LORENZO LAMAS

'Lorenzo Lamas' (born on January 20, 1958 in Santa Monica, California) is an American television and film actor, television personality and martial artist, primarily on soap operas, movies and television, playing mostly bad guy roles, who's primarily of Mediterranean and usually of Norwegian descent. He is also sometimes called 'Lorenzo Lamas y de Santos' (or 'Lorenzo y de Santos Lamas'), based on his Argentine father's full name, Fernando Alvaro Lamas y de Santos^[1].
The naturally brown-headed Lamas is best-known for playing the roles of Jane Wyman's young irresponsible grandson, 'Lance Cumson', on the popular 1980s soap opera, ''Falcon Crest'', the falsely accused cop, 'Reno Raines', the main character on the popular 1990s crime drama, ''Renegade'', and as firefighter, 'Hector Ramirez', on ''The Bold and The Beautiful''. He also served as judge on ''Are You Hot?''.

Contents

Early life

Acting career

Personal life

Trivia

Filmography

Television Work

References

External links

Early life

Lamas is the son of the late Argentine actor Fernando Lamas and actress Arlene Dahl. He was brought up in Pacific Palisades, California and moved to New York City when he was 13 years old, around 1971. He graduated from the Admiral Farragut Academy in 1975 and then returned to Southern California. Lamas grew to the height of 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) tall.
A moment in Lamas's life which has since become famous is when he approached his mother as a child and told her, "Mother, I want to be a star..." Then he corrected himself, "...I mean, an actor." She smiled at him and said, "I heard you the first time."

Acting career

He studied in Tony Barr's Film Actors Workshop. His first TV acting role was in 1976. Lamas is an accomplished martial artist, having studied karate and taekwondo since 1979 and acquired a number of black belts. In 1978's Grease, he played the "dumb jock" that Sandy goes to a dance with to make John Travolta's character, Danny, jealous.
In 1981, he auditioned and won the role as Angela Channing's playboy grandson and henchman, Lance Cumson, on the hit prime time soap, ''Falcon Crest''. He had an unusual connection to series matriarch Jane Wyman, having been a 3 month old infant at the time his father, Fernando Lamas, guest-starred on Wyman's dramatic show 23 years prior. During his ''Falcon Crest'' days, as a young adult, Lamas actually had a lot of interaction with Wyman, prior to his popularity. In later years, he was also her caregiver at the time Wyman was taking ill, and went to see her in the hospital in 1989. That same year, he received much of his screen-time in the ninth and final season, despite his co-star's medical leave from the show. Lorenzo Lamas was nominated for two Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1986 and a Golden Globe a few years after, but took no trophies. An item of trivia from ''Falcon Crest'' is that Lamas was the only actor to appear in all 227 episodes.
In 1984, he was nominated for worst actor in the Golden Raspberry Awards for the movie Body Rock.
Lamas's popularity climbed in the late 1980s, 1990s & 2000s, when he starred in dozens of action movies, playing mostly corruptive and unpleasant roles, but was never nominated for an Oscar compared to his ''Falcon Crest'' predecessor, Jane Wyman, who starred in dozens of movies of the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1992, two years after ''Falcon Crest'' had ended, Lamas played the role of the falsely accused cop Reno Raines in the syndicated series, ''Renegade''. Like his first show, ''Falcon Crest'', the show was also an instant success, where it was seen in over 100 countries, and during the final season, it moved from first-run syndication to USA Network, and ratings were still increasing. The show ended in 1997 after a run of five seasons.
From February 2004 until February 2007 Lamas played the role of Hector Ramirez on the CBS soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful''.
His son, A.J. Lamas, continuing the family acting tradition, starred as Rafael Ortega on ''As the World Turns'' from October 2004 to February 2005, when the role was recast.
August 2007 Lorenzo is starring as the King of Siam in the King and I at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit Maine.

Personal life

Lamas has had highly public marriages. The first was to Victoria Hilbert in 1981-82. The next wedding was to Michele Smith in 1983, resulting in two children, son, A.J. Lamas, and daughter Shayne. Shayne can be seen on ''General Hospital'' in flashback scenes as a young Carly Corinthos. Shayne can also be seen in the MTV reality show Twentyfourseven. Lamas and Smith split in 1985. His third marriage was to Kathleen Kinmont in 1989 and it ended in 1993. (Kinmont was the daughter of his Falcon Crest costar Abby Dalton). Lamas married his fourth wife in 1996, Shauna Sand, a Playmate of the Month, and they have had three daughters, Alexandra Lynne Lamas (b. November 22, 1997), Victoria Lamas (b. April 24, 1999) and Isabella Lorenza Lamas (b. February 2, 2001). Their marriage ended in 2002.
Lamas has fathered a daughter, Paton Lee with Daphne Ashbrook, to whom he was not married. He was engaged to Playmate of the Month Barbara Moore, but Lamas suddenly called off the wedding under questionable circumstances (he reportedly discovered his fiancée at her bachelorette party in the company of a male stripper) - this bothered Lamas especially since he is a devout Christian. He was romantically linked to ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' co-star Hunter Tylo in 2006, after splitting with musician Debbie Gibson.^[2]
Lamas has raced automobiles in the IMSA and Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series racing series. Lorenzo Lamas himself drove a Ford convertible Thunderbird in all his races.
He is a co-chair on several children’s charities, including Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Trivia

★ Has a tattoo of women riding a unicorn on his upper back/shoulder. He said it was a tribute to two of his father's, Fernando Lamas, favorite things (women and horses).

