Luis Guzman was chosen to play Gomez Addams. The intention was to make him look more like the one in the original cartoons. That is, Morticia would have to be taller than her husband.
He retains classic features and, at the same time, brings new ingredients into the character. Thanks to that, the show doesn’t give a feeling of a remake. That’s exactly what the filming crew wanted it to be. All the authentic attributes are shown from a new perspective in the movie Wednesday on Netflix.
Biography
Luis Guzman is an American film actor of Puerto Rican origin. As a rule, directors involve the face in the roles of gangsters or gangsters with Latin American roots.
Childhood and adolescence
The future actor was born on August 28, 1956 in the Puerto Rican city of Cayeya, which now has 41 thousand people. Louis spent his childhood in New York, in the Lower Manhattan quarter of Greenwich Village, which in the 1950s became the center of the Beatnik movement.
It was in this quarter unfolds the action drama “Stonewall“, in which Gusman starred in 1995. The boy’s mother, Rosa, worked in a hospital, his stepfather, Benjamin Cardona, specialized in repairing televisions.
At an early age, Luis was educated at City College of New York University and began his working career as a social worker. At the same time, the young man participated in street theater performances.
Films
On the screen, Guzmán made his screen debut at age 21 in the feature-length Robert M. Young drama The Pedophile. In two episodes of the procedure “Miami Vice: Vice Squad” Luis appeared as a thug Miguel Revilez, and in the film “Crocodile Dundee 2”, which in 1988 became a leader of the Soviet film distribution – the character named Jose.
In the early 90′s, a native of Cayeya lit up in the TV series “Monsters”, “Law and Order”, “Homicide” and “Cool Walker”, and the first of them played his namesake (as the name of the hero actor and in a full-length movie by Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” released in 1999).
In 1993, Guzman was lucky enough to fall into the cast of the crime film by Brian De Palma’s “Carlito’s Way”, starring Al Pacino, Sean Penn and Viggo Mortensen. Twelve years later, Louis starred in a prequel to the gangster drama, “Carlito’s Way – 2: Rise to Power”.
In the filmography of Guzman has a number of tapes in the center of the plot – the trafficking of illegal substances. First of all, this is a crime drama by Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” and the television series “Narcos”, in which the actor reincarnated in one of the founders of Medellin drug cartel – Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.
The theme of selling and smuggling drugs is also played in a toothsome comedy Rawson Marshall Thurber, “We Are the Millers” in which Luis played a Mexican policeman.
Important milestones in the film career of the native of Puerto Rico were shooting in the Kevin Reynolds adventure film “The Count of Monte Cristo” and the disaster movie “9/11”, which tells about the survival of five people trapped during an air attack by terrorists in the elevator of the World Trade Center.
In the first of these tapes Gusman got the role of Djakolo, and in the second – Eddie.
Personal life
The colorful actor found happiness in his personal life in 1985 with a woman named Angelita Galarza. The couple has a native daughter and four adopted children. The Guzmán family lives on their own ranch in the town of Sutton, Vermont.
In the 2016 presidential election, Louis, who likes to be pronounced Louie, supported Democratic candidate Senator Bernie Sanders.
Guzmán’s favorite actor is Marlon Brando.
Louis Guzman Now
The year 2022 has been a very fruitful one for the Kaiaia native. In the series “The Resort” filmed at the intersection of black comedy, detective and mystery film, Luis appeared in the image of Illan Iberra, a literary man.
The central roles of husband and wife Noah and Emma, who decided to celebrate their 10th anniversary of marriage on the Riviera Maya, were played by William Jackson Harper and “Fargo” Season 2 star Christine Miglioti.
The most high-profile premiere of 2022 with Gusman was the TV series “Wednesday”, in which the actor reincarnated as Gomez Addams. The wife of the head of the family Morticia Addams played Catherine Zeta-Jones, with whom Louis starred in “Traffic”, and their daughter Wednesday Addams, whose name is given to the tape – Jenna Ortega.
The first season of the black comedy with elements of fantasy and upbringing drama premiered on November 23.
Filmography
- 1988 – “Crocodile Dundee 2”
- 1990 – “Questions and Answers”
- 1991 – “Breaking Through”
- 1993 – “Carlito’s Way”
- 1997 – “Boogie Nights”
- 1997 – 2003 – “Jail of Oz”
- 1998 – “Out of Sight”
- 1999 – “The Englishman”
- 1999 – “Magnolia”
- 2000 – “Traffic”
- 2002 – “The Count of Monte Cristo”
- 2002 – “Love That Knocks You Down”
- 2007 – “John of Cincinnati”
- 2008 – “Nothing Compares to the Holidays.”
- 2015 – “Narcos”
- 2019 – “Shameless”
- 2019 – “God’s Gift Enterprise”
- 2022 – “Wednesday”
Interesting Facts
- Judging by the photo, Guzman resembles another Puerto Rican actor, Rick Aviles, whose biography was cut short in March 1995 at the age of 42. However, the colleagues differed significantly in height: Rick grew to 189 cm, and Luis – only 166.
- The star of the first season of the series “Narcos” has a countryman with a similar name, whose filmography is dominated by Mexican soap operas – Luis Roberto Guzmán.