Mario Ernesto Sánchez

Acting

Mario Ernesto Sánchez

Born 1947-01-10 · Cuba

Mario Ernesto Sánchez (born on January 10, 1947, in San Antonio de las Vegas, Cuba; † April 10, 2025, in Miami, Florida, USA) was a Cuban actor and theater founder. In 1979, he established Teatro Avante, a Hispanic theater in Florida, and became a significant figure in promoting Latin American theater in the United States. Sánchez played various supporting roles in Hollywood films and TV series, including Invasion U.S.A. (1985), The Specialist (1994), Bad Boys (1995), and Step Up Revolution (2012). He also appeared in five episodes of the series Miami Vice and had a role in the 2006 film of the same name. Additionally, he was featured in The Truman Show as a security guard and in the British cult series Only Fools and Horses as a Colombian drug lord. As a teenager, he emigrated to the United States through Operation Pedro Pan. Over the course of his career, he received several awards for his contributions to Hispanic theater, including the Federico García Lorca Award (1995) and the Ollantay Award (1994). Sánchez passed away on April 10, 2025, at the age of 78 in Miami.

Acting credits

The Truman Show poster
8.2

In a picture-perfect seaside town, an insurance salesman begins to realize that his entire existence may be staged and observed by a vast unseen audience as part of a long-running real-time reality TV show.

The Truman Show

1998

Bad Boys poster
6.8

Marcus Burnett is a henpecked family man. Mike Lowrey is a footloose and fancy free ladies' man. Both Miami policemen, they have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other.

Bad Boys

1995

8MM poster
6.5

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.

8MM

1999

Miami Vice poster
6.0

A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.

Miami Vice

2006

The Specialist poster
6.0

May Munro is a woman obsessed with getting revenge on the people who murdered her parents when she was still a girl. She hires Ray Quick, a retired explosives expert, to kill her parents' killers. When Ned Trent, embittered ex-partner of Quick's, is assigned to protect one of Quick's potential victims, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

The Specialist

1994

Proof of Life poster
6.2

When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is on the verge of insolvency and will not provide the ransom. Peter's wife Alice is forced to deal with the matter on her own and she retains the services of freelance professional hostage negotiator Terry Thorne.

Proof of Life

2000

Step Up Revolution poster
6.9

Emily arrives in Miami with aspirations to become a professional dancer. She sparks with Sean, the leader of a dance crew whose neighborhood is threatened by Emily's father's development plans.

Step Up Revolution

2012

Father of the Bride poster
6.3

A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.

Father of the Bride

2022

Invasion U.S.A. poster
5.8

A one-man army comes to the rescue of the United States when a spy attempts an invasion.

Invasion U.S.A.

1985

Blood and Wine poster
5.7

A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.

Blood and Wine

1996

Clinton and Nadine poster
3.7

Eager to find his brother's murderer, Clinton enlists the aid of Nadine, an expensive call girl. Together they get sucked into a plot to smuggle guns to the Contra forces in Nicaragua.

Clinton and Nadine

1988

Fires Within poster
4.6

A Cuban emigre, living in Miami and involved in an affair with the American seaman who rescued her and her daughter years earlier, must face her husband after he is unexpectedly released from a Cuban prison.

Fires Within

1991

Virtual Weapon poster
5.7

A detective duo hunts a criminal organization, which is using an unknown liquid explosive material.

Virtual Weapon

1997

Catherine's Grove poster
4.4

Undercover cop Doyle is working on a serial killer case that's left a trail of dead transvestites. Then, moonlighting as a private eye, Doyle and his girlfriend are hired by a rich young man to find his sister. The search leads to her mysterious uncle, and the possibility of becoming the killer's next victim.

Catherine's Grove

1997

Plato's Run poster
6.2

Hired to rescue escaped inmates, a Florida man is framed for a Cuban gangster's assassination.

Plato's Run

1997

Staying Afloat poster
10.0

In this comedy thriller, a prospective series pilot, Larry Hagman plays a disinherited socialite and high roller who, with the aid of a comely con artist and his sarcastic butler, helps the feds bring down an arms merchant.

Staying Afloat

1993

Below the Belt poster
6.7

A close-up look at the turbulent world of women's professional wrestling as a New York City waitress decides to become a professional wrestler.

Below the Belt

1980

Sea Devil poster
5.3

An American fisherman attempts to smuggle two Cuban immigrants into Miami, passing them off as day laborers. While the group trawls for shrimp, a fourth person boards the boat, carrying a secret at the bottom of the Ocean.

Sea Devil

2015

Death of a Fool poster
6.0

A teenager and his dying grandfather conduct afterlife investigations in Miami when a mysterious man hires them to find the secret to immortality.

Death of a Fool

2020