Trinidad Silva

Trinidad Silva a character actor from Mission Texas had a promising career that was tragically cut short He moved to Los Angeles in his mid20s and landed his first acting role on Baretta in 1977 Unfortunately due to the Latino typecasting prevalent at the time most of his TV roles were as criminals or gang members However his role as Jesus Martinez on Hill Street Blues broke this stereotype portraying a former gang leader turned community activist Silva also played more positive roles in films like Alambrista and El Norte Sadly while filming UHF in 1988 Silva was killed by a drunk driver in Whittier California The film was dedicated to his memory He was married to Sofia Alvarez