Jesse Garcia

Jesse Garcia is an American actor born on December 14, 1982, in Rawlins, Wyoming, who spent most of his childhood in Hanna, Wyoming. His father is originally from the Mexican state of Durango, and his mother, a Wyoming native, is of Spanish descent. Garcia was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, though he no longer practices that faith.

Garcia first gained widespread recognition through his role as Carlos, a troubled gay teenager, in the independent film Quinceañera, written and directed by Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer and executive produced by Todd Haynes. The film took both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the Dramatic Independent Feature Competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was also selected for the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. His performance earned him the Best Actor award at the 2007 ALMA Awards. In 2009, Garcia appeared in the thriller Locker 13, and in 2012 he made a cameo appearance in Marvel's The Avengers.

In 2010, Garcia brought his talents to Broadway as part of the revival of The Pee-wee Herman Show. That same year, he appeared in the music video for Wisin and Yandel's "Estoy enamorado."

Garcia later took on the lead role of Richard Montañez in the 2023 biographical film Flamin' Hot, which centers on Montañez's disputed claim of having invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The performance earned Garcia the Imagen Award for Best Actor.