Official Site of Jackie Torres
Jackie Torres: Storyteller of Faith, Resilience, and Triumphant Media
Jackie Torres is an accomplished Hollywood actress, director, producer, educator, and author dedicated to telling uplifting, character-driven stories of the Hispanic experience. Beginning her career in Puerto Rico, she performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade alongside Rita Moreno before earning her Master’s degree in Public Communications. Guided by strong personal integrity, she chose substance over stardom, becoming a trailblazing VJ and producing the #1 Telemundo hit Marcano…El Show, followed by the record-breaking family sitcom Con lo que Cuenta este País.
In Hollywood, Jackie directed the acclaimed feature films The Price of the American Dream and King of East LA, produced the hit clean-comedy show La hora Lunática, and authored the survival guide Save Me First. Also a dedicated educator, she has taught public communications at Loyola Marymount University (Upward Bound) and for the Old Catholic Church, and currently serves as a Standardized Patient Educator at the UCLA School of Medicine, training actors to prepare future doctors.
Urban Life and Gentrification
BARRIO
A FILM by Alexander Ibarra
“BARRIO” Shines at The 2025 Orange County Latino International Film Festival
“Barrio” stars Jackie Torres, Chei Maguey, Dominique Cala, and Jason Gutierrez in a heartfelt story set in Portland’s evolving neighborhoods. The film follows a young graduate navigating her uncertain future while working at her aunt’s Mexican bakery — a place filled with tradition, resilience, and love. As gentrification threatens their livelihood, “Barrio” explores identity, community, and the importance of representation in a changing world.
A Blessing in Disguise
Save Me First
By Jackie Torres
200 Ways to survive a hospital physically, mentally and spiritually
The incredible struggle for survival in a room, filled with patients on the verge of death that want to be saved first, is the main plot of a real story in a novel that shows over 200 simple, accessible and even funny ways to survive a hospital where cultural, language, ethnic and personality differences test physical, mental and spiritual healing.
DIRECTOR JACKIE TORRES
The Storyteller of Urban Latino Life
Driven to break away from Hollywood stereotypes, filmmaker and author Jackie Torres captures the authentic heart and complexity of urban Latino life across California. From her acclaimed feature films to her book Save Me First—born from her 18-month recovery following a major accident—her work gives a powerful, community-rooted voice to genuine human resilience.
The Price of The American Dream
A Jackie Torres Film
A family struggles to survive in the hostile environment of a country that is not their own: the United States. There, they confront drugs, violence, family breakdown, and the erosion of values. Laura, who is visiting and questions everything, decides to base her thesis on these issues.
Cast:
- Jackie Torres
- Mario Ramírez Reyes
- Rebeca Silva
- Albertossy Espinoza
- Gabriel Guillén
- Carlos Méndez
East LA King
A Jackie Torres Film
The criminal career of a young man—formerly the leader of an East Los Angeles gang—is transformed after he serves a prison sentence; upon his release, he faces a harsher kind of confinement: the challenge of navigating life with a new identity and proving he has left his past behind, even though his son fails to grasp the significance of that change.
Cast:
- Eddie Santiago
- Albertossy Espinoza
- Boris Cabrera
- Calvi Pabon
- Sonya Smith
- Allen Maldonado
- Nicole Dionne
- Salvador Benavides
Crossing Frontiers
A Jackie Torres Film
As it attempts to protect its borders from illegal aliens, the Border Patrol will face its greatest threat yet—the ultimate frontier, one that crosses the boundaries between time and space, life and death; a frontier to which they cannot set limits.
- Jackie Torres
- José Caro
- Albertossy Espinoza
- Pilar Camporredondo
- Teresa Michelle Ruíz
- Roberto Zapien
- Deborah Bambarén
- Tony Farías
- Rony Vega
