---
name: "Luis Valdez"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/luis-valdez"
fi1m_id: "luis-valdez"
imdb_id: "nm0883609"
tmdb_id: 82219
wikidata_id: "Q360140"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "26 June 1940"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-04T20:19:01.523069+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Luis Valdez

## Identity

Luis Valdez

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/luis-valdez
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** luis-valdez
- **IMDb ID:** nm0883609
- **TMDB ID:** 82219
- **Wikidata ID:** Q360140
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Valdez, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q360140, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0883609/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/82219

Director. Born 26 June 1940 in Delano, California.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 26 June 1940, Delano, California
- **Active:** 1987–2017
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 directing
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 72 (1), 2010s 84 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Valdez, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q360140, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0883609/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/82219

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*La Bamba*](https://film.one/film/la-bamba.md) (72)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Luis Valdez is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and actor. Born on 26 June 1940 in Delano, California, he founded El Teatro Campesino in 1965 as part of the United Farm Workers movement.

He is regarded as the father of Chicano theatre in the United States. His play *Zoot Suit* (1978) was the first Chicano work performed on Broadway and was adapted into a film in 1981. Valdez wrote and directed the biographical drama *La Bamba* (1987), about the life of rock and roll musician Ritchie Valens.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, pbs.org.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1)

- *Coco* (2017), Fi1m 84, as Tío Berto / Don Hidalgo (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/coco.md)

### Directed (1) — the average rests on these

- *La Bamba* (1987), Fi1m 72, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/la-bamba.md)

## Complete filmography (14)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Coco* (2017), as Tío Berto / Don Hidalgo (voice) — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/coco.md)
- *Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice* (2010), as Narrator
- *One for the Money: The Birth of Rock & Roll* (2006), Actor
- *The Cisco Kid* (1994), as Benito Juarez · Director, Screenplay
- *La Pastorela: The Shepherd's Tale* (1991), Director
- *Corridos! Tales of Passion and Revolution* (1987), Director, Writer
- *La Bamba* (1987), Director, Writer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/la-bamba.md)
- *Zoot Suit* (1981), Director, Writer
- *Which Way Is Up?* (1977), as Ramon Juarez
- *El Corrido: Ballad of a Farmworker* (1976), Director, Writer
- *Fighting for Our Lives* (1975), Writer
- *The Sellouts* (1972), Writer
- *I Am Joaquin* (1969), Director
- *La Bamba*, Executive Producer, Original Film Writer

## Gallery

- ![Luis Valdez](https://film.one/media/person/363545/gallery-33ad45f385b7.jpg) Luis Valdez — LaShawnda Jones, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Luis_Valdez_at_the_premiere_of_American_Pachuco_The_Legend_of_Luis_Valdez_at_the_2026_Sundance_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Luis_Valdez_at_the_premiere_of_American_Pachuco_The_Legend_of_Luis_Valdez_at_the_2026_Sundance_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Luis Valdez, director, at the premiere of American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/363545/gallery-4d3846938770.jpg) Luis Valdez, director, at the premiere of American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival — LaShawnda Jones, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Luis_Valdez_at_the_premiere_of_American_Pachuco_The_Legend_of_Luis_Valdez_at_the_2026_Sundance_Film_Festival_%282%29.jpg/1280px-Luis_Valdez_at_the_premiere_of_American_Pachuco_The_Legend_of_Luis_Valdez_at_the_2026_Sundance_Film_Festival_%282%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Luis Valdez, director, at the premiere of American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/363545/gallery-b316c2c48fd8.jpg) Luis Valdez, director, at the premiere of American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival — LaShawnda Jones, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Luis_Valdez_at_the_premiere_of_American_Pachuco_The_Legend_of_Luis_Valdez_at_the_2026_Sundance_Film_Festival_%283%29.jpg/1280px-Luis_Valdez_at_the_premiere_of_American_Pachuco_The_Legend_of_Luis_Valdez_at_the_2026_Sundance_Film_Festival_%283%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Luis Valdez, 2008](https://film.one/media/person/363545/gallery-b32c3cc4e84d.jpg) Luis Valdez, 2008 — James Jeffrey, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Luis_Valdez_Chicano_Playwright.jpg/1280px-Luis_Valdez_Chicano_Playwright.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won

- National Medal of Arts 2015: National Medal of Arts (won)
- American Book Awards 2011: American Book Awards (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/luis-valdez