E.J. Bonilla
E.J. Bonilla has done way too much for one so young. At the tender age of 25, he’s already appeared on everything from the Guiding Light to Reading Rainbow to Revenge, and now his latest movie, Four, is about to be released on DVD and On Demand.
Born in New York of Puerto Rican parents, E.J. jumped from high school performances of Danny Zuko in Grease straight into the Guiding Light (with a little stop for PBS’ Reading Rainbow along the way). Since then, he’s been seen in a wide range of high-quality TV dramas and indie films. Most notably, he starred in the independent film Musical Chairs, about a couple (played by Bonilla and Leah Pipes) who enter a wheelchair ballroom dancing competition after the girl is disabled in a traffic accident, and writer/director Nicolas Ozeki’s strange and beautiful romance Mamitas, with a wide array of other young Latinos (available for viewing on Amazon’s Watch Instantly right now). Joel Schumacher saw the promise there: he directed Bonilla in Man in the Mirror (also on Watch Instantly); and Cruz Angeles saw it too: he cast him in Don’t Let Me Drown. And all that’s happened just within the last few years.
Now he’s starring as Dexter, a former high school basketball player whose best days are behind him, in Joshua Sanchez’ directorial debut, Four–such an impressive performance it has already earned him an Imagen Award. The film had a limited theatrical release in September; you’ll be able to see it On Demand on December 17, and the DVD drops January 14, 2014.
