Bio - Elias Escobedo » stage, film, commercial, industrial, print

Elias Escobedo

Stage, Film, Commerical, Industrial, Print

A friend of the stage for over 15 years and a veteran of over 50 productions, Mr. Escobedo received his B.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of California, Davis.

As a San Francisco native, Elias has worked professionally throughout the Bay Area with Hapgood Theatre, Town Hall Theatre, Marin Shakespeare Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, TheatreWorks, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, SF Playhouse, Valley Shakespeare Festival, Belrose Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Curtain Theatre, Exit Theatre, Brava Theatre Center, New Conservatory Theatre Center , Theatre Rhinoceros, Naked Masks, and Summer Repertory Theatre. In March of 2009 Elias will make his Marin Theatre Company debut performing in "Lydia" directed by Jasson Minadakis.

His commercial, industrial, and TV credits include Oracle, Opera Mini, C-NET, Adobe, Seagate, Albertson’s, Save-Mart, Longs Drugs, Kaiser Permanente, Blind Date, and Japan's The World's Astonishing News.

In 2005, Elias was awarded a Dean Goodman Choice Award for his performance as Benvolio in Marin Shakespeare's production of Romeo and Juliet.

Mr. Escobedo is a proud member of AEA, AFTRA, and TBA.

Review

Death of a Salesman, Hapgood Theatre Company

Pat Craig, Contra Costa Times: "The acting is first-rate as well. The production attracted a remarkably talented array of actors, particularly Stauffer and Krug, who create characters deliciously flawed and human. Purdon and Escobedo are excellent in the brother roles, revealing the characters' own shortcomings in nuanced performances."

Judith Prieve , East County Times: "The Hapgood Theatre, now in its second season, should be commended for taking on such a heavy and challenging classic, which obviously attracted some top-notch actors from around the Bay Area and beyond... Elias Escobedo, meanwhile, is equally convincing as the still-bouncy younger son who epitomizes Willy's bad points and appears to be headed down a similar self-deluded path."

Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, Marin Shakespeare Company

Denise Battista, PlayShakespeare.com: "Of course, politic must play some part in these histories, mostly represented by Hotspur (William Elsman) and the rebels on one side, and Prince John of Lancaster (Elias Escobedo) on the other. Escobedo nails his role as the good son who follows in his father’s footsteps of desire and duty, and is both cold and calculating in Part 2 when he manipulates and then executes the rebels Mobray, Hastings, and the Archbishop."

Kedar Adour, TheatreWorld Internet Magazine: "Other cast members, Elias Escobedo, Stephen Klum, Soren Oliver, Jack Halton, and Ian Swift do justice to their roles."

Terre Haute, New Conservatory Theatre Center

Robert Hurwitt, SF Chronicle: "Escobedo is often electric. Pacing his tiny cell tense with anticipation and his constant struggle to maintain military rectitude, his mass murderer is always poised on the brink of exploding yet intriguingly vulnerable. As chillingly as Escobedo proudly recites the details of the Oklahoma City bombing -- or as passionately as he defends the ideas of the ridiculous "Turner Diaries..."

Eugene Lovendusky, BroadwayWorld.com: "White's Terre Haute Haunts: The New Conservatory Theatre Center keeps the adrenaline pumping with the US premiere of Terre Haute, a two-man show first developed at the Sundance Institute 2006. Based on an imagined conversation between notorious Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, and notable writer Gore Vidal, the 80-minute play is gripping and brilliantly steered by two talented actors. Playwright Edmund White ties this decadent pair into one of the most exceptionally-performed small-theatre dramas in San Francisco this year.

In the 6x12 foot "cage" is Harrison, portrayed by the adept Elias Escobedo. His piercing brown eyes and sharp features are riveting as he paces, clad only in dirty slip-on shoes and a khaki jumpsuit. He barks his first few lines like a faulty spark-plug. Escobedo's veiny arms and buzzed hair are a turn-on. But his character's lack of remorse for the death of innocent children (what he deems "collateral damage") is just as much a turn-off. The pay-off of course lies in an emotion-laden final sequence where Escobedo brings a hush over the crowd, detailing the entire events of April 19, 1995."

Richard Connema, Talkin' Broadway: "Elias Escobedo and John Hutchinson give compelling performances as prisoner Harrison and interviewer James. Escobedo is brilliant as the twisting, fanatical Harrison. His outbursts are frightening when the interviewer gets under his skin. The superb actor remains in a six foot by twelve foot cage dressed in a khaki jumpsuit. He gives a riveting performance and even shows humanity on the part of the prisoner. One begins to feel sorry for him toward the end of the drama.

San Francisco Spectrum: "Terre Haute is a tour de force for both actors."

Robert Avila, SF Bay Guardian: "Terre Haute shrewdly ups the ante a bit imagining an actual date between Vidal and McVeigh--respectvely cast as James (a fine John Hutchinson) and the transparetly McVeigh-like terriost Harrison (a fiercely magnetic Elias Escobedo, who even bears a strong physical resemblance to the original). NCTC's US primere is a sharp and intimate production."

