El Jefe: Scott Duprey

Scott Duprey was born and raised in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As a child, he idolized the Latin actors he saw on T.V. and at the Essex every Friday: Erik Estrada, Freddie Prinze, Ricardo Montalban, and Cheech & Chong. "People hear me say those names and they think I'm joking," Scott says. "Let me be clear, those guys were, and to this day, are some of my heroes. There weren't many Latin faces on the screen back then, at least not playing fully realized characters. Though these performers were essentially cast as caricatures, macho Latino, wise guy Latino, suave Latino, drugged out Latinos [Tommy Chong is actually Chinese - Ed.], their undeniable talent and charisma enabled them to transcend stereotype and create rich characters who have become enmeshed in the fabric of American pop-culture."

Though he and Carlos Sanchez Lopez had made several well-regarded Pixelvision shorts in their youth in the 1980's, Scott was still dissuaded at every turn in his pursuit of an acting career. "No one took me seriously. People looked at me and saw a dumb Latin kid, someone that they could try and take advantage of or who was somehow beneath them." Scott put his dreams aside until his senior year of high school, when a fateful field trip changed his life.

"My English class went to The Public Theater to see a production of Othello starring Raul Julia," Scott remembers. "I knew who he was from movies like Romero and Tequila Sunrise. I'm watching him and thinking, 'This is a regular Puerto Rican dude like me and he's up there and he's great. If he could do it, why can't I?' My family was poor, so this was the first time I had been to see live theater. The next time I went, I was in the show."

That was Chelsea Reparatory Company's production of Dark of the Moon, in which Scott played "Floyd Allen." Other roles soon followed on stage, screen and radio. While thrilled to be able to follow his dream, Scott became frustrated by the lack of roles available to him. As such, he went to work behind the scenes in various capacities in between acting roles, eventually becoming a producer, going back to his roots somewhat in the process.

"I had tried to get a couple of things off the ground in the early 90's which didn't happen. I was also unable to save Essex Theater after it closed; then I reconnected with Carlos. He had written a script called Death Fish that was this hysterical dark comedy dealing with all these topical things: drugs, morality, euthanasia, life in the ghetto, how people respond to death. It was 1996, so a lot of these topics were still pretty touchy, but I knew I had to produce it. We shot it in the summer of '97, in B&W on Ilford 16mm film, real cheap, in apartments we had lived and played in as children. In a lot of ways it was like doing the Pixelvision stuff again, because that youthful energy was still there."

After Death Fish, Scott continued to work on others' independent films. He also served as Managing Director for the Red Strokes Theatre Company for two years, producing the Off-Broadway hit Dracula: Eternal Obsession, and the NY debut of the intimate stage piece On Stars Not Falling. In 2002, he formed New Essex Theater with Carlos Sanchez Lopez. "This is only the beginning," Scott declares. "We've got shows in development, epic stories to be told and enjoyed. Don't worry. . . you'll see them coming."

Did you know?
Scott is really smart. He's even got the Mensa card to prove it.

Scott was the M.C. of the 2005 New York City Infringement Festival. He also provided the voice for and helped operate "Bushiva" -- a puppet hybrid of George W. Bush, The President of United States and Shiva, The Hindu God -- for several performances in Washington Square Park. (video produced by Guerilla Video Productions)

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