Bio
John Ortiz is an American actor and artistic director/co-founder of the LAByrinth Theater Company known for his work in such films as Carlito's Way, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Pride and Glory, Public Enemies and Fast & Furious.
Ortiz is an award-winning actor who honed his craft on the theatrical stage of New York. He won the Obie Award for Best Actor in the off-Broadway production of References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot.
He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance in the indie Jack Goes Boating. He is equally at home on stage, in feature films and in television.
Ortiz is the Co-Founder, along with acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, of LAByrinth Theatre Company, where he has produced and performed in many productions including The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, directed by Hoffman; Jesus Hopped The "A" Train, for which he was awarded a Drama Desk nomination; Guinea Pig Solo and Jack Goes Boating, all at the Public Theatre.
He also starred in the title role in Othello opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Peter Sellars. This production premiered in Vienna and world toured.
Other New York theatre credits include the Broadway production of Anna in the Tropics, The Skin of our Teeth, with John Goodman at the Public Theatre, Cloud Tectonics at Playwrights Horizon, The Persians and Merchant of Venice, both directed by Peter Sellars and performed in Paris, London, Berlin and Edinburgh among others.
Regionally, he has performed at the Mark Taper Forum, The Goodman, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, Yale Repertory, South Coast Repertory and Cincinnati Playhouse.
He can be seen in the film version of Jack Goes Boating, which he not only starred in but also produced alongside Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Amy Ryan plays the female lead.
Other credits are Michael Mann's Public Enemies opposite Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, an installment of Fast And Furious and Pride and Glory with Edward Norton and Colin Farrell.
Other credits include Ridley Scott's American Gangster with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, 20th Century Fox's Alien vs. Predator: AVP2, Michael Mann's Miami Vice opposite Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, the biopic El Cantante with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Brian DePalma's Carlito's Way, opposite Al Pacino and Sean Penn, Nark opposite Jason Patric and Ray Liotta, Ron Howard's Ransom, Riot, Side Streets, Sgt. Bilko, Before Night Falls, The Opportunists and The Last Marshall.
On television, Ortiz was a series regular in CBS' Clubhouse, ABC's The Job with Denis Leary and FOX's Lush Life. He also starred in the HBO pilot Hope Against Hope written and directed by JJ Abrams. He can also be seen in HBO's series Luck, opposite Dustin Hoffman.
Born and raised and still residing in Brooklyn with his wife and son, Ortiz is a self-described "huge sports fan" who follows the Yankees and the Knicks.