Emmanuel Logroño (born November 1, 1951), better known as Sunshine Logroño, is an American actor. Logroño has worked in Puerto Rican media for close to five decades.

Early years

Born in New York to a Puerto Rican mother, Logroño moved to

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

along with his family when he was nine years old. He was soon recognized as a multifaceted entertainer by his schoolteachers and classmates. His nickname "Sunshine" came from a short stint (1973) as a disc jockey for

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

-based WBMJ-AM, Puerto Rico's first rock and roll station (another WBMJ disc jockey at the time, Raymond Broussard, better known as ''Moonshadow'', later became the co-host of

El Vacilón de la Mañana ''El Vacilón de la Mañana'' is a language weekday morning radio show. The show originates from WSKQ-FM in New York City, a Spanish radio station branded as "Mega 97.9", and it is syndicated live to a number of different markets in the US suc ...

, a very popular Spanish language morning radio talk show in New York City). Sunshine was also heard in 1974 as a part of the new announcing crew at "The New WRAI" 1520, a station created by Bill Thompson and "Radio Man" after the format change from English to Spanish at WBMJ. Besides his short stint as a disc jockey, Logroño served as a voice actor for Puerto Rico's then-active dubbing industry. His was the Spanish-language voice for "Little Joe", one of the Cartwright brothers (played by

Michael Landon Michael Landon Sr. (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in ''Bonanza'' (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in ''Little House on th ...

) in the U.S. television show

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

. Logroño obtained a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(English Language Literature) degree ("a degree in unemployment", Logroño claims) from the

University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(Theater) degree from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. After his return to Puerto Rico, Logroño was a member of the Puerto Rican folk group, '' Moliendo Vidrio'', which also starred bandleader Gary Nuñez and later comedic actress Carmen Nydia Velázquez. Moliendo Vidrio made a few albums during the 1970s. By the late years of that decade, the group disbanded. Logroño kept himself busy in the late 1970s as a voice talent for radio commercials, as a comedic actor on Puerto Rican television, and as a radio host. He co-hosted a morning radio program, ''Rompiendo el Día'' (Daybreak) with Puerto Rican entrepreneur and musician Silverio Pérez, and served as part of the comedic team behind ''Desafiando a los Genios'' (Defying the Geniuses), a popular TV mock quiz show starring, among others, actor, writer and film director

Jacobo Morales Jacobo Morales (born 12 November 1934) is a Puerto Rican actor, poet, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and author born in Puerto Rico.José Miguel Agrelot. Two of Logroño's TV characters would surface around this time: ''Agapito Flores'', a rather naive country bumpkin with a speech impairment, and ''Nicky El Bro'', a

Nuyorican Nuyorican is a portmanteau word blending "New York" (or "Nueva York" in Spanish) and "Puerto Rican," referring to Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, their culture, or their descendants (especially those raised or currently livin ...

hustler. A third character, "Chinito Rivera" (a flasher that said little and wore a raincoat he was eager to open at the slightest provocation) would eventually evolve into ''"El Barbarazo del Amor"'', one of his radio characters.

''Los Rayos Gamma''

Morales and Perez would soon revive, along with actor and radio announcer

Horacio Olivo Horacio Olivo (1933 – July 24, 2016) was a Puerto Rican actor, comedian, and television/radio personality, as well as a classically trained singer. Born in Dorado, Puerto Rico, he got his start in show business in 1949 at long defunct WNEL as a ...

, a musical group named ''

Los Rayos Gamma Los Rayos Gamma is a Puerto Rican comedy troupe specializing in political satire. The group was founded in the late 1960s and is currently composed of: * Jacobo Morales: actor, writer, director, comedian * Silverio Pérez: musician, comedian ...

'', Puerto Rico's most beloved political satire troupe, which had an extremely short but popular stint in 1968 as the creative vehicle for the late satirical writer and journalist, Eddie López. Logroño filled in for Pérez on vacation, and when Pérez returned, he was allowed to fill in López's shoes (who was considered irreplaceable by some), with great success. ''Los Rayos Gamma'' had a television show on channel 7 where they satirized politicians with their songs to high ratings and which would be taken off the air due to their rather direct satirical jabs at then-governor of Puerto Rico

Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...

