Damian Chapa

Damian Robert Chapa (born October 29, 1963) is an Indigenous Latino American and Euro-Indigenous American actor, film director, and film producer. He is of Native Mexican, European-American, and Native American descent. Chapa was born in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was briefly married to Natasha Henstridge. Among his earlier notable film roles are one of the leads in Taylor Hackford's Blood In Blood Out and the part of Ken in the film adaptation of Street Fighter. Subsequently, Chapa has directed and produced, in addition to starring in, his own films.

These movies include 1998's Kill You Twice, 2000's The Lonely Life of Downey Hall, 2002's Man of Faith, 2004's Shade of Pale, 2004's El Padrino, and 2006's I. R. A. : King of Nothing. Chapa co-wrote and directed Polanski Unauthorized, a biopic of Roman Polanski, in which he played the title role. It was released on February 13, 2009, in Los Angeles, California.

Chapa will begin filming the only film about Marlon Brando ever to be made, in June 2010 called Brando Unauthorized. He followed this with "Vatos Locos", starring himself. Albert Pyun was supposed to direct, but left the project following a dispute over his salary, so Chapa directed himself. The film is about the Chinese mafia in Los Angeles and how the Mexican gang boys, known as "vatos," fought back and defeated the Chinese gang-bangers.