Steven Bauer (born Esteban Ernesto EchevarrÃa Samson; December 2,
1956) is a Cuban-American actor. Bauer began his career on PBS,
portraying Joe Peña, the son of Cuban immigrants on ¿Qué Pasa, USA?
(1977â€"1980) and is perhaps most famous for his role as the Cuban
drug lord Manny Ribera in the 1983 crime drama Scarface, in which he
starred alongside Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. He also played the
drug cartel leader Eladio Vuente in Breaking Bad and in Better Call
Saul and as the retired Mossad agent Avi Rudin in Ray Donovan
(2013â€"2020).Bauer was born Esteban Ernesto EchevarrÃa Samson, on
December 2, 1956, in Havana, Cuba, the son of Lillian Samson Agostini,
a schoolteacher, and Esteban EchevarrÃa, a commercial pilot who
worked for Cubana Airlines. Bauer's maternal grandfather, whose family
names were Samson and Bauer, was Jewish, and immigrated to Cuba from
Germany, a refugee looking to escape the devastating effects World War
II and Adolf Hitler had on his safety and home country.Bauer's family
emigrated from Cuba to the United States on Independence Day, 1960,
when he was three years old, shortly after the end of the Cuban
Revolution, settling in Miami, Florida. Once in the United States, he
began using the name Steven, the English form of his given name,
Esteban. He graduated from Miami Coral Park High School in 1974 and
went onto study acting at Miami Dade Community College and the
University of Miami, the latter where he befriended Ray Liotta.Bauer's
first substantial role was in the PBS bilingual sitcom ¿Qué Pasa,
USA?, playing the teenage son of a Cuban exile family in Miami, from
1977 to 1979. He also appeared in the 1980 TV miniseries From Here to
Eternity. He was credited in these and a few other early projects as
Rocky EchevarrÃa. In 1981, Bauer starred in the television movie
She's in the Army Now, where he met his first wife, actress Melanie
Griffith. They both moved to New York City and stayed at Ray Liotta's
apartment, while Liotta moved to Los Angeles and stayed at theirs.
Both Bauer and Griffith studied under famed acting teacher Stella
Adler, and he appeared in several off-Broadway productions. During
this time he adopted the stage name "Steven Bauer".
1956) is a Cuban-American actor. Bauer began his career on PBS,
portraying Joe Peña, the son of Cuban immigrants on ¿Qué Pasa, USA?
(1977â€"1980) and is perhaps most famous for his role as the Cuban
drug lord Manny Ribera in the 1983 crime drama Scarface, in which he
starred alongside Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. He also played the
drug cartel leader Eladio Vuente in Breaking Bad and in Better Call
Saul and as the retired Mossad agent Avi Rudin in Ray Donovan
(2013â€"2020).Bauer was born Esteban Ernesto EchevarrÃa Samson, on
December 2, 1956, in Havana, Cuba, the son of Lillian Samson Agostini,
a schoolteacher, and Esteban EchevarrÃa, a commercial pilot who
worked for Cubana Airlines. Bauer's maternal grandfather, whose family
names were Samson and Bauer, was Jewish, and immigrated to Cuba from
Germany, a refugee looking to escape the devastating effects World War
II and Adolf Hitler had on his safety and home country.Bauer's family
emigrated from Cuba to the United States on Independence Day, 1960,
when he was three years old, shortly after the end of the Cuban
Revolution, settling in Miami, Florida. Once in the United States, he
began using the name Steven, the English form of his given name,
Esteban. He graduated from Miami Coral Park High School in 1974 and
went onto study acting at Miami Dade Community College and the
University of Miami, the latter where he befriended Ray Liotta.Bauer's
first substantial role was in the PBS bilingual sitcom ¿Qué Pasa,
USA?, playing the teenage son of a Cuban exile family in Miami, from
1977 to 1979. He also appeared in the 1980 TV miniseries From Here to
Eternity. He was credited in these and a few other early projects as
Rocky EchevarrÃa. In 1981, Bauer starred in the television movie
She's in the Army Now, where he met his first wife, actress Melanie
Griffith. They both moved to New York City and stayed at Ray Liotta's
apartment, while Liotta moved to Los Angeles and stayed at theirs.
Both Bauer and Griffith studied under famed acting teacher Stella
Adler, and he appeared in several off-Broadway productions. During
this time he adopted the stage name "Steven Bauer".
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