Dennis Harvey, Variety: "Escobedo offers a credibly pale, coiled, obessive Harrision whose outbursts are frightening, yet who also commands a certain pathos."

SF Weekly: "Conceived as the handsome revolutionary "Harrison", the McVeigh character looks great in a prison jumpsuit, especially when unzipped to the waist. But the play isn't simply a prison fantasy tinged with homoerotic overtones. Director Christopher Jenkins' tight American premiere production lucidly draws out the connections between right and wrong, public and private, and freedom and imprisonment."

Seán Martinfield, Sentinel: "Hutchinson and Escobedo are committed artist, professional non-union performers, brilliant communicators, and captivating entertainers."

Special Forces, Theatre Rhino

Robert Hurwitt, SF Chronicle: "Marines on a mission filled with twists in 'Special Forces', Matthew Martin is a delight as Dinah Blue pursuing her affair with Elias Escobedo's strongly limned, ethically conflicted Lt. Hazlitt.

Richard Connema, Talkin' Broadway: Elias Escobedo (Terre Haute, Romeo & Juliet) gives a captivating performance as Lieutenant Thomas Hazlitt, USMC. He is charming in the opening scene where Hazlitt is romancing Diana. Their Casablanca scene at the end is very poignant.

Richard Dodds, Bay Area Reporter: "Elias Escobedo has a sexy openess as Dinah's Marine beau."

Dennis Harvey, Variety: "Escobedo and Howard give committed performances in more fleshed-out roles."

Seán Martinfield, Sentinel: "Director and playwright John Fisher’s SPECIAL FORCES goes behind enemy lines in Iraq. The production features local celebrities Elias Escobedo (as “Lt. Thomas Hazlitt”) and San Francisco’s favorite male actress Matthew Martin (as cabaret chanteuse “Dinah Blue”).

Prelude to a Kiss, SF Playhouse

Richard Connema, Talkin' Broadway: "Elias Escobedo (who has played in every Shakespeare Festival) plays Peter's best friend Taylor and is first-rate in the small role."

Tom Mayer, East Bay Voice: "Elias Escobedo is funny and warm as the friend of the soon-to-be-married couple, and the steady and stable best man who keeps the groom from completely losing it at the wedding."

King Lear, Marin Shakespeare Company

Richard Connema, Talkin' Broadway: "Elias Escobedo as the King of France has the Shakespearean speech down pat."

Starcrossed, Phoenix Theatre

Richard Connema, Talkin' Broadway: "Only Tiberio Montague played very well by Elias Escobedo has the Shakespeare's rhythms on the mark. StarCrossed actors do what they can with the old English speech but some of them are not equipped to speak the rhymes properly. Elias Escobedo as Tiberio does very well with iambic pentameter and makes a good Shakespearean actor. He looks like a young Kirk Douglas with a great clear professional voice."

SF Station: "Elias Escobedo offers a complex, sympathetic performance of the high and mighty Montague."

Southern Baptist Sissies, New Conservatory Theatre Center

East Bay Voice: "The central players were veterans of NCTC, and they did a great job. Most impressive was the heartbreaking performance of Elias Escobedo as Andrew. Painfully beautiful, he played the innocent and stole every scene he was in."

Beyond Chron: "He's charming, sweet, and vulnerable. Elias Escobedo brings all the emotional anguish to the fore."

Breakfast with Scot, New Conservatory Theatre Center

Talkin' Broadway: "Elias Escobedo is fine as Billy, a man who has very little knowledge of his own son. His role is brief but he makes the best of it..."

San Francisco Spectrum: "Turning in a marvelous performance is Elias Escobedo who amazingly plays the black sheep brother Billy, a Guard at the museum, and a customer. RATING: FOUR GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE. The Lee Hartgrave Fame Awards go to Javier Galito-Cava and Elias Escobedo for acting and Ed Decker for directing."

The Last Sunday in June, New Conservatory Theatre Center

Bay Area Reporter: "Escobedo's performance is played with recognizable humanity."

SF Weekly: "Nice performances by the principle couple, and the more nuanced treatment of their relationship, give this drama it's appeal."

Incident, Actors Workshop Theatre

Marcus Crowder, The Sacramento Bee: "David Stickler and Elias Escobedo give necessary live wire performances as the two thugs who arn't sure which is a better time-- having sex or mugging a bum. They exude an edgy charisma, which makes them car-wreck watchable. You know the worst is around the corner but you just have to see it."

Wit, Summer Repertory Theatre

Press Democrat, Santa Rosa: At Summer Repertory Theatre, Escobedo performed as Dr. Jason Posner in Margaret Edson's Wit, which recieved rave reviews in the local press. Escobedo was described as "dashing", and "led" the ensemble with "spirited interplay".