Hector Luis Bustamante (born March 12, 1972 as Hector Luis Bustamante Durango) is a Colombian actor working in the US film industry.

Biography

Hector was born in Medellin, Colombia to parents, Dagoberto Bustamante and Aracelly Durango. Hector and his family moved to the United States when he was 12. Like many artists, Hector realized his passion for acting at an early age and landed his first theatrical role in a Hackensack high school production of "West Side Story." While his performance was well-received and led him to roles in several other productions, his drama teacher told him that he would never be a professional actor because his accent was too thick for American TV.

Discouraged but not defeated, Hector decided to put his acting career on hold for awhile and after high school, spent the next several years honing his first love, art. He started working as a graphic designer and by age 19, he was the art director for New Jersey Golf magazine.

In 1995, Hector enrolled in the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York. He put himself through school by working in retail as a security guard and eventually became the security manager in one of New York's well-known retail stores on Fifth Avenue.

But his dream of becoming a professional actor never went away. In the fall of 1999, anxious to start acting again, Hector used his work in the security field to transfer to San Francisco. While in the Bay Area, Hector attended the Shelton's Actors' Studio where he studied under the watchful eye of acting coach and mentor Jean Shelton, whose students have won Emmy and Tony Awards (Danny Glover).

In March of 2000, Hector met Nancy Berwid, a respected acting coach, who invited him to an acting workshop. A year later, at a workshop hosted by Nancy, Hector met Donna Eckhold, VP of talent development and casting for Paramount's Big Ticket Television. After seeing Hector's work, Donna considered him for a series regular role on a project based on the life of a very colorful New York City private investigator. He didn’t get the part, but it was just a prelude to the opportunities to come.

In fact, one year later while still in San Francisco, Hector made his major TV appearance on CBS' "The Agency," playing the head of the Colombian police. Within weeks he landed his second role in one of his favorite TV shows “NYPD Blue” opposite Dennis Franz and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. On the spring of 2003 Hector resigned from his security job and moved to Los Angeles. Since then Hector has continued landing co-star and guest star roles on many popular and critically acclaimed shows as 24, Crossing Jordan, Monk, Without A Trace, and most recently, landing the role of Officer Ruiz in Hostage opposite Bruce Willis and the role of Trendy Lation in Sueño opposite John Leguizamo. Hector is repped by Kim Dorr of Defining Artists and managed by Nancy Berwid.

Filmography

• Hostage (2005)

External links