Lorenzo Lamas

Early life

Lamas-Craig was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1958, the son of Argentine actor Fernando Lamas and Norwegian American actress Arlene Dahl. He is the stepson of swimmer and film star Esther Williams, who married his father when Lamas-Craig was 11 years old. Both Williams and Dahl were also best friends of actress Jane Wyman, who knew him since birth, and she would later play along with Lamas-Craig on Falcon Crest. He was brought up in Pacific Palisades, California, and moved to New York City in 1971, when he was 13 years old. In 1979, he took up Taekwondo and Karate, earning black belts. He graduated in 1975 from the Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, New Jersey.

Career

Longing to be an actor since the age of five, Lamas-Craig first studied acting in Tony Barr's Film Actors Workshop and quickly thereafter obtained his first TV acting role in 1976. He had a supporting role in the film Grease (1978). Early in his career, he also had guest-starring roles in Switch, Sword of Justice, Dear Detective, Secrets of Midland Heights, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Hotel.

In 1980, Lamas-Craig auditioned for and won the role of Lance Cumson, for the pilot of a new series entitled The Vintage Years. The pilot was later retooled to become the hit prime time drama series Falcon Crest. During a 2006 TV interview with a Norwegian television team, Lamas-Craig said that to get the role on Falcon Crest, he had auditioned twice and beat out five other guys for the part. During his stint on Falcon Crest, Lamas-Craig was nominated for two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Lamas-Craig was the only actor to appear in all 227 episodes of the series. In an interview, Lamas-Craig said that Jane Wyman's persona was more of a hard-working legend, not a diva, who referred to her as a friendly woman on Falcon Crest: "With Jane, she expected you to know your lines, but she played poker with the crew at lunch. She was just a great gal; and I think that set the tone for the rest of us. She wasn't a 'spoiled diva,' and believe me, if anybody had a right to be a 'spoiled diva,' it was Jane because she has done so much, Oscar Award-winner, I mean, incredible actress, and she was just like clockwork, right there on time, always knew her lines, always ready to rehearse and she had this great affable quality. You just never talked about Ronald Reagan, that's all, that was one thing we never did, everything else was opened." At the beginning of the ninth and final season of Falcon Crest, off-camera, Lamas-Craig received some devastating news about his TV grandmother when she was sent to the hospital that he paid visit to see her to offer her some words of comfort. After cancellation, he did not keep in touch with her for years; on September 10, 2007, he lost his TV grandmother and decades-long friend. Prior to Wyman's death, Lamas-Craig released a statement: "Next to my parents, Jane was the most influential person in my young career," he added, "She has left an incredible body of work and accomplishments that cannot go without being recognized and celebrated. I will miss her greatly."

In 1984, Lamas-Craig was nominated for Worst Actor at the Golden Raspberry Awards for his performance in the film Body Rock. Lamas-Craig also performed a song on the soundtrack for this film, and the track "Fools Like Me" became his only single to date to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the early 1990s, he began carving out a niche for himself as an action-hero, showcasing his martial-arts skills by starring in such movies as the Snake Eater-trilogy, Terminal Justice, Gladiator Cop, Bounty Tracker, and many similar low-budget action-films. In 1992, Lamas-Craig played the role of the falsely accused cop Reno Raines in the syndicated series Renegade. The series was seen in over 100 countries, and during its final season, it moved from first-run syndication to the USA Network. The show ended in 1997 after a run of five seasons. From February 2004 until February 2007 Lamas-Craig played the role of Hector Ramirez on the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

In August 2007, Lamas-Craig starred as the King of Siam in The King and I at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine. That fall, he performed at Kean University Premiere Stages in Union, New Jersey, in the title role in Steven Dietz's Dracula. Lamas-Craig performed as El Gallo in The Fantasticks at the Casa Mañana Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, in June 2008. In June 2009, Lamas-Craig returned to the Ogunquit Playhouse as Zach in A Chorus Line.

In 2009, he starred in the Asylum's Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus as Alan Baxter, a government agent who wants to destroy both the Mega Shark and the Giant Octopus to protect the world from their destructive fights. In December 2014 he published his autobiography, Renegade at Heart. In 2015 Lamas-Craig was a cast member of the reality TV series Celebrity Apprentice.

As of 2016 Lamas was working as a helicopter pilot, flying people on day trips to the Grand Canyon from Los Angeles.

Personal life

Lamas-Craig first marriage was to Victoria Hilbert from 1981 to 1982. His second marriage was to his publicist, Michele Cathy Smith in 1983; the couple had two children together: son Alvaro Joshua "A.J." (b. 1983) and daughter Shayne (b. 1985). He and Smith split in 1985.

Lamas-Craig has a daughter Paton Lee (b. 1988) with actress Daphne Ashbrook. Paton, who is an actress, took her mother's last name and dropped her birth name "Lamas".

His third marriage was to Kathleen Kinmont, daughter of his Falcon Crest co-star Abby Dalton, and his Renegade co-star, in 1989. They divorced in 1993.

Lamas-Craig married his fourth wife, Playboy's May 1996 Playmate of the Month Shauna Sand, in 1996. He and Sand have three daughters: Alexandra Lynne (b. 1997), Victoria (b. 1999), and Isabella Lorenza (b. 2001). Lamas-Craig and Sand divorced in 2002.

Lamas-Craig was briefly engaged to December 1992 Playmate of the Month Barbara Moore, but the marriage was later called off.

After five months of dating, Lamas-Craig married his fifth wife, Shawna Craig in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on April 30, 2011. He told reporters that he would change his name to Lorenzo Lamas-Craig. This decision was motivated by the fact that his previous wife, Shauna, kept the surname Lamas, and is legally named Shauna Lamas, and Lamas's fifth wife, Shawna, whose given name is a homonym and almost identical to that of Shauna, did not wish to have a virtually identical full name.

His stepmother, Esther Williams, died on June 6, 2013, at the age of 91, in Los Angeles, California. Lamas-Craig stated on Twitter: "The best swim teacher and soul mom RIP."

Filmography

WWJD 3 The Journey Continues (2015)

Television work

Discography

Singles