Actor / Director Profile

Born in New York City, Jsu Garcia was raised by his Cuban-born parents, who had fled their country for the promise of a better life in the US. Growing up on the streets of Newark, New Jersey, Garcia had to deal with a neighborhood of toughs. He became aware of his acting talents when a bully intended to mug him and steal his bicycle and the six-year-old Garcia broke into crocodile tears and so disheartened his assailant that he allowed Garcia to leave unharmed--and with his bike. "It was then I knew I could act," Garcia remembers.His first break came when he auditioned for the TV show "Fame" (1982) and got the part. He then landed a role in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), in which he appeared opposite Johnny Depp. This was followed by an appearance in Universal's Gotcha! (1985) opposite Anthony Edwards and Linda Fiorentino, and then in quick succession in features such as Wildcats (1986), Slaves of New York (1989), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Traffic (2000) and numerous others. In 2002 Garcia was in Randall Wallace's We Were Soldiers in which he portrays Mel Gibson's heroic buddy, the commander of a company fighting against the Viet Cong; and in Andrew Davis' Collateral Damage (2002), in which he plays a villainous Communist guerrilla who battles good guy Arnold Schwarzenegger.Garcia also played a major supporting role in Along Came Polly (2004), opposite Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston and Philip Seymour Hoffman for Jersey Films and Universal, as the hot salsa dancer. Garcia's most challenging role as "Che Guevara" came true for him in Andy Garcia's passionate Cuban story, "The Lost City", in which he received critical acclaim. Teaming up again with Steven Soderberg in 2007 in "Che" aka "The Argentine", Garcia starred opposite Benicio del Toro.Taking what he learned from some of Hollywood's greatest actors and directors, he joined with good friend and NY Times #1 bestselling author and spiritual teacher Dr. John-Roger, to create their production company Scott J-R Productions and their first full length feature, Spiritual Warriors. Inspired by Dr. John-Roger's bestselling book Spiritual Warrior, together they wrote and Executive Produced Spiritual Warriors, the movie. Garcia gathered his crew of ten and filmed on location in places such as Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and finished filming in Los Angeles with a much larger crew.Spiritual Warriors screened in over 50 cities across 22 countries, and was officially selected for international film festivals in Toronto, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Cartagena, Beverly Hills and Hamburg. Garcia also heads up his company Gilgamesh LLC, and the current DVD distribution of Spiritual Warriors online.John-Roger and Garcia finished their second feature film in September 2010, as co-writers, co-producers, and co-directors on the project. 'The Wayshower' stars Eric Roberts, Peter Stormare and Sally Kirkland, and was filmed on location in Utah, Morocco, England, France, Spain and Peru. The Wayshower will tour film festivals and other private screenings from early 2011.Garcia has also graduated from Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy with a Doctor of Spiritual Science (DSS) in 2008. His Practical Treatise (PT) is titled 'Living with a Spiritual Warrior', and explores the lessons he has learnt and blessings discovered in working closely with Dr. John-Roger for more than twenty years.Garcia currently lives in Los Angeles California.