Trinidad Silva

Acting

Trinidad Silva

Born 1950-01-30 · Mission, Texas, USA

Trinidad Silva, a character actor from Mission, Texas, had a promising career that was tragically cut short. He moved to Los Angeles in his mid-20s and landed his first acting role on "Baretta" in 1977. Unfortunately, due to the Latino typecasting prevalent at the time, most of his TV roles were as criminals or gang members. However, his role as Jesus Martinez on "Hill Street Blues" broke this stereotype, portraying a former gang leader turned community activist. Silva also played more positive roles in films like "Alambrista!" and "El Norte." Sadly, while filming "UHF" in 1988, Silva was killed by a drunk driver in Whittier, California. The film was dedicated to his memory. He was married to Sofia Alvarez.

Acting credits

The Running Man poster
6.5

By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.

The Running Man

1987

The Milagro Beanfield War poster
6.6

The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort.

The Milagro Beanfield War

1988

The Jerk poster
6.9

After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.

The Jerk

1979

Colors poster
6.5

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.

Colors

1988

The Night Before poster
6.2

A popular beauty surprisingly asks a nerd to take her to the prom. He wakes up hours later in a sleazy alley. She's missing but he remembers nothing about it.

The Night Before

1988

UHF poster
6.7

The eccentric new manager of a UHF television channel tries to save the station from financial ruin with an odd array of programming.

UHF

1989

National Lampoon's Movie Madness poster
3.4

A parody of film genres composed of three shorts, spoofing personal growth films, glossy soap operas, and police stories.

National Lampoon's Movie Madness

1982

El Norte poster
7.1

Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life.

El Norte

1983

Crackers poster
4.7

Down-and-out Weslake is reduced to minding the counter at a San Francisco pawn shop when he stumbles onto a scheme by some of the boss's disgruntled misfit clients to rob the place. Rather than blow the whistle, however, he insinuates himself as the heist's mastermind.

Crackers

1984

Second Thoughts poster
4.0

Lawyer Amy finds herself courted by two very different men: her client, a roguish street musician named Will, and her ex John Michael. A curious triangle develops as Amy gets pregnant by Will and both men vie for her affections.

Second Thoughts

1983

Alambrista! poster
5.9

After the birth of his first child, Roberto, a young Mexican man, slips across the border into the United States. Seeking work to support his family back home, he finds that working hard is not enough.

Alambrista!

1977

Jocks poster
4.3

When an odd-ball tennis team of a Los Angeles college sets out on a road trip to a regional college tennis tournament in fun-filled Las Vegas, all the stops are out and literally "anything goes" both on and off the court.

Jocks

1986

Walk Proud poster
5.4

Emilio Mendez is a 17-year-old Chicano man in California comes to realize that the gang life is not what he really wants but doesn't know how to get out. Robby Benson plays a young gang member in Los Angeles who begins to question himself when Mendez meets and starts to fall for a White girl who encourages him to try and leave. Emilio, with great pride in his Native Mexican heritage, suffers a further identity crisis upon meeting his father, a European-American who got his Brown mother pregnant when she was just 16.

Walk Proud

1979

Stones for Ibarra poster
9.0

A couple moves to a small Mexican town called Ibarra. They help open a local mine which brings new life to the town and the local ways help the two of them find peace they were missing.

Stones for Ibarra

1988

No artwork available
NR

A psychopath second grader starts knocking off his schoolmates one by one in order to maintain control of the lunchline. Cafeteria hysteria!

Home Free

1988