Hector Luis Bustamante

Early life

He was born Héctor Luis Bustamante Durango in Medellín, Colombia to Dagoberto Bustamante and Aracelly Durango. Bustamante and his family moved to the United States when he was 12. Bustamante is an alumnus of the 1989 Governor's School of New Jersey as an art scholar. His first theatrical role was in a Hackensack High School production of West Side Story, which was well received and led him to roles in several other productions, though his drama teacher told him that he would never be a professional actor because his accent was too thick for American TV.

Bustamante focused on art and started working as a graphic designer. By age 19, he was the art director for New Jersey Golf magazine.

Career

In 1995, Bustamante enrolled in the Parsons School of Design in New York City, paying for school by working in retail as a security guard and eventually became the security manager in one of a retail store on Fifth Avenue.

In the fall of 1999, he used his work in the security field to transfer to San Francisco. While in the Bay Area, Bustamante attended the Shelton's Actors' Studio, where he studied under acting coach and mentor Jean Shelton, whose students have won Emmy and Tony Awards (such as Danny Glover).

In March 2000, Bustamante met acting coach Nancy Berwid, who invited him to an acting workshop. A year later, at a workshop Berwid hosted Hector met Donna Eckholdt, VP of talent development and casting for Paramount's Big Ticket Television. After seeing Bustamante's work, Eckholdt considered him for a series regular role on a project based on the life of a New York City private investigator.

A year later while still in San Francisco, Bustamante made his first major TV appearance on CBS' The Agency, playing the head of the Colombian police. Within weeks he landed his second role in NYPD Blue opposite Dennis Franz and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. In the spring of 2003 Bustamante resigned from his security job and moved to Los Angeles. Since then he has performed in co-star and guest star roles on such shows as 24, Crossing Jordan, Without A Trace, Monk, and films such as, Hostage opposite Bruce Willis and Sueño opposite John Leguizamo. Héctor is represented by Lin Bickelmann of Encore Artists Management.

Television roles

Awards and nominations

Bustamante won the 2009 Imagen Award for outstanding lead Actor in a made for television movie.