We talk a lot about “working actors” around here, but we didn’t talk nearly enough about Daniel Escobar. He was exactly that: a talented character actor who showed up in Hollywood in the mid Nineties and worked, all the time, every year, until disease took him before he was half a century old.
In the first decade of the new century, Daniel was in a range of top-line sitcoms and hour-long dramas. He did Weeds and Desperate Housewives, Charmed and Curb Your Enthusiasm, NYPD Blue and Malcolm in the Middle. He had a recurring role in Dharma and Greg as well. He appeared in some impressive movies as well, including Blow, The Mexican, and Talk Radio, as well as the inevitable Lizzie McGuire Movie. That’s probably what he will be remembered for by most people: playing one of Lizzie McGuire’s teachers, Mr. Escobar, on The Disney Channel’s now-classic Lizzie McGuire, though in fact he should be remembered best for his stage work. Just a few years ago, in 2008, he won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as ‘Simon’ in “She Stoops To Comedy” at the highly acclaimed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.
Escobar on How I Met Your Mother
Complications from diabetes brought him down. That could mean heart disease, stroke, circulatory problems, or any combination. You might consider honoring his name by getting your blood sugar checked and getting more exercise. (Diabetes crops up in Latinos about three times more often than the general population.)
Daniel wasn’t a star; he was just one of the many, many entertainment professionals who make up the backbone of Latino Hollywood–often unheralded, often taken for granted. For the better part of two decades, he worked, as much as he could, on every kind of stage he could find. And he will be missed.
