Rose Portillo

Acting

Rose Portillo

Born 1953-11-07 · Los Angeles, California, USA

Rose Portillo is an accomplished American actress/writer/director/educator and visual artist whose stage and film career began with a lead role in Luis Valdez's 'Zoot Suit' (original L.A. and Broadway productions and the film). She played the role of Mother in the critically acclaimed 2017 revival, starring Demián Bichir. She was Associate Director of About Productions, now celebrating 24 years of creating original Theaterworks and founded the company's Young Theaterworks, which serves students in Continuation/Options High Schools primarily in East Los Angeles. Since appearing in Theresa Chavez's solo play, L.A. Real, she has directly partnered with Chavez (the company's Artistic Director) on at least 10 critically acclaimed productions.

Acting credits

The Mandalorian and Grogu poster
7.5

The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and his young apprentice Grogu.

The Mandalorian and Grogu

2026

Encanto poster
7.6

The tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family—every child except one, Mirabel. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family's last hope.

Encanto

2021

Exorcist II: The Heretic poster
4.5

Bizarre nightmares plague Regan MacNeil four years after her possession and exorcism. Has the demon returned? And if so, can the combined faith and knowledge of a Vatican investigator and a research specialist free her from its grasp?

Exorcist II: The Heretic

1977

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip poster
6.1

Eleven-year-old Alexander and his family embark on a dream Spring Break vacation to Mexico City only to have all their plans go terribly wrong when they discover a cursed idol.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip

2025

The Mean Season poster
6.2

A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.

The Mean Season

1985

Panic in Echo Park poster
5.4

A young doctor tries to convince everyone about an impending epidemic, but he is accused of creating panic.

Panic in Echo Park

1977

That's Amor poster
5.1

After her job and relationship implode on the same day, Sofia starts from scratch — and meets a dashing Spanish chef who might be her missing ingredient.

That's Amor

2022

Fathers and Sons poster
5.1

Intertwined tales of three families who grow up on the same street, focusing on the relationship of fathers and sons. The first section features Anthony and Jenny and traces the father-son bond that develops between Anthony and his newborn son over 30 years. The second story centers on the affairs of an airline pilot who shares a house but not a life with his wife. He crosses paths with an unusual woman and spends an extraordinary night with his son. The final chapter follows the homecoming of Elliot to his estranged family. As his father dies, Elliot meets and falls in love with a woman who sees past his tough-guy exterior.

Fathers and Sons

2005

Zoot Suit poster
6.4

Part fact and part fiction, Zoot Suit is the film version of Luis Valdez's critically acclaimed play, based on the actual Sleepy Lagoon murder case and the zoot suit riots of 1940s Los Angeles. Henry Reyna is the leader of a group of Mexican-Americans being sent to San Quentin without substantial evidence for the death of a man at Sleepy Lagoon. As part of the defense committee, Alice Bloomfield and George Shearer fight the blatant miscarriage of justice for the freedom of Henry and his friends.

Zoot Suit

1981

After the SIlence poster
7.2

Laura is a 20 year old deaf girl who has never been taught sign language. She is rescued from neglect and physical abuse by Pam, a social worker. Pam teaches her how to communicate and uncovers Laura's true personality.

After the SIlence

1996

Peak Season poster
5.8

An emotionally adrift young woman forges an unexpected bond with a wilderness guide when she and her fiance take a summer holiday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Peak Season

2024

Seguin poster
NR

A dramatization of the life of Juan Seguin, a heroic Mexican-Texan who became entangled in the struggle between two contrasting cultures in the turbulent decade between the Texas Revolution (1836) and the Mexican-American War (1846-1847).

Seguin

1982

Best Kept Secrets poster
7.3

Blaise Dietz (Patty Duke Astin) plays the wife of police officer Blaise Dietz (Frederic Forrest), who wants to join a special investigative unit. Forrest is denied this position on the basis of information concerning his wife. The information, which reveals a dicey extramarital affair, was culled from a department surveillance file that was supposed to have been destroyed by court order. Blaise battles through legal channels to expose the police force's illegal actions, even as she and her husband suffer the innuendoes and cold shoulders from his fellow officers.

Best Kept Secrets

1984

Palomino poster
5.4

After the break up of her marriage, photographer Samantha Taylor retreats to the sanctuary of friend Caroline Lord's California ranch. Samantha falls in love with ranch hand Tate Jordan, and they share a deep and passionate love until Tate finds out that Samantha's ex-husband is popular and wealthy news anchor Warren Taylor. Ashamed he leaves the ranch, Samantha is heartbroken. Samantha breaks her back in an accident and is paralysed, and must learn how to walk - and ride - again. Caroline Lord tragically dies but leaves her ranch to Samantha, who turns it into a riding school for paralysed children. Through this enterprise, she begins to heal from the pain of Tate's desertion, the loss of her friend and her own paralysis. Tate returns to the ranch after hearing of Caroline's death and finds Samantha there. Can they both overcome their own demons and learn to love each other again??

Palomino

1991

Victims poster
6.3

A serial rapist gets acquitted of his crimes due to a police mishandling of the investigation. His victims decide to turn the tables on him and begin stalking him.

Victims

1982

...And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him poster
5.4

Twelve-year-old Mexican-American Marcos (Jose Alcala) recalls the hardships of the previous year, reflecting on the arduous trek his migrant-worker family made from Texas to the Midwest during harvest season. Along the way, Marcos learns plenty about the harsh realities of bigotry and the power of family in America of the 1950s. The coming-of-age Chicano drama is based on Tomas Rivera's semiautobiographical 1971 novella.

...And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him

1995