. They went on to make a few albums and would return to the public spotlight in roughly four-year intervals, coinciding with each general election in Puerto Rico. At his initial stages in ''"Los Rayos Gamma"'', Logroño created a character that seemed to lighten up the absurdity and gravity of another character, played by Morales, that was in turn based on a real-life incident. During the 1930s, Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads, in charge of health services for the Institute of Tropical Medicine in San Juan, wrote a few letters to friends in the United States in which he described his hatred for Puerto Ricans. Whether the letters were in jest or not, he claimed in them to have implanted

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

cells in local subjects without their consent. One of these letters was intercepted by affiliates to

Pedro Albizu Campos Pedro Albizu Campos (June 29, 1893Luis Fortuño Janeiro. ''Album Histórico de Ponce (1692–1963).'' p. 290. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963. – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and a leading figure in ...

Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico (, PNPR) was a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal was to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The Party's selection in 1930 of Pedro Albi ...

, and Albizu vehemently denounced Rhoades as an unethical and sadistic doctor who treated his patients as

guinea pigs The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the animal, but "gui ...

. At their television show, Morales played a descendant of Rhoads, "Dr. Cornelius Rodas"; Logroño played his assistant, Igor, wearing a fake hunch, doing guttural noises, and inevitably messing up whatever plans Rodas had for his avowed plans to exterminate Puerto Ricans. Igor reportedly was created when Rodas submitted an unwilling participant to a 23-hour long

orgasm Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling"), sexual climax, or simply climax, is the sudden release of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, characterized by intense sexual pleasure resulting in rhythmic, involu ...

using

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

-like electrodes. Igor was a big fan of Puerto Rican culture,

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

and

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

, and walked around with a small doll, ''"Calerito"'', resembling him, a comedic device that preceded Mini Me by many years. Due to the physical demands on him while playing the character, Logroño has since played Igor only sporadically. A big fan of the character, who got "Igor" as a nickname when he imitated him in high school for his friends, is Juan Gonzalez, the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player. Los Rayos Gamma edited a music album in 1982, from which ''"Me apesta la vida"'' (''My Life Stinks''), a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

-meets- rap fusion song penned by Logroño, was a minor radio hit in Puerto Rico. Logroño updated the song in a newer version, found in the 2006 Culebro Mendoza album ''"Culebro Legal"'', this time set to a

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

beat.

Later years

After ''Los Rayos Gammas TV show was yanked off the air, Sunshine kept active, doing voice-overs for commercials (at one time half of all radio commercials in Puerto Rico featured Logroño's talents in one way or another) and making appearances at several TV shows and radio programs. At one of these shows the comedic characters of Eleuterio Quiñones and his son Elpidio were born. Eleuterio Quiñones, a die-hard supporter of Puerto Rican statehood whose grasp of public affairs and general culture level would be best compared to those of

Archie Bunker Archibald "Archie" Bunker is a fictional character from the 1970s American television sitcom ''All in the Family'' and its spin-off '' Archie Bunker's Place'', played by Carroll O'Connor. Bunker, a main character of the series, is a World War II ...

in the U.S., and his son Elpidio -a 38-year-old special education patient with the emotional age of a child but with rather stunning

reproductive organs A sex organ, also known as a reproductive organ, is a part of an organism that is involved in sexual reproduction. Sex organs constitute the primary sex characteristics of an organism. Sex organs are responsible for producing and transporting ...

- are still a staple of Puerto Rican radio and television. Logroño also developed his own audio production company, Man-TK Records (Man-TK being a

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

on ''manteca'', the Spanish word for lard. Logroño's work is filled with porcine references throughout his career).

Sunshine's Café

In 1988 Logroño began hosting a show named ''Sunshine's Cafe'' on

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the flagship and namesake station of Guaynabo-based WAPA Media Group. WAPA-TV maintains studio facilities on Luis Vigoreaux Avenue ...

