Actor / Director Profile

Character actor Luis Contreras was born on September 18, 1950. He was the son of actor Roberto Contreras. Lean, wiry and intense, with a scruffy mass of unruly curly hair, piercing dark eyes, a plain, rough face, a greasy mustache and a swarthy complexion, Contreras often portrayed bums, seedy gang members, police officers, prison inmates and assorted nasty criminals. Contreras made his film debut as a Federale in Steven Spielberg's wonderful science fiction classic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." He also popped up as a zoot suiter in Spielberg's hilarious all-star comedy "1941." Contreras frequently acted in movies for director Walter Hill: "The Long Riders," "48 HRS.," "Extreme Prejudice," "Red Heat," "Geronimo: An American Legend," and "Last Man Standing." Contreras was especially memorable as a grocery store security guard in the terrific sci-fi black comedy cult gem "Repo Man," the vicious ringleader of a gang of cocaine cowboys in "Stand Alone," a hostile eye-patched biker in the delightfully madcap "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," and a deranged homeless man who terrorizes a trio of teenage girls in the "A Night on the Town" episode of the hugely enjoyable horror anthology "After Midnight." Contreras did guest spots on the TV shows "CHiPs," "Quincy M.E.," "T.J. Hooker," "Knight Rider," "Riptide," "Hill Street Blues," "Simon & Simon," "Night Court," "Hunter," "Matlock," and "Carnivale." Luis Contreras died of cancer at the tragically young age of 53 on June 20, 2004.