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Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Garcia at the March 2012 WonderCon
Born (1973-04-28) April 28, 1973 (age 51)
Alma mater University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation Actor, voice actor, comedian
Years active 1997–present
Spouse(s)
Rebecca Birdsall
(m. 2019)

Jorge Garcia (born April 28, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker, but subsequently became best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost from 2004 to 2010. He starred in the Fox television series Alcatraz and played a minor character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He starred as Jerry Ortega on Hawaii Five-0 and can be seen in the Netflix film The Ridiculous 6. He currently stars in the comedy series Bookie. Garcia also appeared on the cover of Weezer's 2010 album Hurley in a close-up shot from a photo he took with vocalist Rivers Cuomo.

Early life and education

Garcia was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Dora Mesa, is a Cuban-born professor, and his father, Humberto Garcia, is a Chilean-born doctor. He grew up in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California and went to San Clemente High School. He wrestled in high school, where he was given the nickname "Baby-Faced Killer". As a senior, he was selected by the faculty as "Triton of the Year", the highest award given to a graduating senior.

Garcia graduated from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1995 as a Communication Studies major. He also studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school.

Career

Garcia spent six years working at Borders Books and Music while auditioning. He was in a few commercials during that time. He later said that his first taste of street recognition came from starring in a Jack in the Box commercial which was aired frequently on local television.

Garcia was the first actor to be cast on Lost after the producers saw him on Curb Your Enthusiasm the night before casting began, and created the character of Hugo Reyes specifically for him. Garcia appeared in the second episode of the eighth season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, where he lost to Michael Ian Black. He was a contestant on an episode of Russian Roulette on Game Show Network. He missed a question about the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and fell through the trap door.

Garcia is an associate producer and star in the independent film When We Were Pirates, in which he plays Jerry, who along with a group of close friends, learns that his childhood love of playing pirates helps him overcome some of the difficulties he faces later in life. He is seen singing in the studio for the upcoming project on an officially released YouTube clip.

During Lost's run, Garcia wrote a blog about the show called Dispatches from the Island. He also hosted a weekly podcast, Geronimo Jack's Beard, in which he discussed the script of Season 6.

Garcia is also featured on the front cover of Weezer's album Hurley, released on September 10, 2010. The album is named after his character from Lost. He performed as a guest vocalist at several Weezer concerts in 2010.

On November 21, 2010, Entertainment Weekly announced that Garcia was cast in the upcoming U.S. television series Alcatraz. On November 22, 2010, Garcia made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother's episode "Blitzgiving". In the episode, references are made to Garcia's time on Lost.

In 2011, Garcia appeared as a recurring character in Mr. Sunshine, portraying a caretaker at the Sunshine Center. Starting in January 2012, Garcia portrayed Dr. Diego Soto, an Alcatraz expert, in the Fox series Alcatraz. The show was a mid-season replacement for Fox's Terra Nova. The series was officially cancelled by Fox on May 9, 2012, due to dropping viewership throughout its run. Garcia appeared on The Nerdist podcast posted June 18, 2012.

After appearing as a guest star in several season 4 episodes of Hawaii Five-0, Garcia, who plays the character of Jerry Ortega, was promoted to a series regular starting with season five.

In 2015, he joined the cast of The Healer starring with British actors Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Camilla Luddington and Jonathan Pryce.

Garcia launched a biweekly podcast with co-host Ralph Apel dedicated to kaiju films titled Kaiju Podcast on November 14, 2016.

In 2022, Garcia competed in season seven of The Masked Singer as "Cyclops" of Team Bad. He was eliminated alongside Jordan Mailata as "Thingamabob" of Team Cuddly.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1997 Raven's Ridge Monty
1999 Tomorrow by Midnight Jay
2000 King of the Open Mics Meatloag
2002 The Slow and the Cautious Teddy Short film
2003 Tales from the Crapper Racoon Head Direct-to-video
2004 Our Time Is Up Gardener Short film
2005 The Good Humor Man Mt. Rushmore
Little Athens Pedro
2006 Deck the Halls Wallace
2007 Sweetzer Sergio
2011 Maktub Carlos
2014 Cooties Rick
2015 The Wedding Ringer Lurch / Garvey
The Ridiculous 6 Herm
2016 Get a Job Fernando
Rock Dog Germur
2017 The Healer Father Malloy
2020 The Wrong Missy Guy on Plane
Nobody Knows I'm Here Memo
2021 All the World Is Sleeping Nick
2022 The Munsters Floop
2023 Condor's Nest Proprietor Hipolito
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2000 The Wild Thornberrys Ricardo Voice, episode: "Spirited Away"
2001 Spin City Taxi Driver Episode: "The Arrival"
2003 Old School Jorge Television film
Columbo Julius Episode: "Columbo Likes the Nightlife"
Rock Me Baby Vizzy Episode: "Would I Lie to You?"
2003–2004 Becker Hector Lopez 13 episodes
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm ... Episode: "The Car Pool Lane"
2004–2010 Lost Hugo "Hurley" Reyes 108 episodes
ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Series (2006)
ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Television Series (2008)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006) (shared with cast)
Nominated—ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Television Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie (2007)
Nominated—Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor - Television (2007–2008)
Nominated—Imagen Award for Best Actor - Television
Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble (2009)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick (2005–2007)
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance - Male (2005)
2005 Higglytown Heroes Dog Trainer Hero Voice, episode: "Me and My Shadow"
2010, 2014 How I Met Your Mother Steve (The Blitz) 2 episodes: "Blitzgiving" and "Gary Blauman"
2011 Mr. Sunshine Bob Bobinson Bobert 3 episodes: "Pilot", "Hostile Workplace", and "The Assistant"
Fringe Kevin Episode: "Os"
2012 Alcatraz Dr. Diego Soto 13 episodes
Phineas and Ferb Rodrigo Voice, episode: "Minor Monogram"
2012–2013 Once Upon a Time Anton, the Giant 3 episodes: "Tallahassee", "Tiny", and "Lacey"
2013 The Ordained Carlos Television film
Californication ... 2 episodes: "Rock and a Hard Place" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen"
Maggie Gaspar 2 episodes: "Gaspar, the Friendly A.D.S.A." and "Gaspar, the Ambiguous"
iSteve Steve Wozniak Internet film
2013–2020 Hawaii Five-0 Jerry Ortega Recurring (season 4); main cast (seasons 5–10)
2014 Food Truck Kyle Television film
2016 BoJack Horseman Himself Voice, episode: "The BoJack Horseman Show"
2017 Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories Bryan Episode: "The Duke"
2020 MacGyver Jerry Ortega Episode: "SOS+Hazmat+Ultrasound+Frequency+Malihini"
2022 The Masked Singer Cyclops Contestant on season 7; Eliminated in third episode
2023 Bookie Hector Main cast; 8 episodes
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