. ''Sunshine's Cafe'' was very popular among

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

's television viewers and its ''risqué'' sense of humor guaranteed four seasons of high ratings and extreme controversy. After the show's first airing all sponsors except one canceled their contracts, and the program spent close to six months without advertising. The program was controversial because it confronted many Puerto Rican stereotypes head-on. It also provided Logroño with a vehicle to bring in many taboo topics in subtext, a technique that he personally credits

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...

with teaching him when Cosby developed a pilot for a Latino-based series in American television that did not evolve into a series. In the program, Sunshine played many characters; one particular character portrayed a clever closet homosexual named '' Vitín Alicea Arévalo'', many of whose phrases became household sayings. Another character portrayed a fake

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

minister, ''El Hermano Emmanuel'' (Brother Emmanuel), who had a hunch (mirroring that of a famous Puerto Rican minister, Yiye Avila), was constantly angry (as yet another local minister, Jorge Raschke), frequently schemed to profit from the members of his congregation, and almost always was caught doing so. El Hermano Emmanuel constantly spoke trilling r's (and was often referred to as "Hermano Emmanuerrrrr"), and used a phrase mocking

speaking in tongues Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is an activity or practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid voc ...

: "''¡Salamaya!''" (derived from "''¡Sea la madre''!", or " amnedbe his mother!") as a punchline, particularly whenever the Hermano met a stunningly attractive woman, or when another character caught him in a profiteering scheme. A famous episode had the Hermano try (unsuccessfully) to cure

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (; born September 10, 1945) is a Puerto Rican musician. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' " Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song "". Music genres he explo ...

from his

blindness Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

(Feliciano's memorable response was: ''"I can see! I can see! I can see that you're a fake, I still can't see a damn!'') The phrase "''Salamaya''" is still used in Puerto Rico to refer in jest to devout Pentecostal followers (Hermano Emmanuel constantly had two naive female parishioners follow him everywhere) or a small Pentecostal congregation (particularly those with rudimentary facilities, such as tents).

Rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

René Pérez ("Residente") uses it in the Calle 13" song ''"Ojalai"'' to describe the song's attractive female subject in rapture-like amazement. Offended by Logroño's portrayal of ministers, Pentecostal leaders in Puerto Rico threatened Logroño's program with boycotts, and Raschke and Milton Picón (the local representative for Morality in Media) actually confronted him on television talk shows. On a rare bow to public pressure, Logroño discontinued the character ("If I keep on doing it their followers will

lynch Lynch may refer to: Places Australia * Lynch Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica * Lynch Point, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica * Lynch's Crater, Queensland, Australia England * River Lynch, Hertfordshire * The Lynch, an island in the Rive ...

me!", he gives as an explanation).

Chona, La Puerca Asesina

In exchange for a cameo in the film "La Guagua Aérea", Logroño somehow persuaded film maker Luis Molina Casanova to direct a satirical action film, ''"Chona, La Puerca Asesina"'' ("Chona, The Killer Pig"), released in 1988 and filmed in black and white. Many Puerto Rican artists and media personalities (along with

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

actor Pablo Alarcón, who played a Puerto Rican peasant with a strong Argentine accent) appeared in the film, in which a piglet grows to become ten stories tall and attacks Puerto Rico,

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

-style. Among the cameos and film roles are those played by José Miguel Agrelot, Nena Rivera, Wilson Torres (later known for another comedic character named ''Maneco''), Guillermo José Torres, Enrique Cruz, Antonio Pantojas and others ( Ruth Fernández sings the movie's theme, her trademark song ''"Gracias, Mundo"''). Jacobo Morales and Logroño appear as Cornelius Rodas and Igor, respectively; Rodas is responsible for enlarging the pig, as requested by Don Rodriguez, one of Agrelot's many comedic characters. A remasterized version, or director's cut, which adds Vitín Alicea to the plot and features improved

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

, was released in DVD format in 1998. In 1991, Logroño had a chance to star in a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

movie: he acted opposite

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...

and

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...

in ''

Captain Ron ''Captain Ron'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Thom Eberhardt, produced by David Permut, and co-written by John Dwyer and Thom Eberhardt for Touchstone Pictures. It stars Kurt Russell as the eponymous sailor with a quirky personality ...

''. He appeared in the movie '' Contact'', alongside

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. Foster started her career as a child actor before establishing herself as leading actress in film. She has received List of awards and nominations re ...

