Biographie
Actor Ricardo Mamood overcame significant challenges growing up in Argentina, eventually reigniting his acting career in Asia, which led him to Hollywood.
After starring in a kindergarten children’s play, he was determined to become an actor. However, soon after, his single mother with a newborn could no longer support him, so he went to live with a childless couple who owned the kindergarten.
They bonded over watching classic films and took him to his first drive-in movie, sneaking him in the trunk since only those over 18 were allowed.
At around seven, he opened their home safe and stole money to buy several G.I. Joe action figures. This act cost him his home, as the couple, disappointed, sent him back to his mother, who was living in a cramped, rat-infested apartment with his younger half-brother. Their single bed was in the kitchen, where his mother and brother slept, while he slept on the kitchen counter. Eventually, he had to rest his pillow on the stove burner due to lack of space.
At nine, the family moved to the poor, violent slums outside Buenos Aires. He worked mornings and early evenings chopping meat at a butcher shop called La Vaca Bionica while attending primary school in the afternoons. On weekends, he worked as a bricklayer’s assistant and cared for his four-year-old half-brother. Acting was absent from his life except for playing Cowboys and Indians and watching old films and TV reruns whenever possible, while other kids played soccer.
With his mother often working long hours, he spent nights with street friends, listening to the radio or sneaking into bars and pool halls. Nights were a rare time free from responsibilities. He also helped make flour-water glue for adults to post anti-government pamphlets during the military dictatorship.
As he grew older, he became more violent at home and in his neighborhood, getting into trouble. At 12, he left home for months, living on the streets, sleeping in parks, and breaking into grocery stores with other street kids to find food. His mother eventually found and brought him back. Around 13, he began high school while working at a secret chemical factory producing industrial detergent.
By 15, he was performing with alternative theater groups, balancing work and night school. He dropped out three months before graduating high school and never attended college. At 17, claiming some English skills learned in school, he landed an entry-level job at Leather's Best Inc., a New York-based multinational leather manufacturer’s Buenos Aires branch.
Though his English was minimal, he hid it initially. He spent time typing handwritten manuscripts on a Siemens telex machine without understanding the content. A senior executive discovered this but instead of firing him, funded his English lessons for a few months. Encouraged, he learned English on the job by reading books, watching subtitled films, writing poetry, and acting in English plays.
At 16, he coincidentally met one half-brother while buying a Walkman at Spinetto Mall, built on the site of grocery stores he once stole from. This encounter led him to meet seven half-siblings and his father, whom he only met once.
Years later, he became Deputy Executive Director, overseeing raw materials purchasing and quality assurance, traveling to the US for training. He built a successful corporate career, holding senior management roles at various multinationals, sidelining acting.
In 1991, while visiting Esposito Tannery, he was struck by lightning during a phone call. Though unconscious for 40 minutes, he emerged unharmed, but the phone handset was badly damaged. He returned to acting and in 1994 produced and directed a stage adaptation of Mario Diament’s "Chronicle of a Kidnapping." He later moved to New York, then Hong Kong for ten years, and finally Los Angeles, where he lives with his two children. He was married from 1995 until divorcing in 2021.
In Hong Kong, he worked for companies like Paccess and Nike, pioneering supply chain management and raw materials consolidation in Asia, while continuing film and theater projects until fully leaving the corporate world.
He portrayed Richard Roma in the Hong Kong premiere of David Mamet’s "Glengarry Glen Ross." Since returning to acting, he has earned numerous film and TV roles.
Beyond film and stage, Ricardo has appeared in many international commercial campaigns and was the first US Spanish-language voice-over announcer for Cadillac and later Acura.
