Estrella Tamez

Estrella Tamez was born in Los Angeles and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico. After graduating from New Mexico State University with a B.A. in Criminal Justice she returned to Los Angeles to pursue acting when she realized her passion was in the arts, and not in law, and has been acting ever since.After moving back to Los Angeles in 1995, she hit the ground running. With only a dream, and no contacts, she made her way to Nosotros Theatre. In 1996 she co-starred in her first play in Hollywood with the Nosotros Theatre Group in the original play Sculptors directed by Julia Vera. The following year, Estrella co-starred with Jacob Vargas in a short film entitled Sex Drunk, where she played the role of a wife struggling with the effects of an alcoholic husband and an abusive relationship.Soon thereafter, Estrella found her way to Actors Circle Theatre, and for the next nine and a half years received her training from esteemed acting teacher Arthur Mendoza. In between her work at Actors Circle Theatre (ACT), Estrella continued to meet and work with various actors and directors such as Kentwood Players Group in Westchester, where she took the stage as "June Stanley" in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and then made her way to the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica where she portrayed "Eliante" in The Misanthrope. But Estrella always returned to ACT, as this was her first home away from home.In 2005, Estrella crossed over from actor to director when she directed the Pulitzer prize-winning play, How I Learned to Drive at ACT. Estrella received rave reviews for her first directing effort.After nine years of studying with Mendoza, Estrella became theatre manager for ACT in January 2005. She managed the theatre until February 2006, when she realized the time had come to leave the classroom and put her skills to work as a professional actor.Soon thereafter, Estrella was cast in a co-starring role in Commander in Chief, and then as a guest star on General Hospital.After auditioning and landing a role in the short film Strike One, Estrella had the privilege of working with director and producer David Llauger-Meiselman of Boricua Films. She was then cast as the lead in the stage production Lauren Martin, directed by Mr. Meiselman and produced by Felipe Alejandro.Estrella is an active member of The Ricardo Montalban Repertory Theatre Company, which was founded by Meiselman and Alejandro. The Company currently consists of eight actors and two directors. When the Company is on hiatus from productions, they meet weekly for workshops and training.In addition to honing her acting and directing skills, Estrella also collaborated with, and fronted, a number of local rock bands before going solo in 2000. She began singing when she was in elementary school, and began playing guitar in 2000 when she grew frustrated of being at the mercy of other musicians. While music has taken a back seat to her acting career, she has continued writing songs and hopes to return to the music stage in the near future. Show less «