Robert Adame Beltran is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, known for his role as Commander
ChakotayChakotay , played by Robert Beltran, is a character in Star Trek: Voyager. He is the First Officer of the USS Voyager.-Character biography:...
on
Star Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
.
Early life
Beltran was born in
Bakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
, the son of Aurelia Olgin (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Adame) and Louis Perez Beltran, first generation Mexican-Americans. He refers to himself as being “Latindio” (a portmanteau of
LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
and Indio). Beltran attended East Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College. He has two sisters and seven brothers, including the well-known
Latin JazzLatin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
musician
Louie Cruz BeltranLouie Cruz Beltran is a well-known American Latin Jazz musician.-Biography:Louie Cruz is the son of first generation Mexican-American parents and along with his seven brothers and two sisters, including the well-known former Star Trek: Voyager actor Robert Beltran.Beltran began his formal music...
.
Career
Beltran graduated from
California State University, FresnoCalifornia State University, Fresno, often referred to as Fresno State University and synonymously known in athletics as Fresno State , is one of the leading campuses of the California State University system, located at the northeast edge of Fresno, California, USA.The campus sits at the foot of...
with a degree in Theater Arts and moved to
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to begin his acting career. He has been working steadily since 1979 in both theater and film. Beltran had his first film role in
Zoot SuitZoot Suit is a 1981 filmed version of the Broadway play Zoot Suit. Both the play and film were written and directed by Luis Valdez. The film stars Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos — both reprising their roles from the stage production — and Tyne Daly. Many members of the cast of the...
in 1981, but his breakthrough came in 1982 when he played Raoul in the cult classic film
Eating RaoulEating Raoul is a 1982 black comedy about a married couple living in Hollywood who resort to killing swingers for their money. It was directed by Paul Bartel and written by Bartel and Richard Blackburn...
. Beltran also had a supporting role as Chuck Norris' partner, Deputy Kayo in
Lone Wolf McQuadeLone Wolf McQuade is a 1983 action film, starring Chuck Norris, David Carradine, Barbara Carrera, and Robert Beltran, and is directed by Steve Carver. The film score was written by Francesco De Masi and borrows heavily from Ennio Morricone's score for Once Upon a Time in the West...
in 1983 (this film was also the basis for the TV series
Walker, Texas RangerWalker, Texas Ranger is an American television action crime drama series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full...
starring
Chuck NorrisCarlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
). He was in the 1984 TV movie
The Mystic WarriorThe Mystic Warrior is a 1984 TV movie about a band of Native American Sioux and the efforts of one man to save his people from destruction through the use of mysterious powers handed down by ancestors. The movie was originally a nine hour mini-series entitled "Hanta Yo" to be aired in 1980, instead...
as the Native American "Ahbleza", and starred as Hector in the 1984 cult classic,
Night of the CometNight of the Comet is a 1984 film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran, and Kelli Maroney. It has elements of such diverse genres as science fiction, horror, zombie apocalypse, comedy, and romance....
.
Beltran is perhaps best known for his role as
Commander ChakotayChakotay , played by Robert Beltran, is a character in Star Trek: Voyager. He is the First Officer of the USS Voyager.-Character biography:...
, the first officer on the lost starship Voyager, in the science fiction television series
Star Trek: VoyagerStar Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
from 1995 to 2001. Beltran won the Nosotros Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series in 1997. He was nominated in 1996 for the
NCLRThe four-letter abbreviation may refer to:*National Center for Lesbian Rights*National Council of La Raza*National Conference of Law Reviews*National Council for Learning Resources*North Carolina Law Review...
Bravo Award for Outstanding Television Series Actor in a Crossover Role, and the
ALMA AwardThe American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...
for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role in 1998 and 1999.
Beltran founded and co-directed the East LA Classic Theater Group. He is also a member of the Classical Theater Lab, an ensemble of professional actors who co-produced his production of
HamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
in 1997, which he directed and starred in.
Since at least 2003, Beltran has collaborated with amateur actors in the
LaRouche Youth MovementThe Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement and the LaRouche Political Action Committee are part of the political organization of controversial American political figure Lyndon LaRouche...
in performing plays and scenes of plays of
Friedrich SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
and
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
; Lyndon LaRouche holds Beltran up as the arbiter of all things theatrical in the LaRouche organization. Following discussions with LaRouche on the question of classical tragedy, Beltran produced and starred in a Los Angeles production of "The Big Knife" by
Clifford OdetsClifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
, a play which explores the Hollywood environment during the historical period of the "red scares" under the administration of President Harry Truman.
In May 2009, Beltran played the dual roles of Don Fermin and Older Eusebio in the American Conservatory Theaters staging of José Rivera's Boleros for the Disenchanted. He has also taken the recurring supporting role of Jerry Flute in seasons 3 and 4 of HBO's
Big LoveBig Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
.
Personal life
One of Beltran's siblings was born with
Down SyndromeDown syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...
and for four years between 1998–2001, Beltran hosted the Galaxy Ball, a fund raising event for the Down Syndrome Association of
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(DSALA). The Galaxy Ball brought together actors from other
Star TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
series for a small convention during which there was a cabaret and a dinner dance. In 2001, it was reported in
USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
that the Galaxy Ball raised more than US$50,000 for the DSALA, as well as other charities.
