Image of George De La Pena

George De La Pena

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   George de la Peña (born December 9, 1955) is an American ballet dancer, musical theatre performer, choreographer, actor, and teacher. He was born in New York City, New York, U.S. Originally trained as a concert pianist, de la Peña switched to ballet while studying at the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City. He graduated from George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. He joined American Ballet Theatre in the 1970s, rapidly rising to soloist. While at ABT, de la Peña danced in works choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Agnes de Mille, Kenneth MacMillan, and Jerome Robbins, among others. By 1985, de la Peña and his then-wife, Rebecca Wright, had both left ABT and relocated to California. (De la Peña and Wright had two children before they separated.) He and Ms. Wright can both be seen in Baryshnikov's production of The Nutcracker, on television and on DVD. De la Peña began acting when he was cast as Vaslav Nijinsky in Herbert Ross's film Nijinsky (1980), and for some time thereafter he was typecast in Russian roles. (In a 1983 interview in the New York Times, an exasperated de la Peña, who is of mixed Russian and Argentinian descent, pointed out that producers thought he was not a native English speaker.) He appeared on Broadway in Woman of the Year, the revival of On Your Toes, the notorious flop The Red Shoes (Drama Desk Award nomination), and Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Drama League Award). While living in Los Angeles during the 1980s, he performed in Cats and various regional productions. His film and television credits include Personal Best (1982), The Flamingo Kid (1989), Brain Donors (1992), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), and guest appearances on shows such as L.A. Law and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was last seen in the film The Dust Factory, with Hayden Panettiere and Armin Mueller-Stahl. De la Peña has taught at universities across the country, including CalArts, Connecticut College, and the University of Iowa. He continues to teach for ABT. A director and choreographer for both theatrical works and concert dance, he assisted figure skater Debi Thomas with her routine for the Olympics. He frequently collaborates with the choreographer Martha Clarke. George is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Laboratory. Description above from the Wikipedia article George de la Peña, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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Born:
Dec 9, 1955 In New York City, New York, USA
Movie/TV Credits:
15
First Appeared:
In the movie Nijinsky 1980-03-20
Latest Project:
Movie Ovation 2016-07-11
Known For
Poster of Red Hot
Poster of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Poster of The Cowboy and the Ballerina
Poster of The Merry Widow
Filmography
Movie Ovation Salazar 2016-07-11
Movie The Dust Factory Ringmaster 2004-10-15
Movie One Last Dance Max Delano 2003-04-04
Movie Mighty Aphrodite Greek Chorus 1995-09-13
Movie Red Hot Gurevitch 1993-06-23
Movie Kuffs Sam Jones 1992-01-10
Movie Brain Donors Roberto Volare 1992-04-17
Series Star Trek: The Next Generation Lt. Orfil Solis 1987-09-28
Movie Popeye Doyle Itan Kellerman / The Shadow 1986-01-01
Series L.A. Law Mikhail Olinskov 1986-09-15
Series Murder, She Wrote Alexander Masurov 1984-09-30
Movie The Cowboy and the Ballerina 1984-10-23
Movie The Merry Widow Count Jolidon 1983-12-23
Movie Personal Best Raoul 1982-02-05
Movie Nijinsky Vaslav Nijinsky 1980-03-20