.nerdist.com/2012/09/pickstarter-our-favorite-crowdfunded-projects-916/comment-page-1/?grid|publisher=Nerdist|access-date=October 24, 2013}}{{cite web|title=Know Your 'That Guy': Taylor Negron|date=August 30, 2012 |url=http://www.everythingaction.com/2012/08/30/know-your-that-guy-taylor-negron|publisher= Everything Action|access-date=October 24, 2013}} His last television role was the part of an acting coach in Season 1, Episode 5 of The Comedians starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad. He also appeared on an episode of The Dating Game on March 16, 1970.

In 2008, he wrote The Unbearable Lightness of Being Taylor Negron – A Fusion of Story and Song, directed by opera director David Schweitzer and co-starring singer/songwriter Logan Heftel. The show debuted to critical acclaim in the Green Room at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival. It also ran in the 2009 Best of New York Solo Festival at the SoHo Playhouse and at the Barrow Street Theater. Kate Copstick of The Scotsman wrote of it, "The underlying theme of this spellbinding hour seems to be Nietzschean – 'that which does not destroy me makes me strong'. And if that doesn't sound like out-and-out comedy, then that is good. Because the show is not out-and-out comedy. It is a mix of music, storytelling, and comedy."{{cite web| work=The Scotsman|url=http://satellites.moreorlessmyself.com/scotsman.html |first=Kate|last=Copstick|title=Satellites}} His comedy essays have been published in the anthology Dirty Laundry (Phoenix Books) and Love West Hollywood: Reflections of Los Angeles (Alyson Books).

Director Justin Tanner revived Negron's play Gangster Planet, a four-character domestic comedy set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as a Critic's Choice. Another play, Downward Facing Bitch, a suspense comedy, was developed with director Kiff Scholl. Negron was a regular contributor to Wendy Hammer's Tasty Words, Jill Solloway's "Sit and Spin", and Hilary Carlip's online magazine Fresh Yarns, as well as the Huffington Post. He performed regularly across the United States and was one of the original members of the UnCabaret, dubbed "The Mother Show of Alternative Comedy" by the LA Weekly, where Negron fused standup, dada poetry, and stream of consciousness storytelling.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

Negron was an accomplished painter whose artwork has been featured in solo exhibitions at venues such as Los Angeles' Laemmle Royal Theater and the Hotel de Ville Lifestyle. Although he left his initial art school education when he was 19 years old, Negron later received training at the Academy of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the Art Students League in New York City. His work was influenced by Henri Matisse, Jean-Édouard Vuillard, Don Bachardy, and David Hockney.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-taylor-negron-dead-20150111-story.html |title=Taylor Negron dead; comedian and playwright was 57 | work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 10, 2015|access-date= January 11, 2015| first=Steve | last= Chawkins}}{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-ciaffa-peyser/all-kidding-aside-taylor-_b_875493.html| title=Joking Aside: Taylor Negron, Painter| work=HuffPost|date= June 15, 2011|access-date=January 11, 2015}}

Negron was Jewish and gay.Anderson-Minshall, Diane (January 11, 2015). [http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/film/2015/01/11/gay-fast-times-ridgemont-high-actor-taylor-negron-has-died "Gay Fast Times at Ridgemont High Actor Taylor Negron Has Died"], The Advocate. Retrieved January 12, 2015.Wee, Darren (January 12, 2015). [http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/fast-times-ridgemont-high-actor-taylor-negron-dies-57120115 "Fast Times at Ridgemont High actor Taylor Negron dies at 57"], Gay Star News. Retrieved January 12, 2015.Feuer, Menachem (January 15, 2015) [https://schlemielintheory.com/2015/01/15/in-memory-of-taylor-negron-an-endearing-troubled-comedian/ "In Memory of Taylor Negron, an Endearing Troubled Comedian"]. Retrieved April 22, 2025

Negron was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2008. On January 10, 2015, he died at his home in Los Angeles, California at the age of 57.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-taylor-negron-20150111-story.html|title=Taylor Negron dies at 57; comedian, actor, playwright|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 11, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Actor-Writer-Comedian-Taylor-Negron-Dies-at-57-20150110|title=Actor, Writer & Comedian Taylor Negron Dies at 57|publisher=Broadway World|date=January 10, 2015|access-date=January 10, 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Staff|title=Taylor Negron, Comedian & Actor, Dead At 57 After Long Battle With Cancer|url=https://deadline.com/2015/01/taylor-negron-dead-57-after-long-battle-with-cancer-1201346798|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111082935/http://deadline.com/2015/01/taylor-negron-dead-57-after-long-battle-with-cancer-1201346798/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 11, 2015|access-date=January 13, 2015|website=Deadline Hollywood}}

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• [http://www.taylornegron.com/ Official website]
• {{IMDb name|624510}}
• [http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/50263/Ten_Minutes_with_Taylor_Negron.html Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609080343/http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/50263/Ten_Minutes_with_Taylor_Negron.html |date=June 9, 2011 }}, g4tv.com
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070707114807/http://www.jointhemediacircus.com/mediacircus/2007/07/yoghurt-and-ann.html Profile], jointhemediacircus.com

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Category:1957 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:20th-century American comedians

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American comedians

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:American actors of Puerto Rican descent

Category:American gay actors

Category:American gay artists

Category:American gay writers

Category:American LGBTQ comedians

Category:American male comedians

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American painters

Category:American stand-up comedians

Category:Comedians from California

Category:Deaths from liver cancer in California

Category:Gay comedians

Category:Gay Jews

Category:Jews from California

Category:Jewish male comedians

Category:LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people

Category:LGBTQ people from California

Category:Male actors from Glendale, California

Category:People from La Cañada Flintridge, California