Born in Los Angeles in 1947, the film star Edward James Olmos is the son of a Mexican-born welder.
He grew up in a tough barrio and never forgot the problems of urban Chicanos. He was a Tony nominee for his performance in the play Zoot Suit and became well-known in the 1980s for the TV series “Miami Vice.”
He portrayed real-life Chicano math teacher Jaime Escalante in the film Stand and Deliver (1988). Committed to fighting drugs and gang violence, he dramatized his social concerns in American Me (1992), which he directed and starred in.
