Victor Rivers

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Victor Rivers also Victor Rivas or Victor Vivas Rivers (born October 1, 1955 in Sancti Spíritus , Cuba ) is a Cuban-American actor and football player who played for the Miami Dolphins from 1978 to 1979 .

Life

Victor River's story begins with personal traumatic experiences in his childhood. He was born in the Clínica de Los Angeles in Sancti Spiritus (Cuba). However, his family moved to the United States when he was two years old. There he had to endure abuse and domestic violence by his father for years. When he was 15 years old, he defended himself and took legal action against him, so that from then on he grew up in a number of foster families. He wrote his life story in the book Asunto De Familia .

Since 1999, Rivers has been the spokesman for the National Network to End Domestic Violence . Today, after breaking the cycle of violence himself, he is considered a devoted husband and father. He himself says that these are his two most important roles in life. The director Taylor Hackford said of him: "A big man - in heart and soul." (A big man - in heart and soul.)

Rivers has been married since 1988 and has one child with his wife.

Football career

It is thanks to the support of those around him that his life - beginning with a membership in a street gang - changed drastically. He attended Florida State University thanks to a four-year football scholarship . There Rivers, supervised by his coach Bobby Bowden , was team captain of the Florida State Seminoles before playing for the Miami Dolphins from 1978 to 1979. During this time, the Miami Herald wrote in 1978 about Victor Rivas (Victor Rivers) he was The Longest Long Shot because he was the first Cuban American to be under contract with the Dolphins for two seasons. Due to his quality as a defender, he had asserted himself in the position of offensive guard , which was actually reserved for physically larger football players than him. After finishing his football career, he moved to Hollywood in 1979 and cast leading roles on television, film and stage.

Acting career

Victor Rivers starred in more than two dozen films, for example he embodied "Magic Mike" in the cult hit Blood in, Blood out or "Joaquin Murrietta" the brother of "Alejandro Murrieta" (Zorro) played by Antonio Banderas in "Die Mask of Zorro ”. Rivers made his feature film debut in Fear City in 1984 on a recommendation from Melanie Griffith , the wife of Banderas. Since then, the tall, dark-haired Rivers has played a wide range of roles. He played with Andy Garcia , Robert Redford , Jimmy Smits and Michael Keaton in action films, dramas and the cult film Twin Peaks by David Lynch . He also played leading roles in comedies such as A Million for Juan with Paul Rodriguez or alongside Eddie Murphy in An Honorable Gentleman . Rivers had some guest appearances in popular television series such as 24 , CSI: Miami , JAG , Star Trek and Miami Vice .

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Victor Vivas Rivers: Asunto De Familia: Memorias. Atriabooks, New York 2005, ISBN 1-4165-3468-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A Private Family Matter on google Books.de (date of birth see p. 33.)
  2. ↑ Commitment to domestic violence ( memento from October 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on thehotline.org or the NNEDV website ( memento from October 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at nnedv.org
  3. ↑ a b c biography on victorrivers.com
  4. ↑ marital status on magweb.com
personal data
SURNAME Rivers, Victor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban-American actor and football player (Miami Dolphins, 1978–1979)
DATE OF BIRTH October 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Sancti Spíritus , Cuba