modesto lacen
Actor, entrepreneur, tv host and teacher with a history of 30 years of uninterrupted work in Puerto Rico, the United States, Spain, Colombia and Dominican Republic. He began working professionally as a teenager and continued his training at the University of Puerto Rico School of Drama where he earned his undergraduate degree with honors, and excelled in classical theater, physical theater and dance. Fluent in Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. He was accepted by The Public Theater, and Circle in the Square in New York City, where he lived for 8 years. There, he was welcomed by the Latino theater community, receiving several recognitions by Hola Awards (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors), ACE (Asociación de Cronistas de Espectáculos de NY) and ATI (Asociación de Teatristas Independientes). His degrees also include a certificate in Arts Administration from the New York University School of Continuing Studies.
His commitment to the Puerto Rican film industry has led him to work in more than forty five films in the island. His film credits include: Animal, alongside Oscar Nominated actor Terrence Howard; Back in the Day, where he worked as acting coach for actor and rapper Ja Rule; Any Kind of Infinite, alongside Goya Award-winner Celso Bugallo; and the leading role in films Desamores and Las dos caras de Jano, film adaptations of the legendary Puerto Rican writer of detective novels, Wilfredo Mattos- Cintrón. On television, he excelled in leading and supporting roles in productions by networks such as CBS, Telemundo, PBS, Telemicro Internacional and Fox Telecolombia.
His discipline and physical malleability have secured important roles of historical figures, such as his theater interpretation of composer Rafael Hernández in Puerto Rico, and the legendary baseball player Roberto Clemente, for theaters in cities such as New York, San Juan, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh; a role he successfully reprised in the short film 3,000.
Along the same vein, one of his most important works was his interpretation of Pedro Knight (Celia Cruz’ husband) in the hit Off-Broadway play Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz; which ran for over a year, and traveled to cities ranging from Miami to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Lacén reprises Don Pedro Knight, from his early youth this time, in the new TV series Celia, produced by Fox Telecolombia and Telemundo, released in 2015. Celia has aired with a great amount of success worldwide through Netflix.
His work in the last few years includes: Romeo y Julieta, a bilingual version of Shakespeare’s play starring Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong’o; puertorican films La última gira, Pies en la arena, Bella, Los reyes de la salsa, Remóra, 23 horas, Las Camelias; Colombian film La estrategia del mero; TV specials Afrodescendencia, Sombras de una verdad, 8 puertas and Miss Universe PR 2020 in which he worked as the host. His latest projects are Blue Beetle (Warner Bros), The Plane (Lionsgate), Devuélveme la vida ( Caracol TV/ Netflix) the reboot of Fantasy Island (FOX TV) Perfecto Anfitrión (Pantaya) and Puertorrican films La Pecera (Goya Award Nominee, Sundance) and Erase una vez en el caribe.
Modesto lives in Rio Grande, PR.
