Orestes Matacena

Orestes Matacena is a Cuban-born actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and editor. He first acted in films at six in The Life of Billy the Kid, which was shot in Matanzas at the Mercedes Sugar Mill with an all-child cast. He went on to play antagonists in Hollywood studio films, among them The Mask (1994) and Diggstown (1992), and he worked in television and commercials, including 37 commercials, nine directed by Marcus Nispel. His first play, The Gym, was written in 1968, and he wrote more than twenty five screenplays. He wrote Bitter Sugar (1996) for director Leon Ichaso. His filmmaking credits include Tainted (1987), which he wrote, produced, and directed, as well as Cuba Libre (1999), Sexgunsmoney@20 (2002), and In Plain View (2008). With Miguel Ponce he founded Theater 66, and in New York they established the New York Theater of the Americas, where he acted and directed. He appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Grab Bag.