Mario Ernesto Sanchez
A Cuban-born actor, director, producer, and playwright, Mario Ernesto Sánchez had a lasting and transformational impact on the arts in Miami-Dade County and worldwide. He arrived in the United States as a teenager, at 15, during the Operation Pedro Pan. In 1979, he founded Teatro Avante, dedicated to preserving and promoting Hispanic theater. Under his extraordinary leadership, the company staged works by renowned playwrights such as Albee, Alomá, García Lorca, Williams and Shakespeare and represented the U.S. at international festivals across Latin America, Europe and Asia. A pioneer of international cultural exchange, in 1986, Sánchez established the International Hispanic Theatre Festival of Miami, the only annual festival of its kind in the U.S. His phenomenal contributions to Hispanic theater have earned him numerous international accolades for his outstanding work in producing and presenting works from Spain and Latin America, including the “Ollantay” Award from Centro Latinoamericano de Creación e Investigación Teatral (CELCIT) de Madrid in Spain; the Federico García Lorca Award in Spain; the Kusillo del Fitaz in Bolivia; the Serving the Arts Recognition Award from the Arts & Business Council of Miami; the El FIT de Cádiz – Atahualpa del Cioppo Award during the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Cádiz; the UCSUR Award in Lima, Perú; the George Abbott Carbonell Award; Knight Arts Challenge Awards; Distinguished Career Award from the Florida Theatre Conference; and the Legacy Award recognizing “a lifelong commitment to Latino Theater that has a lasting impact on the field in the US and Latin America,” at Encuentro 2014 in Los Angeles in association with the Latina/o Theatre Commons. An accomplished actor, Sanchez appeared is several episodes of Miami Vice and in many Hollywood movies and TV shows, including Invasion U.S.A. and The Specialist, Bad Boys, The Truman Show and British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. A tireless and fierce advocate for the arts, his unwavering commitment has a profound impact on theater in Miami and abroad. As Producing Artistic Director of Teatro Avante and the Festival, Sánchez became a driving force in celebrating and advancing Hispanic cultural heritage in Miami and worldwide. His love and unwavering dedication gave life to the phrase he so often cherished: “Life is beautiful!”