Pepe Serna

Durable Mexican-American actor Pepe Serna has appeared in more than 100 feature films and 300 television shows, but is most recognized for his gritty support performances in a variety of motion pictures, including Scarface (1983) as Al Pacino's ill-fated cocaine partner, as well as the western Silverado (1985) with Kevin Costner, the crime yarn The Rookie (1990) starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen, and the drama American Me (1992) starring Edward James Olmos. In a career surpassing five decades, Pepe's characters have played on both sides of the law -- from drug peddlers to sheriffs. He was born (and raised) in Corpus Christi, Texas on July 23, 1944, the son of a naval base interpreter for Latin American pilots and a hairdresser. His desires to become an actor happened early in life, moving to Hollywood in 1969 to finally pursue his dreams. He didn't have to wait long to find steady Latino work on film and TV. Making an inauspicious debut in the exploitation film The Student Nurses (1970), Pepe found more "A" quality work after being discovered by producer Hal B. Wallis for the coming-of-age film Tim Belcher starring Richard Thomas and Catherine Burns and the western Shoot Out (1971) starring Gregory Peck. Specializing in urban, streetwise roles, he went on to mix a number of popular films (The New Centurions (1972), The Day of the Locust (1975), Car Wash (1976), A Force of One (1979), Walk Proud (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Inside Moves (1980), Deal of the Century (1983), Red Dawn (1984), Caddyshack II (1988)) with a slew of popular TV crime dramas such as "Mannix," "Police Story," "Adam-12," "The Rookies," "The Rockford Files," "Baretta," "Kojak," "CHiPs," "Barney Miller," "Scarecrow & Mrs. King," "T.J. Hooker," "Simon & Simon," "Hill Street Blues," "Miami Vice," "Cagney & Lacey" and "Diagnosis Murder." Long married to wife Diane, Pepe is a noted keynote teacher and motivational speaker who tours colleges and universities. His strong sideline as a painter has been met with critical success, having been commissioned quite frequently. His vibrant paintings and one-man stage shows reflect a serious return to his Mexican roots and was the subject of the 2015 short documentary "Life Is Art."

