Andres Garcia (born May 25, 1941) is a Dominican-Mexican actor who has reached fame all over Latin America and among Hispanics in the United States. Garcia in addition has Spanish blood; his parents were from Spain.
Garcia moved to Mexico as a young child, and he later became a nationalized Mexican. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Garcia became a sex symbol in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, participating in movies, Spanish soap operas and photo-operas, which are magazines that contained photos of actors acting up a story and were popular across Latin America during the '70s.
In 1977, Garcia tried his hand at Hollywood fame, acting in Cyclone, alongside Heather Thomas. Cyclone, however, flopped at the ticket gates.
Garcia in 1984 participated in Tu o Nadie, with Lucia Mendez and Salvador Pineda. Tu o Nadie became a major hit, and propelled Garcia to receive many international offers. He accepted to go to Puerto Rico in 1986, where he acted in WAPA-TV's Escandalo, with Iris Chacon and Charytin. Escandalo, however, also flopped and the number of chapters recorded for that soap opera was cut in half by the television channel, to speed up its final chapter.
Garcia is known for his portrayals of tough men, what some call the Typical Mexican macho. In real life, he allegedly enjoys living that way too. He has been involved in many controversies, scandals and gossip. In 1995, he was diagnosed with prostate Cancer, and he travelled to Atlanta, Georgia, to fight the disease. He was declared cured of the Cancer soon after, and he began to promote a product called Una de Gato. He continues to say that this product cured him. He has also admitted to having to use a sexual stimulator (La Bombita) for sex, and he defended his son, Andres Garcia Jr, from allegations of homosexuality that Lupita D' Alessio, a famous singer, had made towards Andres Jr. In addition to that, he has hired security guards to follow him closely, worried about the recent streak of famous kidnappings in Mexico and other parts of the world.
In 2001, Garcia built a mansion that resembles a castle.
In September of 2003, he made one of his several appearances at the Cristina Saralegui show, to defend entertainers against papparatzi. He also made a few commentaries of controversial nature during that show.
In October of 2003, Andres Garcia invited a fellow actor to his mansion for a shoot-out. The Garcia mansion was surrounded by television cameras, crews and police. However, the other actor refused, after which Garcia invited him to take one out of two hot-dogs served to them. One of the hot-dogs was supposedly poisoned. As it was, the actors called the shoot-out off and shook hands afterwards, causing many to believe that the whole situation was just a publicity stunt.
Garcia has participated in over 50 different theatrical jobs, including film, theater, soap opera and photo-opera work.
