Vaya Boricua!īut what of life after CHiPs? Well this is where Mr. Estrada was voted one of People Magazines “10 Sexiest Bachelors in the World”.
Between the martial arts, motorcycle stunts, and ravishing good looks - Estrada, by the late 70s, was something a like a primetime Steven Seagal. Here we see that even after getting a boot to the crotch from a guy casually sipping on a small to-go cup, Estrada’s deadly karate skills save the day (and his Canadian tuxedo). Six years later, and after a handful of supporting roles, he was on CHiPs, and oh, was it glorious. In a true up-from-the-bootstraps narrative, Estrada sold piraguas and shined shoes to put food on the family’s table before making his acting debut at 21 with The Cross and the Switchblade.
#Dos mujeres un camino movie#
So for this week’s Throwback Thursday, and in honor of the upcoming movie version of CHiPs, we’ve decided to take a look back at the career of a Latino icon from yesteryear and see just how far he’s made it.Įstrada was born in Manhattan’s El Barrio (East Harlem) to Puerto Rican parents and raised primarily by his mother and maternal grandmother while his father struggled with addiction. A Latino lead on a primetime network series was the exception rather than the rule, and a hotshot like Estrada wouldn’t have a lot of roles to look forward to, even after such a wildly successful run on NBC (okay maybe it hasn’t changed that much).
Things, of course, were different back then. In the 70s, perhaps no Latino was as internationally visible as the Spanish Harlem-born Nuyorican, Erik Estrada, who played California highway patrolman Frank “Ponch” Poncherello on CHiPs over six seasons from 1977-83. However, between old school, studio-era stars like María Montez and Ricardo Montalbán, and new-age A-listers like Zoe Saldaña and Gael García Bernal, we’ve certainly made our mark despite Hollywood’s persistent disinterest. According to recent studies, it turns out that Latinos are the most underrepresented group in Hollywood.