How Richard Cabral went from extra work to star in FX’s Mayans M.C.
Central Casting has seen a number of background actors rise in Hollywood and become A-list stars. One of the actors who worked with Central Casting as an extra is Mayans M.C. star Richard Cabral. In a recent blog post, Central Casting revealed how Cabral got his start in Hollywood and how his humble beginnings led to a major role on a hit TV show.
Richard Cabral is from East Los Angeles and spent his formative years around goings and in jail. While in jail, he earned his GED and started to appreciate poetry and rap. Then, according to the LA Times, at 20 years Cabral faced a 35-year sentence for violent assault.
“Going through that experience was tormenting,” Cabral told the Times. “There are so many people in Los Angeles fighting life [sentences]. And we’re all young: 18, 19, 20. I just knew I couldn’t do this no more. I knew I needed a change.”
Cabral was given a 5-year sentenced and was released from prison when he was 25-years-old. After a friend’s referral he joined Homeboy industries, a group to help at risk youth and gang members find a new career path.
While working at Homeboy industries, Cabral worked many different jobs. Then Central Casting reached out to Homeboy Industries to cast Background Actors for CSI: Miami and Cabral started working on set of the show.
“I remember my first thing was CSI: Miami,” he told NPR. “I played a Cuban gangster. And that was it. I was like: Wow, I don’t have to clean toilets. I could actually dress up and get paid equivalent to that. So that was my introduction into the Hollywood industry.”
The role led to many other background acting jobs on The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, The Green Hornet, and Sons of Anarchy. His first speaking role was on Southland, but his breakout role was on the first season of American Crime, a role which earned him an Emmy nomination in 2015.
Now Cabral is featured as Johnny ‘Coco’ Cruiz in the Sons of Anarchy spinoff Mayans M.C., which is also cast by Central Casting.
“I didn’t know that I could be an actor until I was 25 years old, and now I continue to go back to the prisons and probation camps and the inner city to say that you don’t have to go through the violence, through the trauma like I did,” Cabral told The Wrap. “Art saved my life.”
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- 10 Actors That Weren’t The First Choice For These Famous Roles
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