Rene Lavan (born November 5, 1968) is a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

actor.

Early life

Lavan was born in

Artemisa Artemisa () is a municipality and city in Cuba, formerly part of La Habana Province. According to a law approved by the Cuban National Assembly in August 2010, Artemisa became the capital city of the newly formed Artemisa Province, which compri ...

Havana Province La Habana Province , formerly known as Ciudad de La Habana Province, is a province of Cuba that includes the territory of the city of Havana, the Republic's capital. The province's territory is the seat of the superior organs of the state and i ...

, Cuba. In 1980, at the age of 11, he was part of the

Mariel boatlift The Mariel boatlift () was a mass emigration of Cubans who traveled from Cuba's Mariel Harbor to the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980. The term "" is used to refer to these refugees in both Spanish and English. While the ex ...

Career

In 1996, he appeared as Gustavo in the independent film ''

Azúcar amarga ''Azúcar Amarga'' (''Bitter Sugar'') is a 1996 American-Dominican co-production directed by Cuban filmmaker Leon Ichaso. The film was shot in black-and-white. Filmed in Santo Domingo, and starring a cast of Cuban-American émigrés, it also uses ...

'' directed by Leon Ichaso. He has also appeared on the long-running ABC soap opera, ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'' as Javier Pérez (1995–96, 1997). He has also acted in the telenovela genre appearing in ''Morelia'' (1995), and in the Venevision produced ''Enamorada'' (1999). In 2001, he appeared as the male lead in

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

's '' María Belén''. He has appeared in several publications such as ''People en Español'', ''Vanidades'' and ''Harper's Bazaar''. In the last few years, Lavan's television appearances have been on the popular CBS drama, '' CSI: Miami'' (2003), on NBC's, ''

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

'' (2004), and in the film '' Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights'' (2004). He also appeared in ''

Christmas with the Kranks ''Christmas with the Kranks'' is a 2004 American Christmas comedy film directed by Joe Roth from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, and starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd, Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin, Jake Busey, and M. Emmet ...

'' (2004) alongside

Tim Allen Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) for which he won a Golden Gl ...

and

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, and children's author. Known for List of Jamie Lee Curtis performances, her performances in the horror and slasher film, slasher genres, she is regarded as a scream qu ...

. He has also co-hosted programs such as the "Latin Billboard Music Awards", "the Latin Grammy's", among others. He also debuted on Broadway with the long running '' Latinologues'' along with Rick Najera and Mexican actor

Eugenio Derbez Eugenio González Derbez (; born September 2, 1961) is a Mexican actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films and television series, including '' The Book of Life'', ''The Angry Birds Movie 2'', and '' CODA''. In the 2010s, he appeared in ...

. He is a producer working on various independent projects including music videos and Latin culture-themed films. Additionally, he was formerly named to the board of directors for Fuego Entertainment, a Miami-based Latin-entertainment company that is public under OTC:BB FUGO. He is in ''

Guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

'' alongside

Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (; born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican actor. List of awards and nominations received by Benicio del Toro, His accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy ...

coming in 2008 and is also filming an independent movie about Dr. Ricardo Saca, called ''Flights of Fancy'' also starring

María Conchita Alonso María Concepción Alonso Bustillo (born June 29, 1955), better known as María Conchita Alonso, is a Cuban-born Venezuelan-American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who represented Venezuela at Miss World 1975 and placed in the t ...

. He also starred in ''

Every Witch Way ''Every Witch Way'' is an American teen drama that aired on Nickelodeon from January 1, 2014, to July 30, 2015. The show is an adaptation of Nickelodeon Latin America's '' Grachi''. It follows 14-year-old Emma Alonso, who moves to Miami, Florid ...

'' as Francisco Alonso.

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavan, Rene 1968 births American male film actors American male television actors Cuban emigrants to the United States Living people People from Artemisa American entertainers of Cuban descent