Andy Garcia

Season 6, Episode 605

Original Airdate: May 7, 2000

Andy Garcia was born Andres Arturo Garcia-Menendez on April 12, 1956 in Havana, Cuba. At birth, doctors noticed an unusual growth on his shoulder that was determined to be a conjoined twin. It was later removed leaving only a small scar.

When Garcia was five years old, his family fled to Miami and established a successful cosmetic fragrance business. After graduating from Florida International University, he made the usual trip to Hollywood to break into show business.

He briefly did stand up comedy before landing a small role in the 1981 pilot of TV's Hill Street Blues. His first big break came in 1985 when he played a cocaine kingpin in 8 Million Ways to Die. He then turned in strong performances in The Untouchables (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988) and in the modern noir thriller Internal Affairs (1990).

International fame came to Garcia in 1990 when he was cast as the nephew of Don Corleone in The Godfather III, a performance that brought both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Since then, he has won good reviews for roles in Hero (1992), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) and Desperate Measures (1998).

Shunning the Hollywood scene, Garcia is known as a family man that vigorously defends the private life he shares with his wife of 18 years and their three daughters. He has refused to do nude scenes and even walked out of an audition when he was asked to remove his shirt.

Garcia has also remained artistically close to his Cuban roots. In 1993, he produced and directed a tribute to the Cuban mambo artist Cachao called Cachao: Like His Rhythm There is No Other. He also starred with Mia Maestro and longtime friend Gloria Estefan in For Love and Country-The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000), an HBO original movie about the Cuban trumpet great who like Garcia and Estefan, fled to a better life outside Cuba.