, as a taxi driver, but actually - thanks to the rather extreme talents of the film's editor, Logroño claims - only his left elbow appears on the screen. He won the audition over Rafael Fuentes much to his dismay. According to an interview that Logroño gave

Vea ''Vea'' was a Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican celebrity gossip magazine that was published weekly from 1969 to 2009. It was founded by Enrique Pizzi Galindo and Roberto García. As a periodical that reported on the lives and activities of many of the ...

one time, one day, he arrived at his office to learn there was an audition for another movie. By his own account, he caught a flight to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, made the audition, and flew back to Puerto Rico, arriving just in time to participate at a play in Mayagüez. Logroño attempted to show his serious actor side in the late 1990s, participating in various theater plays.

More recent history

He was the host of a show named ''De Noche Con Iris y Sunshine'' (''At Night With Iris & Sunshine''), co-hosted by Iris Chacón. When Iris later left the show for personal reasons, it was renamed to ''De Noche con Sunshine'' (At Night With Sunshine). In a controversial network switch Sunshine switched to WAPA-TV in 1998 and was the host of a show named ''Club Sunshine'', which was aired until May 2009. During that time in WAPA-TV he was also the vice-president for talent affairs of the television station. ''Club Sunshine'' was followed up by ''Sunshine Remix'' (later retitled ''El Remix'') and ''Risas en Combo'', both aired on WAPA-TV in an alternating

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-wise fashion until both were replaced together by ''El Remix'' alone, which still airs on WAPA as of 2019. On February 25, 2007, Logroño appeared as an

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

in the filming of the video for Calle 13's ''"Tango del Pecado"'', the first featured single of their recent album, ''"¿Residente o Visitante?"''. He marries Calle 13's René Pérez and ex-girlfriend Denise Quiñones in a

surrealistic Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

wedding where

Tego Calderón Tegui Calderón Rosario (born February 1, 1972) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor. He began his musical career in 1996 (as Tego Tec) and was supported by the famous Puerto Rican rapper Eddie Dee, who invited him on his second studio a ...

and

Voltio Julio Voltio (also known simply as Voltio; born as Julio Irving Ramos Filomeno on June 11, 1977) is a Puerto Rican former rapper. An early pioneer of reggaetón—a modern genre of Latin music originating primarily in Panamá and Puerto Rico, ...

are the

best men ''Best Men'' is a 1997 American crime comedy film directed by Tamra Davis, and stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Luke Wilson, Andy Dick, Mitchell Whitfield, Fred Ward, Drew Barrymore and Dean Cain. In the film, a man's wedding is set for the day o ...

. On March 21, 2007, Logroño released a children's book, ''"El

coquí Coquí is a common name for several species of small frogs in the genus ''Eleutherodactylus'' native to Puerto Rico. They are Onomatopoeia, onomatopoeically named for the very loud mating call which the males of two species, the common coqui an ...

que quiso ser sapo"'' (The coquí who wanted to be a bullfrog), based on a story he once developed and recorded as part of a children stories' album for the ''Museo del Niño'' (Children's Museum) in San Juan. A children's musical play based on the book was produced in Puerto Rico in April 2008. Sunshine has been hosting the afternoon radio show '' Agitando El Show'' since 1997, with Fernando Arévalo. The show has one of the biggest audiences and is one of the longest running shows in local radio. During 2014, Logroño became involved in a dispute with television personality

Josué Carrión Josue Carrion (born ) is a Puerto Rican businessman. He was also the show host of the television show, '' El Tiempo Es Oro''. On December 19, 2014, that show was cancelled by Puerto Rican television channel, WAPA America. On November 16, 2015, Ca ...

over a section of Logroño's show, "El Tiempo es Poco", which mocked Carrión's television show '' El Tiempo Es Oro''. Logroño decided to cancel the section, much like during the 1980s, when he had a similar situation in which he mocked journalist and emcee Ivan Frontera, who got murdered early in 1985, causing the cancellation of Logroño's character, "Ivan Fontecha", during Logroño's shows.

References

External links

Interview with Logroño and Pérez by Angel Collado-Schwartz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Logrono, Emmanuel Sunshine 1951 births Living people American male film actors American male radio actors American male television actors American male voice actors Comedians from New York (state) Hispanic and Latino American male actors Male actors from New York (state) Michigan State University alumni Puerto Rican comedians Puerto Rican television hosts Puerto Rican television producers University of Puerto Rico alumni