In addition to his film and theater career, Beltran also composes music. He is married and has one daughter.
Recordings
Latino Poetry Excerpts from a live performance by Robert Beltran (recorded at the Museum of Latin American Art in
Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, April 2002)
Theater
- California Shakespeare Festival (1979)
- Bard in the Box Tour (1980)
- La Pastorela (1980)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
(1981)
- Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
and Henry IV, part 2Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
(1981)
- Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(1981)
- Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(1981)
- Taming of the Shrew (1981)
- Corridos (1983)
- The Quartered Man (1985)
- I Don't Have To Show You No Stinkin' Badges (1986)
- Stars In The Morning Sky (1987)
- A Burning Beach (1988)
- Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(1989)
- Widows (1991)
- A Touch Of The Poet (1993)
- Hamlet (1997)
- The Big Knife
The Big Knife is a film noir directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe based on the play by Clifford Odets. The film stars Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, and Everett Sloane.-Plot:Charlie Castle, a very...
(2003)
- Boleros for the Disenchanted (2009)
- Solitude (2009)
- Devil's Advocate (2011)
Filmography
- Zoot Suit
Zoot Suit is a 1981 filmed version of the Broadway play Zoot Suit. Both the play and film were written and directed by Luis Valdez. The film stars Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos — both reprising their roles from the stage production — and Tyne Daly. Many members of the cast of the...
(1981)
- Eating Raoul
Eating Raoul is a 1982 black comedy about a married couple living in Hollywood who resort to killing swingers for their money. It was directed by Paul Bartel and written by Bartel and Richard Blackburn...
(1982)
- Lone Wolf McQuade
Lone Wolf McQuade is a 1983 action film, starring Chuck Norris, David Carradine, Barbara Carrera, and Robert Beltran, and is directed by Steve Carver. The film score was written by Francesco De Masi and borrows heavily from Ennio Morricone's score for Once Upon a Time in the West...
(1983)
- Night of the Comet
Night of the Comet is a 1984 film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran, and Kelli Maroney. It has elements of such diverse genres as science fiction, horror, zombie apocalypse, comedy, and romance....
(1984)
- Calendar Girl Murders (1984)
- The Mystic Warrior (1984)
- Latino
Latino is a 1985 American war film directed by Haskell Wexler. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.-Summary:...
(1985)
- Streethawk (1986)
- The Family Martinez (1986)
- Slam Dance
Slam Dance is a 1987 thriller directed by Wayne Wang and starring Virginia Madsen, Tom Hulce, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:A married cartoonist named C.C...
(1987)
- Gaby, A True Story (1987)
- Sisters (1988)
- Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills is an American black comedy film released in 1989. Co-written and directed by Paul Bartel, Scenes re-unites Bartel with his Eating Raoul co-stars Mary Woronov and Robert Beltran...
(1989)
- Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
("Free Fall") (1989)
- Forbidden Sun (1989)
- El Diablo (1990)
- Midnight Caller
Midnight Caller is a dramatic NBC television series created by Richard DiLello, which ran from 1988 to 1991. It was one of the first television series to address the dramatic possibilities of the then-growing phenomenon of talk radio...
("Life Without Possibility") (1990)
- To Die Standing (1990)
- Kiss Me a Killer (1991)
- Veronica Clare (1991)
- The Chase (1991)
- Bugsy
Bugsy is a 1991 American crime-drama film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and Bill Graham....
(1991)
- La Pastorela (1992)
- Stormy Weathers (1992)
- Shadow Hunter (1993)
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
("Double Jeopardy") (1993)
- State of Emergency (1993)
- Lois & Clark ("Fly Hard") (1993)
- Rio Shannon (1993)
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
("Time to Die") (1994)
- Models, Inc. (1994)
- Nixon
Nixon is a 1995 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former US President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins....
(1995)
- Runway One (1995)
- 500 Nations (1995)
- Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
(1995–2001)
- Managua (1997)
- Trekkies (1997)
- How Else Am I Supposed To Know I'm Still Alive (1997)
- Ultimate Trek: Star Trek's Greatest Moments (1999)
- Luminarias (1999)
- Fahrenheit 452: The Art Police (short) (2000)
- 2001 ALMA Awards (Presenter) (2001)
- Foto-Novelas (2002)
- CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
("Tinder Box") (2003)
- Manticore
Manticore is a Sci Fi original movie that aired on the Sci Fi Channel on November 26, 2005. It was directed by Tripp Reed and featured Heather Donahue, Chase Masterson and Robert Beltran...
(2005)
- Fire Serpent
Fire Serpent is a 2007 Sci Fi Channel film.-Plot:A solar flare from the sun sends a serpentine alien of fire to Earth, where it begins to wreak havoc among a small community in its search for more fuel, in the form of a large military oil reserve for fuel....
(2007)
- Medium
Medium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...
("Whatever Possessed You") (2007)
- Cry of the Winged Serpent (2007)
- Patriotville (2008)
- Repo Chick (2009)
- Big Love
Big Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
recurring role, (2009–2011)
Notable awards & nominations
- 1997 Won Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series (Star Trek: Voyager)
- 1998 ALMA Award
The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...
Nominations for Outstanding Individual Performance for his work on Star Trek Voyager
- 1999 ALMA Award Nominations for Outstanding Individual Performance for his work on Star Trek Voyager
External links