RICK NAJERA
BIO

Rick Najera is an award-winning screenwriter, actor, director, producer, sketch comedian, author, Broadway playwright, coach and national speaker with an expansive portfolio of credits in all forms of entertainment. He has received numerous industry awards for his work.

From starring in films with Sidney Poitier, George Clooney and most recently Mario Lopez, to writing sketch comedy for Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx, Najera is best known for starring on Broadway in his award-winning, self-penned stageplay, Latinologues, directed by comedy legend Cheech Marin. Najera is only one of three Latinos to ever write and star in their own play on Broadway.

As a screenwriter, Najera has written dozens of scripts for TV, film and the stage, starting out in the industry as a staff writer on the groundbreaking urban comedy series, In Living Color, for which he wrote more than 30 episodes. Najera went on to write for Townsend TV (10 episodes), MAD TV (47 episodes), East Los High – a Hulu original (21 episodes) and more. He penned the feature film Nothing Like the Holidays starring Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, John Leguizamo and Luis Guzman, which won him an ALMA Award. Najera learned from great writers like Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Scorsese to “write what you know’ and has been a pioneer in Hollywood telling his American experience, from a Latino perspective.

Najera started out as a theatrical stage performer reciting the epic lines of Shakespeare in numerous plays, and went on to star and guest star more than 100 episodes of TV and film and stars alongside Mario Lopez in Lifetime’s holiday movie, Feliz NaviDAD.      

Najera is a national speaker and coach (Google, The World Bank, CNN, Harvard, UCLA, more) addressing themes such as diversity, entertainment, motivation, Hispanic market, politics and comedy. He is the host of Latino Thought Makers, an unscripted interview series highlighting prominent Hispanic personalities through organic conversations with Najera’s network of industry friends and community leaders such as Edward James Olmos, Danny Trejo, Dolores Huerta, Cheech Marin and dozens others. Najera is also the host of his new podcast, Najera in America, a comedic look at the news and interviews with change makers, produced by reVolver Podcasts and Cohesive Entertainment Group now available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart, Spotify.

Najera is an award-winning author of five books: Latins Anonymous, Pain of the Macho, Latinologues on Broadway, Almost White: Forced Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood and Ignight the Fire Within: Mastering Your Speaking and Writing with Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, brother of renowned spiritual guru and author, Deepak Chopra.  

Najera has been nominated for numerous entertainment industry awards including two WGA awards for Best Writing for a Comedy/Variety Television Series on MADTV.

Najera is repped by CEG, Cohesive Entertainment Group
Daryn Simons, 310-990-4707; daryn (at) cohesiveentertainmentgroup.com

A sample of AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

• Visionary Award – Latino Leadership Annual Summit
• Most Powerful & Influential Latinos in Entertainment Award- Imagen Foundation
• Top 13 in Diversity – L.A. Times Readers Poll
• Exemplar in Humanity-Centered Media & Community Engagement by Media Done Responsibly
• 1st Place – ‘Most Inspirational Non-Fiction Book’ for Almost White: Forced Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood, International Latino Book Awards
• 2nd Place, ‘Best Biography’ International Latino Book Awards (2014)
• ‘Most Influential Industry Executive’ LISTA: Latinos in Science & Technology Assoc.
• Authored his fourth book, ALMOST WHITE: Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood
• Humanitarian Award Winner – LISTA -Latinos in Science and Technology Association
• ALMA Award winner, Best Writer, Special Achievement, Nothing Like The Holidays
• Imagen Award nomination, Best Live Theatrical Performance, DADDY DIARIES
• ‘Jerry Lester Award’ for Theatrical Performance, Sweet 15
• ‘Hispanic Pioneer of America’ – Discovery Channel en Español
• ‘Top 10 Celebrities to Watch’, San Diego Latino Film Festival
• ‘100 Most Influential Latinos in America’ – HISPANIC Business Magazine 
• Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award Nomination, Television Writing Achievement for Outstanding Script in a Comedy / Variety Series
• Image Award, Best Live Theatrical Production, Rick Najera’s LATINOLOGUES™
• Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award Nomination, Television Writing Achievement for Outstanding Script in a Comedy / Variety Series
• ALMA Award Nominee, Best Writer for a Television Drama, ABC
• Nosotros Golden Eagle Award, Best Writer, Latino Laugh Festival for Showtime
• ‘50 Most Influential in Hollywood’ – VARIETY
• 100 Most Influential Latinos in America’ – HISPANIC Business Magazine 

Najera is repped by Daryn Simons at CEG, Cohesive Entertainment Group, 310-990-4707.

For more information on Rick Najera visit www.ricknajera.com.

View Rick’s work on IMDB