Panchito Gómez

Panchito Gomez (born November 2, 1963) is an American actor. His parents are from Ecuador and Dominican Republic.

Born in Spanish Harlem, New York, Panchito began his career at age seven with a television film: Street of the Flower Boxes. His father, actor Caesar Cordova, realized early on that the young Gomez had raw talent and charisma to have success as a performer. It was in early 1971 that The Children's Television Workshop was starting their second season, which is now the iconic children's show called Sesame Street. Panchito went on to audition amongst hundreds of children for the role of "Antonio" opposite Raúl Juliá. He got the part and became the first child actor on Sesame Street to receive screen credit.

After a two-season run on the program, Gomez went on to do numerous commercials and television shows. In the late 1970s, Gomez and his family left their home in New York to go out west to California. Once there he became one of the most working child actors on television and film. His first feature film took the young actor to Colombia, South America to star in an independent film with José Ferrer, Paco.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Dr. Max	Rafael Camacho
1975	Paco	Paco
1976	Cousin Dave and the Double Nil Gang	Pancho Sanchez
1977	Run for the Roses	Juanito Hernandez
1978	ABC Afterschool Specials	Gaucho	Episode: "Gaucho"
1979	Beach Patrol	Wild Boy	Television film
1979	Walk Proud	Manuel
1980	Borderline	Benito Morales
1981–83	Hill Street Blues	Hector Ruiz	Recurring role (5 episodes)
1983	Max Dugan Returns	Luis
1983	Diff’rent Strokes	Julio	Independent Woman
1984	The Outlaws	Raphael
1984-85	Maximum Security	Benny
1985	Tuff Turf	Mickey
1986	Class 89	Chooch	Alternative titles: 3:15 and 3:15 the Moment of Truth
1987	Long Gone	Paco Izquierdo
1987	Return to Horror High	Choo Choo
1987	21 Jump Street	Larry
1990	Sweet 15	Ramon
1992	American Me	Young Montoya Santana
1993	Mi Vida Loca	Joker Bird
1995	Saints and Sinners	Juanito
1997	Selena	Young Abraham
2001	Piñero	Acting Inmate
2002	NYPD Blue	Mike Mendez	Episode: "Half-Ashed"
2003	Manito	Rodchenko
2012	The Familia: The Rise of Don Pedro	Ernesto

References

Bibliography

• Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 344.