Known For: Acting

Born: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA, 1944-07-23

Died: null

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1970	The Student Nurses	Luis	50
2	1971	Shoot Out	Pepe	63
3	1972	The New Centurions	Young Mexican Man	67
4	1973	Group Marriage	Ramon	48
5	1973	Miracle on 34th Street	Y Leader	68
6	1974	The Last Angry Man	Charlie Parelli	0
7	1974	The Gun	Natcho	80
8	1975	The Desperate Miles	Ruiz	0
9	1975	The Day of the Locust	Miguel	64
10	1975	The Deadly Tower	Mano	66
11	1976	Swashbuckler	Street Entertainer	62
12	1976	The Killer Inside Me	Johnny Lopez	45
13	1976	Car Wash	Chuco	60
14	1977	Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo	Migrant Worker (uncredited)	49
15	1979	Roots of Blood	Juan	65
16	1979	A Force of One	Orlando	48
17	1979	Walk Proud	Cesar	58
18	1979	The Streets of L.A.	Sgt. Castro	50
19	1979	The Jerk	Punk #1	69
20	1980	City in Fear	Raymond Zavala	51
21	1980	Honeysuckle Rose	Rooster	54
22	1980	Inside Moves	Herrada	64
23	1981	300 Miles for Stephanie	Bobby Hernandez	0
24	1981	Joe Dancer II: The Monkey Mission	Vito	65
25	1982	Vice Squad	Pete Mendez	63
26	1982	Seguin	Manuel Flores	0
27	1983	White Water Rebels	Harry Cutter	0
28	1983	Heartbreaker	Loco	38
29	1983	The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez	Romaldo Cortez	69
30	1983	Deal of the Century	Vardis	46
31	1983	Scarface	Angel	82
32	1984	Best Kept Secrets	Jim Ramos	75
33	1984	The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension	Reno Nevada	60
34	1984	Red Dawn	Aardvark's Father	63
35	1985	Fandango	Gas Station Mechanic	67
36	1985	Streets of Justice	Det. Almos	50
37	1986	Out of Bounds	Murano	55
38	1987	The Three Kings	Alex Sweetwood	28
39	1988	Human Error		60
40	1988	Caddyshack II	Carlos	41
41	1988	Break of Dawn	Hector	60
42	1989	The Forgotten	Sgt. Pepe Gutierrez	62
43	1990	Bad Jim	Virgilio Segura	73
44	1990	Postcards from the Edge	Raoul	66
45	1990	The Rookie	Lt. Ray Garcia	59
46	1991	Conagher		66
47	1992	Only You	Dock Official	55
48	1992	American Me	Mundo	74
49	1993	Jonny's Golden Quest	Agent Menendez	75
50	1994	A Million to Juan	Mr. Ortiz	54
51	1995	In the Flesh	Harlan Ramirez	0
52	1995	Land of Milk & Honey	Danny	30
53	1997	The Brave	Alessandro	60
54	2000	Luminarias		30
55	2000	Picking Up the Pieces	Florencio	43
56	2000	Bread and Roses	Restaurateur	63
57	2000	The Princess and the Barrio Boy	Bum	50
58	2000	Daybreak	Herman Ortiz	48
59	2001	Along for the Ride	Dr. Sanchez	60
60	2003	Deadly Swarm	Commandante Alvarez	31
61	2003	Exposed	Raoul	50
62	2004	Latin Dragon	Hector Sanchez	50
63	2006	Big Dreams Little Tokyo	Mr. Gonzalez	58
64	2006	The Black Dahlia	Tomas Dos Santos	56
65	2009	White on Rice	Professor Berk	56
66	2014	Man from Reno	Paul Del Moral	63
67	2014	Cake	Nuncio	63
68	2015	Ana Maria in Novela Land	Father Miguel	50
69	2015	Road to Juarez	Fortunato	35
70	2016	Kill or Be Killed	Rudy Goebel	40
71	2016	Superpowerless	Dr. George Holst	0
72	2016	Restored Me	Manny	100
73	2016	Under Water: Dive Deep	Lil' Big Me	0
74	2016	Monday Nights at Seven	Paul	0
75	2017	Lowriders	Pepe	67
76	2017	Downsizing	Señor Cárdenas	54
77	2019	Flavor of Life		0
78	2019	From the Dead	Rodrigo	51
79	2019	The Margarita Man	Jose Martinez	23
80	2019	The Planters	Jesús	62
81	2022	Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone	Rancher	47
82	2023	Flamin' Hot	Abuelito	79
83	2023	Moe		70
84	2024	Say a Little Prayer		0
85		Three Years Gone		0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1967	Mannix		67
2	1968	Adam-12	Roger	70
3	1971	Cannon		65
4	1972	The Rookies		68
5	1972	Kung Fu	Los Vidrios	77
6	1973	Police Story		69
7	1973	Kojak	Enorio Patias	70
8	1973	Kojak	Rudy Diaz	70
9	1974	The Rockford Files	Ray Ochoa	75
10	1975	Baretta		63
11	1975	Barney Miller	Julio Rodriguez	73
12	1975	Bronk		62
13	1977	Rafferty		50
14	1977	CHiPs		68
15	1977	Lou Grant		73
16	1978	The Paper Chase		76
17	1981	Hill Street Blues		76
18	1981	The Greatest American Hero		72
19	1981	Simon & Simon		67
20	1982	T. J. Hooker	Frank Fierro	64
21	1982	Cagney & Lacey		69
22	1982	Knight Rider	Lupo	76
23	1983	The A-Team	Tómas Jefferson	75
24	1983	Scarecrow and Mrs. King		63
25	1984	Miami Vice	Oswaldo Guzman	75
26	1984	Miami Vice	Zabado	75
27	1984	Hunter	Roberto Sanchez	72
28	1985	Hell Town	Enrique	50
29	1987	A Year in the Life	Carlos	68
30	1988	The Fortunate Pilgrim	John Colucci	50
31	1989	Quantum Leap	Manuel Vega	80
32	1990	DEA		60
33	1993	Dudley	Santana	60
34	1993	Diagnosis: Murder	Capt. Collins	71
35	1993	Second Chances	Salvador Lopez	43
36	1994	Hotel Malibu		40
37	1995	Sliders	Roberto	76
38	1998	Jesse	Pappa Vasquez	61
39	1999	The PJs	Sanchez (voice)	67
40	2001	The Zeta Project		75
41	2001	Justice League	Shifflet (voice)	82
42	2003	Kingpin		63
43	2005	Criminal Minds	Ruben Garcia	83
44	2017	Dimension 404	Wally Nash	65
45	2021	With Love	Luis Delgado	64

Pepe Serna

Film

Television