★ Holds a commercial pilot's license.

★ He is of mostly Mediterranean heritage, but he is partially of Norwegian descent on his mother's side.

★ Enjoys riding motorcycles. He collects them.

★ Appeared in an ad for BVD underwear. His line was "I became a heartthrob in my BVDs!"

★ Lamas's second wife, Kathleen Kinmont co-starred with him for the first four seasons of ''Renegade'', despite his divorce from Kinmont in 1994.

★ His popularity on ''Falcon Crest'' led to him hosting a short-lived dance show, ''Dancing to The Hits''. Lamas had neither sung nor dance in the series.

★ Lamas dated 80s pop star, Deborah Gibson, formerly known as 'Debbie Gibson'.

★ During the final season of ''Falcon Crest'', he visited his longtime friend and series' star, Jane Wyman, at the hospital, where he gave her words of wisdom in 1989, hence, the relationship grew stronger.

Filmography

★ ''100 Rifles'' (1969)

★ ''Grease'' (1978)

★ ''Take Down'' (1979)

★ ''Tilt'' (1979)

★ ''Body Rock'' (1984)

★ ''Snake Eater'' (1989)

★ ''Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster'' (1990)

★ ''Night of the Warrior'' (1991)

★ ''Killing Streets'' (1991)

★ ''Final Impact'' (1992)

★ ''Snake Eater III: His Law'' (1992)

★ ''CIA Code Name: Alexa'' (1993)

★ ''The Swordsman'' (1993)

★ ''Bounty Tracker'' (1993)

★ ''Final Round'' (1994)

★ ''CIA II: Target Alexa'' (1994)

★ ''Viper'' (1994)

★ ''Terminal Justice'' (1995)

★ ''Gladiator Cop'' (1995)

★ ''Midnight Man'' (1995)

★ ''Mask of Death'' (1996)

★ ''Black Dawn'' (1997)

★ ''The Rage'' (1997)

★ ''Back to Even'' (1998)

★ ''Undercurrent'' (1999)

★ ''The Muse'' (1999)

★ ''The Circuit 2: The Final Punch'' (2002)

★ ''Rapid Exchange'' (2003)

★ ''13 Dead Men'' (2003)

★ ''Dark Waters'' (2003)

★ ''Blood Angels'' (2004)

★ ''Killing Cupid'' (2004)

★ ''Motocross Kids'' (2004)

★ ''Latin Dragon'' (2004)

★ ''Sci-Fighter'' (2004)

★ ''Unseen Evil 2'' (2004)

★ ''The Nowhere Man'' (2005)

★ ''Lethal'' (2005)

★ ''One Six Right'' (2005) (documentary)

★ ''Body of Work'' (2006) (short subject)

★ ''18 Fingers of Death!'' (2006)

★ ''Succubus: Hell Bent'' (2007)

★ ''Mexican Gold'' (2007)

★ ''Chinaman's Chance'' (2007)

Television Work

★ ''California Fever'' (1979) (canceled after 10 episodes)

★ ''Detour to Terror'' (1980)

★ ''Secrets of Midland Heights'' (1980-1981)

★ ''Falcon Crest'' (1981-1990)

★ ''Dancin' to the Hits'' (1986-1987)

★ ''Flesh and the Devil'' (1992)

★ ''Renegade'' (1992-1997)

★ ''Invasion America'' (1998) (canceled after 13 episodes) (voice)

★ ''Air America'' (1998-1999)

★ ''The Immortal'' (2000-2001)

★ ''Celebrity Boot Camp'' (2002)

★ ''Are You Hot?'' (2003) (canceled after 5 episodes)

★ ''The Paradise Virus'' (2003)

★ ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (cast member from 2004-2007)

★ ''Hope Ranch'' (2004)

★ ''Deep Evil'' (2004)

★ ''Raptor Island'' (2004)

★ 1/2 Hour News Hour (2006-present)

References

1. International Directory of
Performing Arts Collections and Institutions (accessed 20 August 2007)
2. http://www.deborah-gibson.com/press/debstarb.jpg

External links

★

★ Official Website

★ Alien 3000 review with clip, screenshots and sounds

★ Sci-Fighter review with clips, screenshots and sounds

★ Website for Lorenzo's show Renegade

★ Lorenzo Lamas profile