Ruben Blades
Born: July 16 1948
Where: Panama City, Panama
The Grammy-winning Panamanian pop star's high profile film appearances include The Milagro Beanfield War, Mo Better Blues and Once Upon A Time in Mexico.
The son of a percussionist-turned-detective and a singer/radio performer, he studied political science and law at Panama's Universidad Nacional.
After working at the Bank of Panama as a lawyer, he grew involved in salsa in the late 50s and established himself as a musical powerhouse during the '70s and early '80s.
Having championed salsa music, he began acting in small films produced during the early 1980s (often writing the music as well).
He first attracted attention as an egocentric salsa singer in 1985's Crossover Dreams (which he cowrote), and eventually found roles in mainstream Hollywood fare.
Roles included a shrewd orderly in Critical Condition, a cop in both Fatal Beauty and Predator 2 opposite Danny Glover.
He also portrayed a levelheaded sheriff in The Milagro Beanfield War, an incompetent crook in Disorganized Crime, a bookie in Mo' Better Blues and a dodgy club boss in The Two Jakes.
Subsequent appearances include The Devil's Own, Tim Robbin's political musical Cradle Will Rock and Billy Bob Thornton's All The Pretty Horses.
In 2003, he appeared in Once Upon A Time In Mexico - the final part of Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy - and the controversial Imaging Argentina with Emma Thompson.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is also a political activist and his Paparo Agaro party came in a very respectable third in the 1994 elections.
Recent work includes the Venezualan kidnap thriller Secuestro Express.
