Rachel Ticotin
Rachel Ticotin (born
November 1,
1958) is an
Hispanic-American film and television actress.
Ticotin was born in the
Bronx,
New York to a
Russian
Jewish father and a
Puerto Rican mother, who immigrated to New York from
Puerto Rico in the early
1950s in search of a better way of life. She settled down in the Southern section of the Bronx, which is one of the five boroughs of the City of New York. The South Bronx, where she received her primary and secondary education, is mainly populated by Puerto Ricans. Rachel's parents enrolled her in the
Ballet Hispanico of New York where she took
ballet lessons.
In
1978, Rachel appeared as a dancer in the film
King of the Gypsies, making that her official film debut. She also acted on the
Off-Broadway production of
Miguel Piñero's
The Sun Always Shines for the Cool. Her first big break came in
1981, when she was cast as "Isabella" opposite
Paul Newman in the movie
Fort Apache, the Bronx. That same year, she was listed as one of 12 promising New Actors in John Willis Screen World Vol.33.
In
1983, Rachel married
David Caruso with whom she had a daughter, whom she named Greta. That same year she landed a regular role on
NBC's
television drama
Love and Honor. Other television series in which she has appeared in are,
Ohara (
1987),
Women on the Inside (
1991),
Crime & Punishment (
1993), and
Gargayles (
1994). In 1989, she divorced David Caruso and in 1991 she married
Peter Strauss, to whom she is presently married.
Among the movies in which she has been cast in are the following,
Critical Condition (1986) as "
Rachel Arwood",
Where the Day Takes You (1992) as "
Officer Landers",
Falling Down (1993) as "
Detective Sandra",
Total Recall (1990) as "Melina" alongside
Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Sharon Stone and
Con Air (1997) alongside
Nicolas Cage, where she earned an
Alma Award for her role as prison guard Sally Bishop. In
1995, she played the role of Doña Inez, the Mexican mother of
Johnny Depp, in the tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy
Don Juan DeMarco, Depp playing the title role.Rachel Ticotin has participated in over 40 film and television series, her most recent film was
Man on Fire (
2004) where she is cast as "Mariana". She is currently working in the production of
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants which is to be released in
2005. Ticotin was cast as "Vangie Gonzalez Taylor" in the second season of
PBS's television series
American Family alongside
Edward James Olmos,
Esai Morales,
Raquel Welch and
Kate del Castillo.
*
List of famous Puerto Ricans*
"PBS - Rachel Ticotin"*
"Ticotin talks about her heritage"
