Edwin Velez (born June 4, 1958) is an American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for playing Frankie Santana in the final season of the American

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

and

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

television series ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

''.

Early life and education

Velez was born in

Manhattan, New York Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, the son of Puerto Ricans. He graduated from the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more recently, its Midtown Manha ...

and attended the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

Career

Velez started his career as a stand-up comic. After serving in the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

, he moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he acted in plays and studied at the Estelle Harman's Actors Workshop. Velez appeared in various stage plays, including the first performance of the play ''Delirious'', for which the cast won the Drama-Logue Award in the category Best Ensemble Performance. Later in his career, Velez guest-starred in television programs including ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff ...

'', '' The Trials of Rosie O'Neill'' (three episodes), ''

Just Shoot Me! ''Just Shoot Me!'' is an American sitcom television series originally aired on NBC from March 4, 1997, to November 26, 2003, with a total of 145 half-hour episodes spanning seven seasons, including 3 episodes aired on syndication. The show, cre ...

'', ''

Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action fiction, action Crime drama, crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both the film and the series starring Chuck Norr ...

'' (two episodes), ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', '' JAG'', ''

Tour of Duty For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. ...

'', '' Cagney & Lacey'' (two episodes), '' The Commish'', '' Profiler'' and ''

Empty Nest ''Empty Nest'' is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from October 8, 1988, to June 17, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred Richa ...

''. He appeared in films such as '' Split Decisions'', ''

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

'', '' Repo Chick'', ''

Romero The name Romero is a nickname type of surname for an Ancient Roman or a modern day Italian. The name was originally derived from the Latin word Romaeus and the Greek word Romaios, which mean Rome, Roman. #A person on a religious journey or pilgrim ...

'', '' Repo Man'', '' The Hunted'', '' Most Wanted'', '' Rooftops'' and ''

White Chicks ''White Chicks'' (stylized as ''WHiTE CHiCKS'') is a 2004 American buddy cop crime comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans from a screenplay co-written by Wayans, Xavier Cook, Andy McElfresh, Michael Anthony Snowden, with additional contrib ...

''. Velez has starred and co-starred in television programs including '' Bay City Blues'', playing Pepe Garcia, '' Berrenger's'', playing Julio Morales, '' Charlie & Co.'', playing Miguel Santana, ''

'', playing Frankie Santana, ''

Trial and Error Trial and error is a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying. According to W.H. Thorpe, the term was devised by C. Lloyd Morgan ( ...

'', playing John Hernandez, '' True Blue'', playing Officer Frankie Avila and ''

Live Shot In broadcast engineering, a remote broadcast (usually just called a remote or a live remote, or in news parlance, a live shot) is broadcasting done from a location away from a formal television or radio studio and is considered an electronic field ...

'', playing Ricardo Sandoval. He also played as Detective Alexander Garcia in the

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

television series ''

Port Charles ''Port Charles'' (commonly abbreviated as ''PC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from June 1, 1997, to October 3, 2003. It was a spin-off of the series ''General Hospital'', which has been running since 1963 and takes p ...

'' and as Malko and Paul Mendez in ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Rotten Tomatoes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velez, Eddie 1958 births Living people Male actors from Manhattan Male actors from New York (state) American actors of Puerto Rican descent American male film actors American male television actors American male stage actors American male soap opera actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors School of Visual Arts alumni