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Chiko Mendez
Chiko arrived in New York only months old; where by the age of ten; he'd taken tap, guitar, trumpet lessons and English was embedded as his first language. In the fall of his tenth birthday he traveled back to his hometown where he lived for several years. Though life was tough and his family poor, his priority was to finish school first, amidst of which he became one with the culture, dialect & lifestyle as they moved throughout Central America. As a child he'd help his mother organize weekend excursions known as "veladas": an earliest form of theatre production popular throughout the mountains where there was no electricity and almost everything was hand-made.. Chiko drew and cut the admission tickets and sold them for a nickel each. The stage was a bed of rock and sand and the curtain was a bed sheet strung across two trees with twine. Playing baseball, writing songs & poems, riding horses and hitchhiking across town barefooted with a 3-string guitar to perform live on local radio stations after school were some of his other favorite pastimes. Chiko was always smitten with rhythm and learned to play a native drum called "Tambora" by making his first out of two milk containers stuffed with a twine sack; and by the time he graduated high school he'd already found his voice to accompany his guitar. He performed frequently in school plays and local bands often playing with missing strings thus supporting the tale ode he always believed in, "the show must go on". During the docile decade in this foreign habitat, he attends Bellas Artes; a community institution that catered to the impoverished. Here he discovered advanced theatre and sculpting and commuted daily to neighboring forests to stay with grandparents. He pursued theatrics and music until it became his passion. Immediately after graduation he returned to the US and picked up where he'd left off; attending college and other institutes where he acquired technical skills and by now had mastered trades pertinent to surviving as a dedicated artist in the big apple. Chiko had become proficiently bilingual and embraced both countries equally native. Continuous years of tenacious dedication lead to appearances in American television shows like NBC's Saturday Night Live, TLC's Junkyard Wars, A&E's Watching the Detectives, Japan TV's Astonishing News, HBO's Sopranos/ Law & Order, USA's Burn Notice, etc., while other Spanish shows would air on Spain's Tele 5, Telemundo, Univision, etc. On his journey for artistic evolution he attends HB Studios in New York to further flex his performing chops - after which he participated in over 100 projects in many capacities. Chiko affectionately refers to these endeavors as the "boot-camp" of his career. Amongst them was a coveted role as a backup singer to Marc Anthony in the movie "El Cantante", starring Jennifer Lopez. Another was a pivotal scene as a guitarist for the sultry Mexican actress, Ana de La Reguera in "Paraiso Travel", starring John Leguizamo. Other films include "Lavoe", another film about the famed salsero Hector Lavoe, starring La India and Patricia Monterola. In addition, Chiko's worked with successful performers such as Horatio Sanz & Fred Armisen (SNL), Debbie Rochon (Toxic Avenger), Paul Kratka (Friday the 13th), Javier Sarda (Tele 5, Spain), actor Steven Bauer and stage directors such as Richmond Shepard (Richmond Shepard Theatre) and acclaimed published playwright Dennis Richard. On the music forefront, Chiko is also a self-trained vocalist, composer, musician and producer. Tinkering in electronics lead to building his first computer and eventually morphed into his first home recording studio where "Music Production 101" was also self-taught. Throughout the following years he collaborates with other stars such as R&B and hip hop artist Lisa Lisa, son of Mambo King, Tito Puente Jr., Salsa guru Jimmy "The Velvet Voice" Sabater, Latin Grammy jazz flutist Dave Valentin and many others. Chiko's songs have been featured in films such as the award winning comedy "Garbage" (Starring Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Steven Bauer, Billy Baldwin) and other commercial DVD's, CD's available worldwide on Netflix, Blockbuster, CD Baby, Amazon, Itunes, On Demand etc.
Other write-ups / reviews include El Diario, El Especial, Un Chin, Daily News, The Source Magazine, Kiss FM, La Mega, WBLS including a book published in Spain where Chiko proudly opens the New York chapter, which also details the improvisation of a scene between him and the host. Chiko's live stage and studio experience in music include the "MTG All-Stars" (the musicians behind the movie 'El Cantante'), "K2", a Merengue - Bachata album showcasing seven of Chiko's originals and sang in English, Spanish and Italian. Other projects are two "Get Busy" projects, where Chiko wrote, sang, co-arranged and co-produced multiple tracks inspired by the Chano Pozo / Dizzie Gillespie classic "Manteca". Recorded by the "Revival All-Stars" in 1976; Among the artists were super-singer" (as nick-named by Quincy Jones) Babi Floyd on scat vocals and conga master Little Ray Romero's, whose percussion session was his last.
As a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the NY Conservatory for the Arts he is now welcome to join the AEA (Actors Equity Association), a union for live theatre actors. He is also a BMI recording artist and is passionate about writing, producing, recording songs with experimental approaches in fusing genres/ cultures and interweaving language barriers (mostly English and Spanish). Chiko is currently collaborating as a screenwriter, producer, vocalist and actor; with various producers and networks, developing content for film, tv, music and theatre.
