Jorge Garcia

Jorge Garcia (born April 28, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker, but is probably best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost from 2004 to 2010. Garcia performs as a stand-up comedian. He starred in the Fox television series Alcatraz and played a minor character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He stars as Jerry Ortega on Hawaii Five-0 and can be seen in the Netflix original movie Ridiculous 6. Garcia also appeared on the cover of Weezer's 2010 album Hurley in a close-up shot from a photo he took with vocalist Rivers Cuomo.

Jorge Garcia
Garcia at the March 2012 WonderCon
Born	(1973-04-28) April 28, 1973 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Actor, voice actor, comedian
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Birdsall (m. 2019)
Website	https://kaijupod.wordpress.com

Early life

Garcia was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Dora Mesa, is a Cuban-born professor, and his father, Humberto Garcia, is a Chilean-born doctor.[1] He grew up in San Juan Capistrano[2] in Orange County, California and went to San Clemente High School. He wrestled in high school, where he was given the nickname "Baby-Faced Killer".[3] As a senior, he was selected by the faculty as "Triton of the Year", the highest award given to a graduating senior.

Garcia graduated from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1995 as a Communication Studies major. He also studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school.[4]

Career

Garcia spent six years working at Borders Books and Music while auditioning. He was in a few commercials during that time.[5][6] He later said that his first taste of street recognition came from starring in a Jack in the Box commercial which was aired frequently on local television.[7] He began landing roles in television and film, but his career really took off when he played the role of Hugo Reyes (Hurley) in the television series Lost.

Garcia was the first actor to be cast on Lost after the producers saw him on Curb Your Enthusiasm the night before casting began, and created the character of Hugo Reyes specifically for him.[8] Garcia appeared in the second episode of the eighth season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, where he lost to Michael Ian Black. He was a contestant on an episode of Russian Roulette on Game Show Network. He missed a question about the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and fell through the trap door.

Garcia is an associate producer and star in the independent film When We Were Pirates,[9] in which he plays Jerry, who along with a group of close friends, learns that his childhood love of playing pirates helps him overcome some of the difficulties he faces later in life.[10] He is seen singing in the studio for the upcoming project on an officially released YouTube clip.[11]

During Lost's run, Garcia wrote a blog about the show called Dispatches from the Island.[12] He also hosted a weekly podcast, Geronimo Jack's Beard, in which he discussed the script of Season 6 along with his then girlfriend Bethany Leigh Shady.[13]

Garcia is also featured on the front cover of Weezer's album Hurley, released on September 10, 2010. The album is named after his character from Lost.[14] He performed as a guest vocalist at several Weezer concerts in 2010.

On 21 November 2010, Entertainment Weekly announced that Garcia was cast in the upcoming U.S. television series Alcatraz.[15] On 22 November 2010, Garcia made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother's episode "Blitzgiving".[16] In the episode, references are made to Garcia's time on Lost.

In 2011, Garcia appeared as a recurring character in Mr. Sunshine, portraying a caretaker at the Sunshine Center.[17] Starting in January 2012, Garcia portrayed Dr. Diego Soto, an Alcatraz expert, in the FOX series, Alcatraz. The show was a mid-season replacement for Fox's Terra Nova. The series was officially cancelled by Fox on May 9, 2012, due to dropping viewership throughout its run. Garcia appeared on The Nerdist podcast posted June 18, 2012.[18]

In 2013, Garcia played Steve Wozniak in the parody film, iSteve, produced for the Funny or Die website.

After appearing as a guest star in several season four episodes of Hawaii Five-0, Garcia, who plays the character of Jerry Ortega, was promoted to a series regular starting with season five.[19]

In 2015, he joined the cast of The Healer starring with British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Camilla Luddington and Jonathan Pryce.[20]

