Name Robert Jr. | Role Actor | |
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Movies Mi America, Crispy Crackers & Beans People also search for John Michael Herndon, Talia Botone | ||
Robert Fontaine Jr. (born July 11, 1967, in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American actor most notably recognized for his role as Rafe Castillo on NBC's soap opera Santa Barbara. He played the role from 1992 to 1993. Prior to joining the show, Robert portrayed Frankie Greco on ABC's soap General Hospital. He was the only actor at the time to be cast for a Los Angeles–based show in 11 years. In 1998, Robert joined the cast of As the World Turns and played the role of Ray Guzman until 2000.
Robert began his acting career in New York City in 1983, training with the late and legendary theater director/teacher Gene Frankel. Robert’s feature film debut was in “The Beat” (1987), which was shot in New York and was Paul Mones’s directorial debut. This led to featured roles in “Pay Back,” “Whispers,” “Nightlife”, and “Hear Mrs. Weber?”
As an actor Robert has also worked with notable directors such as Wes Anderson ("Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore," and "The Royal Tenenbaums"), Abel Ferrara ("China Girl" and "The Bad Lieutenant"), and Eric Schaeffer (“Mind The Gap” 2006).
After becoming disillusioned with the industry and not being willing to settle for a career playing a stereotype, Robert made his directorial debut with a short film entitled “Rebels” (1995). The film led to the financing of the full-length feature "Crispy Crackers and Beans" (1997), which Robert co-wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred in. The film had its premiere in New York in 1997 at the IFFM and garnered strong interest from studios and distributors and caught the attention of Martin Scorsese. "Crispy Crackers And Beans" has been acquired by Netflix and is quickly becoming a cult classic. After a remake deal with a major production house lasted two years but went nowhere, Robert turned his focus to creating his own production company, Industrial House Films. "It will be the perfect vehicle for producing a slate of films between the 2 to 5 million dollar range. Films that are story-driven and beholden to no genre," says Fontaine. The company is independently financed and will make its first feature debut in 2015 with a motion picture entitled "Mi America," a character-driven drama about the racial identity crisis in America. Robert is the writer-director of "Mi America." Rick Porras ("Lord of The Rings" trilogy) and Doug Claybourne ("Nights in Rodanthe" and "North Country") will serve as producers.