Actor / Director Profile

A new face to filmgoers, Efren Ramirez is a bona fide scene-stealer in the quirky comedy Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Given a choice between choosing Napoleon Dynamite and The Alamo (2004), Efren was quick to choose "Napoleon Dynamite", which has grossed over $41 million at the box office to date.Born in Los Angeles, by age 13 he began training at The Theatre of Arts, and performed at the world-famous Hollywood Bowl, The Complex Theatre and The Tiffany Theatre on Sunset Blvd. while working on films such as Touchstone's Kazaam (1996). He continued training at The Whole Theatre Comp and performing improv at The Whitefire Theatre and The Icehouse in Pasadena. After finishing up a two-year Meisner conservatory program, he starred in Missing Pieces (1992) (opposite the late James Coburn), The Race (2004/II) with Cliff Robertson, CCH Pounder and Paul Rodriguez, directed by Tom Musca, and Delivering Milo (2001) with Albert Finney, directed by Nick Castle. Some of his other films are "Welcome to L.A." (2000)_, Night Crew (2000), Swallow (2003/I), Dance (2000) and Rave (2000).Ramirez's extensive TV shows include recurring roles on Disney's "Even Stevens" (1999) and Fox's "Boston Public" (2000), and he has guest-starred on "ER" (1994), "The District" (2000) and "Judging Amy" (1999). He has also appeared on MTV's All You've Got (2006) alongside Ciara, HBO's Walkout (2006) (TV) with Michael Peña and Alexa Vega, Nacho Libre (2006) with Jack Black, Crossing the Heart (2007) with Kris Kristofferson and Crank (2006) with Jason Statham. He also studies at The Gloria Gifford Conservatory for Performing Arts.Collectively his films have grossed over $80 million to date.