Profile:
Rick Najera is multi-hyphenated artist, entertainer, entrepreneur and award-winning actor-writer-director-producer with credits in film, television, theatre and Broadway. He is one of the most powerful voices in the Latino world today, and honored twice as ‘100 Most Influential Latinos in America’ by Hispanic Business Magazine. Most recently Najera penned the feature film Nothing like the Holidays starring John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez, Luis Guzman and Jay Hernandez currently in theatres nationwide. His writing/acting credits also include his critically acclaimed award-winning comedy, LATINOLOGUES? which toured four months on Broadway, his latest comedic stage plays Sweet 15 Quinceanera and DADDY DIARIES, and groundbreaking television comedies such as MAD TV and In Living Color. Najera is undeniably one of the most sought after comedic talents in the industry today as well as one of the most creative executives in the industry. As one of the few Latinos in history to have his own show reach Broadway, Najera made his Broadway debut in 2005 with his self-written and created, award-winning sketch comedy show, LATINOLOGUES?. The show dazzled on Broadway at the historic and beautiful Helen Hayes Theatre on W. 44th Street for a four-month run (137 performances with an extension), a historical achievement for a Latino-oriented show. Najera’s show on Broadway was directed by the legendary comedian, Cheech Marin. While on Broadway, Najera’s caricature was placed on Sardi’s exclusive Wall of Fame. Nearly 100 different guest actors have performed in LATINOLOGUES throughout its 15 years of performances and touring the U.S., making it the longest running and only showcase in America for Latinos of its kind. Najera’s latest comedic stage plays include “Sweet 15 ? Quinceanera and DADDY DIARIES. Currently, Najera is co-creator of the newly developed animation site, KartoonTV.com and is VP of Development for Latin social network, Mio.TV, developing Latino sketch comedy programming. Previously at LATV as Vice President of Development, he was created, developed and executive produced four new cutting edge comedies ‘L.A.T.N. (Latino Ahora Today Now) ‘The Homies Hip-Hop Show’ (18 episodes), ‘Ceasar and Chuy’(co-creator), ( 26 episodes) and Mas Comedy. As a professional WGA scribe, Najera has been nominated for several WGA awards including Best Script in a Comedy/Variety for his writing on MAD TV. Najera has written pilots for the major networks and animated pilots and series for Disney, Televisa, CBS, LATV, Mio.TV, KartoonTV.com and Nuyorican Productions. Rick also gives back to many charitable including Latino Family Institute, hosting the San Diego Teen Producers Project Fundraiser, performing at Latino Family Book Fair, speaking at colleges, elementary schools, health care clinics and mentoring kids of all ages for the last 20 years. Najera is a true advocate for education, reading, writing and the arts.