A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Birthplace:
El Paso, Texas, USA
Born:
November 18, 1957
He was born and raised in El Paso Texas. Miguel Ortega (father) was a cross country truck driver and Paulina Ortega (mother) a housewife. Began career doing summer stock theater for 2 years - El Paso Del Norte. Moved to Los Angeles in 1978. Shortly after arriving, he started to work as a stuntman on a picture by the name of Hooper (1978). His first acting job was in a guest starring role on a TV show by the name of CHiPs (1977). He has won a Stuntman's Award - Most Spectacular Sequence - "North & South" miniseries. He also won a Screen Actors Guild Award - Outstanding Performance By Cast - Traffic (2000).
Stunt Coordinator:
1998 David and Lisa
2007 Dead Write
Stunt Double:
1998 David and Lisa
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
2000 Traffic
2007 Dead Write
2012 Savages
2012 The Babymakers
Stunts:
1978 Hooper
1980 The Nude Bomb
1986 Running Scared
1987 Extreme Prejudice
1988 The Seventh Sign
1989 K-9
1990 Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection
1990 Marked for Death
1990 Predator 2
1990 The Rookie
1991 Night Eyes II
1992 American Me
1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula
1992 Nemesis
1993 Blind Side
1993 Hot Shots! Part Deux
1993 Tombstone
1994 A Low Down Dirty Shame
1994 Dragstrip Girl
1995 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up
1995 Midnight Man
1995 Ring of Fire III: Lion Strike
1995 Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure
1995 The Brady Bunch Movie
1996 Escape from L.A.
1996 Foxfire
1996 Mars Attacks!
1996 Soul of the Game
1997 Amistad
1997 L.A. Confidential
1997 Out to Sea
1997 She's So Lovely
1997 Spawn
1998 American History X
1998 David and Lisa
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1998 Ringmaster
1998 The Mask of Zorro
1999 Running Red
1999 The Base
2000 Across the Line
2000 All the Pretty Horses
2000 Submerged
2000 Traffic
2001 Double Take
2001 Ghosts of Mars
2002 Serving Sara
2002 Ticker
2003 A Man Apart
2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico
2003 The Italian Job
2004 Spanglish
2005 Just Like Heaven
2005 Man of the House
2005 The Longest Yard
2006 Smokin' Aces
2007 Dead Write
2008 Lakeview Terrace
2009 Fast & Furious
2012 Savages
2012 The Babymakers
2018 Peppermint
2018 Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Utility Stunts:
1978 Hooper
1980 The Nude Bomb
1986 Running Scared
1987 Extreme Prejudice
1988 The Seventh Sign
1989 K-9
1990 Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection
1990 Marked for Death
1990 Predator 2
1990 The Rookie
1991 Night Eyes II
1992 American Me
1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula
1992 Nemesis
1993 Blind Side
1993 Hot Shots! Part Deux
1993 Tombstone
1994 A Low Down Dirty Shame
1994 Dragstrip Girl
1995 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up
1995 Midnight Man
1995 Ring of Fire III: Lion Strike
1995 Strange Days
1995 Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure
1995 The Brady Bunch Movie
1996 Escape from L.A.
1996 Foxfire
1996 Mars Attacks!
1996 Soul of the Game
1997 Amistad
1997 L.A. Confidential
1997 Out to Sea
1997 She's So Lovely
1997 Spawn
1998 American History X
1998 David and Lisa
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1998 Ringmaster
1998 The Mask of Zorro
1999 Running Red
1999 The Base
2000 Across the Line
2000 All the Pretty Horses
2000 Submerged
2000 Traffic
2001 Double Take
2001 Ghosts of Mars
2002 Serving Sara
2002 Ticker
2003 A Man Apart
2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico
2003 The Italian Job
2004 Hidalgo
2004 Spanglish
2005 Just Like Heaven
2005 Man of the House
2005 Mr. & Mrs. Smith
2005 The Longest Yard
2006 Smokin' Aces
2007 Dead Write
2008 Lakeview Terrace
2009 Fast & Furious
2012 Savages
2012 The Babymakers
2018 Peppermint
2018 Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Stunts:
1985 North and South
2016 Westworld
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.