Yul Vazquez

Vazquez was born in Cuba on March 18, 1965{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/yul-v%C3%A1zquez-p73177|title=Yul Vázquez|work=AllMovie|access-date=November 7, 2019}} and came to the United States with his family in 1971. He was named after Russian actor Yul Brynner.{{cite web| url=https://entertainment.inquirer.net/4948/cuba-born-miami-raised-actor-speaks-tagalog-in-%E2%80%98amigo%E2%80%99-role |title=Cuba-born, Miami-raised actor speaks Tagalog in 'Amigo' role | access-date=2024-01-08}} He grew up in Miami in a studio apartment with his mother, grandmother and older sister, being the youngest as well as the only boy in the household. His mother encouraged him in the arts, often taking him to the theater where she worked, and she bought him his first drum set and camera.

Vazquez started his acting career with filler parts in his mother's plays, which led to discovery by an agent who encouraged him to go to acting school. In the 80s, he was lead guitarist for two Billboard-charted rock bands. His musical skills led him to land the part of Flaco in the 1992 film The Mambo Kings.

Vazquez went on to numerous film and television projects. With over 40 film credits, other highlights include roles in six time Oscar nominee Captain Phillips (2013), The A-Team (2010) with Liam Neeson, John Sayles's Amigo, Steven Soderbergh’s two-part epic Che (2008), The Take (2008), American Gangster, Music Within (2007), War of the Worlds (2005), Bad Boys II (2003), Traffic and Runaway Bride (1999).{{cite news|url=https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/16414-exclusive-spotlight-on-yul-vazquez|author=Edward Douglas|title=Exclusive: Spotlight on Yul Vázquez|date=September 11, 2006|access-date=November 7, 2019}} He has also been in Kill the Messenger starring Jeremy Renner and directed by Michael Cuesta; Anesthesia; and The Cobbler, opposite Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi.

In television, he has had many guest and recurring roles. In Lifetime's series The Lottery he starred as President Thomas Westwood and as The Reverend Emilio Sheehan in the NBC series Midnight, Texas. He was a regular for both seasons of the Starz drama Magic City, where he portrayed Victor Lazaro, general manager of the Miramar Playa. Additionally, he has recurred in other television series, as Pedro in FX's Louie, as Christian in CBS's The Good Wife and as Det. Anthony Nikolich on the HBO television series Treme. In the streaming world, he has had recurring roles in several hit shows including Netflix's Russian Doll, and Apple TV+'s Severance.

Vazquez is a founding member of the LAByrinth Theater Company and served two terms as co-artistic director with Stephen Adly Guirgis and Mimi O'Donnell in New York City. Vazquez starred on Broadway in the Tony nominated The Motherfucker with the Hat opposite Chris Rock. For his portrayal of the eccentric Cousin Julio, he received nominations for a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/hats-yul-vazquez-broadway-debut-article-1.127648|title=Hats off to Yul Vazquez's Broadway debut|author=Erasmo Guerra|date=June 8, 2011|publisher=NY Daily News|access-date=November 7, 2019}} Additional theater credits include The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (The Public Theater) opposite Sam Rockwell, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman,{{cite web|url=https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/rialto/past/2005/03_23_05.html|author=Beth Herstein|title=Interview with LAByrinth Theater Company's Yul Vázquez and Stephen McKinley Henderson|publisher=Talkin' Broadway|date=March 23, 2005|access-date=November 6, 2019}} Terrence McNally's Stendhal Syndrome,{{cite magazine|date=February 16, 2004|magazine=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2004/legit/markets-festivals/the-stendhal-syndrome-2-1200536401/|author=Charles Isherwood|title=The Stendhal Syndrome}} Primary Stages with Isabella Rossellini and Richard Thomas, and The Floating Island Plays (Mark Taper Forum).

Prior to starting his acting career, Vazquez was the lead guitar player for East Coast Album-oriented rock (AOR) bands Urgent and Diving For Pearls.{{cite book|title='Flashbacks to Happiness: Eighties Music Revisited'; Interview #43 Yul Vazquez, Guitarist for Urgent and Diving For Pearls|author=Randolph Michaels|year=2005|publisher=iUniverse, Inc.|page=477|isbn=978-0-595-37007-8}} Urgent landed a minor hit with their single "Running Back" which reached #79 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second single from their Cast The First Stone debut album, "Love Can Make You Cry", was re-recorded for the Iron Eagle soundtrack. Urgent broke up in 1987 after the lackluster success of their sophomore album, Thinking Out Loud.

Following the demise of Urgent, Vazquez joined Diving for Pearls, whose eponymous debut album was issued by Epic/Sony Music in 1989. The group was dropped by the label before a second album could be completed due to the musical climate changing in the early 1990s as melodic hard rock fell out of favor in the U.S.

In 2009, Vazquez played acoustic guitar with Ian Astbury of The Cult under the name The Soft Revolt appearing at the Bowery Electric in New York City on the opening night of John Patrick Shanley's play Savage in Limbo, which Astbury was producing. They performed songs by The Cult and Astbury solo material as well as covers by the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Radiohead, among others.{{cite news|url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ian-astbury-s-the-soft-revolt-nyc-footage-available/|title=Ian Astbury's The Soft Revolt: NYC Footage Available|date=June 8, 2011|website=Blabbermouth.net|access-date=November 6, 2019}}

In the 2022 show Severance, Vazquez sings and plays a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" in the fourth episode.{{Cite web |last1=Zorrilla |first1=Mónica Marie |date=2022-04-11 |title='Severance' Star Yul Vázquez Is Hollywood's Go-To Cuban Character Actor |url=https://variety.com/2022/tv/features/yul-vazquez-severance-cuban-actor-1235230022/ |access-date=2022-04-15 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}

Vazquez has been married to actress Linda Larkin, the voice of Princess Jasmine in the 1992 film Aladdin, since May 18, 2002.{{cite news|author=Heller, Corinne|agency=E!|url=https://www.eonline.com/news/896206/aladdin-s-25th-anniversary-celebrated-by-past-and-present-cast|title=Aladdin's 25th Anniversary Celebrated by Past and Present Cast|date=November 25, 2017|access-date=November 7, 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://coolwatersprods.com/Clients/lindalarkin.html|title=Linda Larkin|access-date=November 7, 2019}}

• Urgent – Cast the First Stone (EMI-Manhattan, 1985)
• Various – Iron Eagle OST (Capitol, 1986)
• Urgent – Thinking Out Loud (EMI-Manhattan, 1987)
• Diving For Pearls – Diving for Pearls (Epic/Sony, 1989)
• Diving For Pearls – Texas (2006)

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• {{official website}}
• {{IMDb name|891485}}
• {{IBDB name|489087}}
• {{Iobdb name|22384}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100412174128/http://www.labtheater.org/about/people.html LAByrinth Theater Company]

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Category:Living people

Category:1965 births

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male voice actors

Category:Cuban emigrants to the United States

Category:Hispanic and Latino American actors

Category:American entertainers of Cuban descent

Category:Cuban male film actors

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:American rock guitarists