A self-styled renaissance man who has made a significant contribution to salsa with his socially conscious... (Learn more)
Top Projects: Gideon's Crossing, The Milagro..., Predator 2 (View All)
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Ruben Blades’s Milestones
| Grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Carrasquilla in Panama City, Panama | |
| Went back to Panama to obtain law degree | |
| 1964 | Student riot against US forces in the Canal Zone awakened his political sensibilities; 21 Panamanians were killed and another 500 wounded; from that point on, stopped singing in English |
| 1966 | Recorded first album with Los Salvajes del Ritmo (The Rhythm Savages) |
| 1970 | Recorded and released first album in New York, "De Panama a Nueva York" |
| 1974 | Returned to USA, remaining for a year with his parents in Miami, Florida |
| 1975 | Moved to NYC; rented a tiny apartment on East 61st Street for $175 a month, within walking distance of Fania Records, where he would get a job in the mailroom for $125 a week; sang with salseros Ray Barretto and Larry Harlow (known as 'El Judio Maravilloso/The Marvelous Jew') |
| 1976 | Teamed up with trombonist Willie Colon for a series of albums including "Siembra", the biggest-selling salsa record to that date |
| 1983 | Composed first musical film score for feature "When the Mountains Tremble" |
| 1983 | First film as actor, "The Last Fight" (also wrote songs), directed by and co-starring Fred Williamson; also co-starred Colon |
| 1984 | Signed with Elektra records |
| 1985 | First film as co-screenwriter, "Crossover Dreams"; also starred and composed score |
| 1985 | Profiled in the documentary "The Return of Ruben Blades"; aired on PBS in 1988 |
| 1988 | Portrayed Sheriff Bernabe Montoya in "The Milagro Beanfield War" |
| 1989 | TV acting debut as a Death Row inmate in "Dead Man Out" (HBO); first collaboration with actor Danny Glover |
| 1989 | Wrote and performed the song "Tu y Yo" in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" |
| 1990 | Composed the score for Sidney Lumet's "Q & A" |
| 1990 | Played Stevey in Lee's "Mo' Better Blues" |
| 1990 | Reteamed with Glover in "Predator 2" |
| 1991 | Acted opposite Anthony Hopkins in HBO's "One Man's War", portraying a reluctant attorney who helps Hopkins in his pursuit of justice |
| 1991 | Received first Emmy nomination for supporting role of the gigolo who groomed the title character for stardom in the HBO biopic "The Josephine Baker Story", starring Lynn Whitfield |
| 1992 | Garnered second Emmy nomination for leading performance as a janitor romancing Christine Lahti's high school principal in "Crazy From the Heart" (TNT) |
| 1992 | Launched the political party Papa Egoro ("Mother Earth") in his native Panama |
| 1994 | Portrayed an abrasively funny L.A. detective in Richard Rush's "Color of Night" |
| 1994 | Ran for the presidency of Panama; placed third; first free elections in Panama in a quarter century |
| 1997 | Brought some mild humor to small role as a photojournalist in Wayne Wang's "The Chinese Box" |
| 1997 | Made emergency trip to Panama to assume the presidency of the political party Papa Egora in an effort to rescue it from internal dissent |
| 1997 | Played Harrison Ford's police partner in "The Devil's Own" |
| 1997 | Starred in the Paul Simon-Derek Walcott Broadway musical "The Capeman"; played older incarnation of the title character, Salvator Agron, who as a teen gang member stabbed to death two NYC teenagers |
| 1999 | Appeared in "Cradle Will Rock" as Mexican artist Diego Rivera |
| 2000 | Acted in Billy Bob Thornton's "All the Pretty Horses", adapted from the best-selling novel by Cormac McCarthey |
| 2000 - 2001 | Co-starred in the ABC fall drama "Gideon's Crossing", playing a medical colleague of Andre Braugher's Dr. Ben Gideon |
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