Trinidad Silva Jr.

Information Provided Courtesy Of Wikipedia And The Los Angeles Times:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Silva

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-02-me-6762-story.html

 Trinidad Silva, Jr. (January 30, 1950 – July 31, 1988) was an American comedian and character actor, who played small supporting roles in a number of films of the 1980s.
He is best known for the roles of Jesus Martinez, a gang leader in the TV series Hill Street Blues; Frog in the film Colors; and Raul, the bizarre animal lover in "Weird" Al Yankovic's first film, UHF.
Silva was born in Mission, Texas. Silva's television work includes the role of Jesus Martinez on the television series Hill Street Blues.
Silva died at the age of 38 in a car accident involving a collision with a drunken driver in Whittier, California, also injured were his wife and toddler son. Silva was killed during production of the 1989 "Weird Al" Yankovic film UHF.
Parts of the Yankovic film had to be rewritten since Silva had not finished filming his part. The film was dedicated to his memory.
Douglas Robert Owens pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and hit-and-run charges. Owens was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
“This is a great loss to a lot of people,” fellow actor Edward James Olmos said Monday. "(Silva) was a man who had committed himself totally to his craft, one of the most gifted persons I’ve worked with.
“It is truly sad that a life of this magnitude . . . would be taken so tragically,” the “Miami Vice” star said.
Whittier police said Silva, 38, his wife, Sophia, 28, and their 2-year-old son, Samuel, were driving east on Slauson Avenue Sunday, when a sedan moving south on Santa Fe Springs Road ran the red light where the two streets intersect and slammed into the driver’s side of the pickup.
Officers said the sedan, driven by Douglas Robert Owens, 35, struck the small pickup with such force that both Silva and his son--who may not have been wearing seat belts--were hurled from the truck, the actor flying more than 100 feet before striking the pavement. He died instantly.
Sophia Silva and her son survived the accident.
Owens, who was not injured, tried to run, but witnesses grabbed him and held him until officers arrived, police said.
Friends said Trinidad Silva came to Southern California from his native Texas in 1970, bent on pursuing an acting career.
At first, the roles were small--in movies like “Alambrista,” “Walk Proud” and “The Jerk.” But Silva got a big break in 1981, Olmos said, when he was made a brief appearance as a cocky gang leader in an episode of “Hill Street Blues.”
“He was brought in as a small role, but he was so strong that he went on to become a permanent fixture on the show,” Olmos said.
The highly honored show ran for years, and the character--Jesus Martinez--matured, eventually moving beyond his gang activities to serve as a paralegal, helping others in trouble with the law.
Recent Silva films included roles as a townsman in “Stones for Ibarra” and “The Milagro Beanfield War” and a featured part in “Colors,” in which he again played a gang member, “Frog"--this time an aging one.
Fellow actor Lupe Ontiveros, who first met Silva in 1979, remembered her friend as an irrepressible optimist, even when Hollywood insisted on giving him the stereotypical roles of a barrio gang member.
“He never placed any limits on his ability to become an actor,” said Ontiveros. “He was a very proud, deeply spiritual man who projected his love for his people, his culture and, above all, his family to every person. He was very proud of his work, and he believed that, in the immediate future, things would change and that our talents would be recognized.
“He had a lot of vision,” Ontiveros added. “He believed that the only way things would really change would be for 

Latino actors to produce 

their own feature projects. . . .”
Ontiveros said she was working with Silva in the upcoming Los Angeles Theater production “Stone Wedding,” a play by Milcha Sanchez Scott.
“His dreams had come true with this role,” Ontiveros said. “For the first time, he would be playing a leading character with all the richness and fullness and passion he wanted to portray on the screen. He would have run with it.”
Silva is buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California.