Jose Miguel Vasquez is a Colombian-American actor who initially gave up on his dream of working as an actor when he became a young dad in 2002. However, he credits "God, the Divine Artist" for bringing acting back into his life. Today, thanks to the support of his remarkable wife and kids, and the rest of his creative team, he is known for his work on Netflix's WWII stylistic drama, The Liberator, Cobra Kai, AMC's The Walking Dead, and the feature film Brian Banks directed by Tom Shadyac, where he shared the screen with highly respected actors such as Greg Kinnear, Aldis Hodge, Sherri Sheperd and Morgan Freeman.
Born in Bogota, Colombia to very young parents, Jose Miguel has one younger sister who has believed in his pursuits since day one. They were driven out of Colombia in the late 80s due to the country's turmoil. Jose Miguel was raised in South Florida by his super mom and he helped raise his kid sister after their dad had to leave the USA. Performing and the arts have always accompanied him.
He began to take acting seriously in high school where he found the joys of theatre on the Flanagan High School Stage in Pembroke Pines, FL. He worked at local movie theaters to nurture his love for cinema all throughout high school. It was around this time he watched Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and as the credits rolled he knew: "I have to work in film someday!"
In his first year of college at the University of Central Florida he worked on some student films while studying film, theater and education. Before his sophomore year in college he became a young dad when his high school sweetheart Jenny, now wife, gave birth to their first born Matthew J. Vasquez. Today, Matthew is an actor and working artist himself!
Months before Matthew was born, Jose thought the best thing to do for his family was to give up acting and film, "better to pursue teaching."In 2008, when he graduated college there was no work as a teacher to be found due to the economic crisis. And so, the divine path was set, acting in Central Florida would offer him a way back to build his dream career and some sort of financial stability.
Jose has deep appreciation for his studies and experiences at Art's Sake Acting studio and Class Act Studios in Orlando Florida for giving him a solid foundation based on the Meisner technique. He immediately applied the craft he was learning, on stage at the Orlando Repertory Theatre, on commercial work and smaller TV roles from 2009-2014. It was in 2014 when Jose got his first supporting role, in a major feature film starring Vince Vaughn, that Atlanta, GA looked like a viable option to raise a family and pursue the dream of working in the movies, full time.
Today, Jose continues to study and practice the craft of acting, onstage with the Alliance Theater, on film with various works that come his way and on his YouTube channel MaJeliv with his family of artists and content creators. In between roles Jose Miguel focuses on sharing all that he's learned with young actors eager to listen as they begin their journey. He feels the best way to answer God's call of the artist will be to collaborate with artists across different disciplines in order to tell stories that elevate humanity and impact the culture with beauty, truth and goodness.