Garcia launched a biweekly podcast with co-host Ralph Apel dedicated to kaiju films titled Kaiju Podcast[21] on November, 14, 2016.[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Raven's Ridge	Monty
1999	Tomorrow by Midnight	Jay
2000	King of the Open Mics	Meatloag
2002	The Slow and the Cautious	Teddy	Short film
2003	Tales from the Crapper	Racoon Head	Direct-to-video
2004	Our Time Is Up	Gardener	Short film
2005	The Good Humor Man	Mt. Rushmore
2005	Little Athens	Pedro
2006	Deck the Halls	Wallace
2007	Sweetzer	Sergio
2011	Maktub	Carlos
2014	Cooties	Rick
2015	The Wedding Ringer	Lurch / Garvey
2015	The Ridiculous 6	Herm
2016	Get a Job	Fernando
2016	Rock Dog	Germur
2017	The Healer	Father Malloy
2020	The Wrong Missy	Guy on Plane
2020	Nobody Knows I'm Here	Memo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	The Wild Thornberrys	Ricardo (voice)	Episode: "Spirited Away"
2001	Spin City	Taxi Driver	Episode: "The Arrival"
2003	Old School	Jorge	TV movie
2003	Columbo	Julius	Episode: "Columbo Likes the Nightlife"
2003	Rock Me Baby	Vizzy	Episode: "Would I Lie to You?"
2003–04	Becker	Hector Lopez	13 episodes
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Drug Dealer	Episode: "The Car Pool Lane"
2005	Higglytown Heroes	Dog Trainer Hero (Voice)	Episode: "Me and My Shadow/Out to Sea"
2004–10	Lost	Hugo "Hurley" Reyes	108 episodes ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Series (2006)[23] ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Television Series (2008)[23] Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006) (shared with cast) Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Television Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie (2007) Nominated — Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor - Television (2007–2008) Nominated — Imagen Award for Best Actor - Television Nominated — Scream Award for Best Ensemble (2009) Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick (2005–2007) Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance - Male (2005)
2010, 2014	How I Met Your Mother	Steve (The Blitz)	Episodes: "Blitzgiving" and "Gary Blauman"
2011	Mr. Sunshine	Bob Bobinson Bobert	3 episodes: "Pilot", "Hostile Workplace", and "The Assistant"
2011	Fringe	Kevin	Episode: "Os"
2012	Alcatraz	Dr. Diego Soto	13 episodes
2012	Phineas and Ferb	Rodrigo (voice)	Episode: "Minor Monogram"
2012–13	Once Upon a Time	Anton, the Giant	3 episodes: "Tallahassee", "Tiny", and "Lacey"
2013	The Ordained	Carlos	TV movie
2013	Californication	Drug Dealer	2 episodes: "Rock and a Hard Place" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen"
2013	Maggie	Gaspar	2 episodes: "Gaspar, the Friendly A.D.S.A." and "Gaspar, the Ambiguous"
2013	iSteve	Steve Wozniak	Internet movie[24]
2013–2020	Hawaii Five-0	Jerry Ortega	Recurring (season 4); Main cast (season 5–10)
2014	Food Truck	Kyle	TV movie
2016	BoJack Horseman	Himself (voice)	Episode: "The BoJack Horseman Show"
2017	Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories	Bryan	Episode: "The Duke"

References

1. "Espectáculos - Jorge García lleva su vida real a "Lost"". El Universal. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
2. "Jorge Garcia: TV's most lovable castaway". Today.com. November 15, 2005. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
3. "Interview for FMH Magazine Online, 2006". Jorge Online. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
4. "Jorge Garcia On The Beverly Hills Playhouse Acting School". Retrieved July 28, 2014.
5. "Jorge Garcia biography". Fandango. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
6. "Big man on the beach". Honolulu Star Bulletin. January 24, 2005. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
7. "We Want Answers! Jorge Garcia", MAXIM, March 2006
8. Itzkoff, Dave (May 14, 2006). "On 'Lost,' the Castaway Who Stands Out Without Even Trying". The New York Times.
9. "When We Were Pirates". whenwewerepirates.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
10. New Transmissions: News from the Lost world and beyond Lost: The Official Magazine Issue 24 (September/October 2009): p 10
11. "Kanaal van whenwewerepirates". YouTube. June 10, 2008. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
12. "Dispatches from the Island". Dispatchesfromtheisland.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
13. GJB (May 25, 2010). "Geronimo Jack's Beard". Geronimojacksbeard.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
14. Koch, Karl (August 25, 2010). "A Retraction from Brian". Weezer Band Blog. Archived from the original on August 29, 2010.
15. Ward, Kate (November 21, 2010). "Jorge Garcia swims to J.J. Abrams' 'Alcatraz'". Entertainment Weekly.
16. "How I Met Your Mother Recap: Blitzgiving". CBS.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2010.
17. "Jorge Garcia Books TV Return". TVGuide.com. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
18. "Jorge Garcia". nerdist.com. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
19. "Jorge Garcia Returning to CBS' 'Hawaii Five-0' as Series Regular (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. March 13, 2014.
20. "Camilla Luddington, Jonathan Pryce Board Rom-Com 'The Healer'". The Hollywood Reporter.
21. "Kaiju Podcast". Kaiju Podcast. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
22. casinoskunk (January 2, 2017). "SKREEONK!". Kaiju Podcast. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
23. "ALMA Awards Recipients". ALMA Awards. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
24. Funny Or Die (April 15, 2013). "'iSteve". funnyordie.com. Retrieved April 15, 2013.

External links

• Jorge García on Twitter
• Jorge Garcia on IMDb
• Jorge Garcia on DPWO