- 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." He also played the role of Jennifer Lopez's disapproving father in the one-season crime mystery series Second Chances (1993) and it's equally short-lived sequel Hotel Malibu (1994).
In addition to support roles in such millennium films as Picking Up the Pieces (2000), Exposed (2003), The Black Dahlia (2006), Downsizing (2017), Road to Juarez (2013), Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone (2021), The Margarita Man (2019) and The Planters (2019), as well as the Asian-American movies of writer/director Dave Boyle including Big Dreams Little Tokyo (2006) and White on Rice (2009), Pepe, after a 45-year career, was handed a film lead by Boyle as a sheriff in Man from Reno (2014). He also was given leads in the movies Gino's Wife (2016) and Flavor of Life (2019). As a producer, Pepe's credits include Kill or Be Killed (2015), Aguruphobia (2015), From the Dead (2019) and Going Rogue.
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."- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- SpouseDiane(1969 - present)
- Recently commissioned by the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project and the Mark Taper Foundation to paint an inspirational canvas on the subject of reading. It was turned into a poster and given to students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
- Honored by the Screen Actors Guild Heritage Achievement Award; the League of United Latin American Citizens; and the prestigious Estrella Award for Arts & Culture from the Orange Country Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
- Recently lent his vocal talents to the Fox hit series "The PJ's" in the part of part of Sanchez, who speaks with the aid of a voice box and is the only Hispanic character in Eddie Murphy's series.
- Played Jennifer Lopez's father twice in different 1990's CBS series: "Second Chances" and "Hotel Malibu" before she became a superstar.
- About the roles he's offered: "I'm usually killing or get killed, because I'm Latino."
- Being from improv, you'd always go out and do accents or whatever. You wouldn't judge yourself, you'd just do it. You had the freedom to be as bad as you can be.
- Everybody is the same. Every actor, every situation is the same. I just hope it's as much fun for everybody else as it is for me. That's usually my goal, because I don't know anyone else who has as much fun as me.
- [on acting in movies that are shot all over the world] That's the lucky thing of being a character actor, you get to enjoy life. You're not just going to the hotel to the set. You get paid vacations to play around.
- [on whether being typecast in token Chicano roles ever bothered him] I didn't let it. Because that was the reality. A lot of people did, and they didn't work. That's why I worked so much. I said, "This is what I wanted to do all of my life and I enjoy all of it." Whether it's stage, or television, movies. To me it's all the same. It's all a gift. However, I have been in the right place at the right time but I really could have been in so much more. The whole diversity thing wasn't there and I didn't buy into it too much myself growing up. But looking back, there really wasn't a lot of opportunities. I auditioned for Richard Gere's part in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). I auditioned for Eric Roberts' part in King of the Gypsies (1978). It wasn't like I didn't get to audition for incredible things, but, like anything, it could have been something great. They asked me, "Where are you from," y'know, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) was a New York guy.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content