George de la Peña (born December , ) is an American ballet dancer,
musical theatre performer, choreographer, actor, and teacher. He was
born in in New York City, New York.Originally trained as a concert
pianist, de la Peña switched to ballet while studying at the High
School for the Performing Arts in New York City. He graduated from
George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. He joined American
Ballet Theatre in the s, rapidly rising to soloist. While at ABT, de
la Peña danced in works choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Agnes
de Mille, Kenneth MacMillan, and Jerome Robbins. By , de la Peña and
his then-wife Rebecca Wright had both left ABT and moved to
California. De la Peña and Wright had two children before they
separated.) He and Ms. Wright can be seen in Baryshnikov's production
of The Nutcracker on television and on DVD.De la Peña began acting
when he was cast as Vaslav Nijinsky in Herbert Ross's film Nijinsky
(),, and for some time thereafter, he was typecast in Russian roles.
In a interview in the New York Times, an exasperated de la Peña, who
is of mixed Russian and Argentinian descent, pointed out that
producers thought he was not a native English speaker. He appeared on
Broadway in Woman of the Year, the revival of On Your Toes, the
notorious flop The Red Shoes (Drama Desk Award nomination), and
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Drama League Award). While living in
Los Angeles during the s, he performed in Cats and various regional
productions.His film and television credits include Personal Best (),
The Flamingo Kid (), Kuffs (), Brain Donors (), Mighty Aphrodite (),
and guest appearances on shows such as L.A. Law and Star Trek: The
Next Generation. He was seen in the film The Dust Factory, with Hayden
Panettiere and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
musical theatre performer, choreographer, actor, and teacher. He was
born in in New York City, New York.Originally trained as a concert
pianist, de la Peña switched to ballet while studying at the High
School for the Performing Arts in New York City. He graduated from
George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. He joined American
Ballet Theatre in the s, rapidly rising to soloist. While at ABT, de
la Peña danced in works choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Agnes
de Mille, Kenneth MacMillan, and Jerome Robbins. By , de la Peña and
his then-wife Rebecca Wright had both left ABT and moved to
California. De la Peña and Wright had two children before they
separated.) He and Ms. Wright can be seen in Baryshnikov's production
of The Nutcracker on television and on DVD.De la Peña began acting
when he was cast as Vaslav Nijinsky in Herbert Ross's film Nijinsky
(),, and for some time thereafter, he was typecast in Russian roles.
In a interview in the New York Times, an exasperated de la Peña, who
is of mixed Russian and Argentinian descent, pointed out that
producers thought he was not a native English speaker. He appeared on
Broadway in Woman of the Year, the revival of On Your Toes, the
notorious flop The Red Shoes (Drama Desk Award nomination), and
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Drama League Award). While living in
Los Angeles during the s, he performed in Cats and various regional
productions.His film and television credits include Personal Best (),
The Flamingo Kid (), Kuffs (), Brain Donors (), Mighty Aphrodite (),
and guest appearances on shows such as L.A. Law and Star Trek: The
Next Generation. He was seen in the film The Dust Factory, with Hayden
Panettiere and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
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