Roberto 'Sanz' Sanchez

Biography

In the fall of 2002, while working as an armed officer for the Miami Metro System, Roberto Sanchez received a serendipitous phone call that would forever change his life. Only moments earlier he had encountered a belligerent passenger who refused to stop smoking on the evening commute. The phone call was from his agent, apparently respected film director John Singleton had just cast him as one of the leads in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the second installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. Roberto co-starred along side of actors Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mendez. Born in Havana, Cuba, Roberto grew up stateside in Miami's well-known Cuban community "Little Havana." Unfortunately, Roberto was forced to make this journey without his father who had been detained by the Cuban authorities-and as a result, he and his brother were raised by a single mother with a new language, in a new world. It would be 16 years before he saw his father again. He distinguished himself in the Navy as a Desert Storm veteran, was a Virginia Beach military police officer, competed professionally in the highly touted European league as a Naval basketball player. He became a successful print model and eventually an actor. Taking advantage of his role in 2F2F, Roberto packed his bags, purchased a one-way ticket to Hollywood, California and has never looked back. Today, Roberto is one of the busiest Latino's in the industry having worked in over 80 projects. His roles include work on TV pilots, recurring roles in series such as The Young and The Restless, Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, and countless episodic guest appearances, from Desperate Housewives to Prison Break, and most recently you've seen his work on Law and Order: LA, and The Bridge. Roberto is an actor of multiple layers who can easily transform from his stage role as the flamboyant transvestite Lorraine in "Hollywood & LeVine" to the bookish journalist Paul Varrall in "Born Yesterday" to the tango dancing bad boy on TNT's Leverage and to his upcoming role as Lucho Cruz in FXs new drama series, Gang Related. In June, Roberto stars in the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival premiere of Lake Los Angeles. His role as Francisco, the caretaker of a safe house for undocumented immigrants, allowed him to tap into his Cuban roots and reach an emotional performance that is drawn from the harsh realities that he and his parents encountered coming to this country. How ironic that Roberto's decision to answer his cell phone rather than to confront a combative commuter launched his career.