YOUR ONLINE GUIDE TO LATINO L.A.

Michael DeLorenzo

This hard-at-work multihyphenate is in the middle of a career resurgence. Best known for his days on the 1990s hit New York Undercover, DeLorenzo recently directed One, Two, Many, a film about a man who seeks a threesome to spice up his love life. When he’s not directing or acting, DeLorenzo is talking about , Rescue Me, his new album of love songs set to soulful beats.

Paul Rodriguez

Comedian Paul Rodriguez, of Disney’s South of the Border

Long before George Lopez and Carlos Mencia, there was Paul Rodriguez, who ruled the Latino comedy scene in the early 1980s. He starred in the short-lived sitcom a.k.a. Pablo, segued into movies, and produced and starred in the hugely popular 2002 concert film The Original Latin Kings of Comedy. Later this summer, Rodriguez, 53, will voice an iguana in Disney’s digitally animated South of the Border.

Eva La Rue

Actress Eva La Rue, of CBS' CSI: Miami

Eva La Rue's career has taken her to New York City, where she played Dr. Maria Santos Grey on the daytime soap opera All My Children. But three years ago, she left the Big Apple and her steady soap gig for an uncertain future in Los Angeles. Serendipitously, La Rue landed a plum role on CSI: Miami, one of TV's most popular shows. La Rue has appeared on George Lopez and Third Watch, and she served as a correspondent and part-time weekend anchor for Extra.

Odette Yustman

Actress Odette Yustman, of Cloverfield and ABC's October Road

Yusman started her career with a minor role in the movie Kindergarten Cop as Rosa, and hasn’t stopped acting since. In 2006, she was cast in the Jennifer Lopez produced, and short-lived show, South Beach where she played the main character. She has appeared in the 2007 blockbuster hit Transformers, and the comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story She is currently playing the role of Aubrey Diaz on ABC’s drama October Road, and on the silver screen, Yustman plays the role of Beth McIntyre, in J.J. Abrams, Cloverfield.

Lauren Velez

Actress Lauren Velez, of Showtime's Dexter

Lauren Velez first appeared in the 1994 feature film I Like It Like That, which centered around a Latino family struggling to stay together amidst the stresses of life, earning Vélez an Independent Spirit Award. Vélez starred on Oz, winning an ALMA Award for her role as "Dr. Gloria Nathan." However, she is perhaps best known for her role as "Nina Moreno" on the cop drama New York Undercover, and has appeared in Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Medium and The Pretender, as well as Numb3rs on CBS. For DEXTER, Lauren Vélez was recently nominated for another ALMA award.

Eduardo Xol

Designer Extreme Makeover: home edition 

He’s more than just a designer for the ABC reality hit tv show, Extreme Makover: Home Edition, the East L.A. native is also a musician. Years before Xol picked up gardening shears and began his own landscaping business, he tried his hand at music. He can play several percussion and woodwind instruments, and has an album under his belt.

Wil-Dog Abers 

Bassist from ozomatli 

Ozomatli’s bassist and leader is happy with the group’s fourth full-length album, Don’t Mess with the Dragon. The group, famous for its sometimes politically infused and always refreshing Latin street pop, has been together for 12 years. Abers, who first contributed to Ozo’s second album, attended the presitigious Hamilton High music academy with current and past Ozomatli members Asdru Sierra, and founding drummer Anton Morales. He has also played with Macy Gray.

Oscar Garza

Editor-in-Chief

Ciudad's editor-in-chief spends his free time scouring record stores for vintage 45s for his jukebox. While at the Los Angeles Times, he supervised the paper's pop music and jazz coverage, and wrote stories about Los Lobos and Rickie Lee Jones for the Times magazine. His R&B fable, "Land of 1000 Dances," was published in 2005 in the journal Popular Music (Cambridge University Press.

Dennis Romero

Staff Writer

Ciudad staff writer Dennis Romero has been writing about popular music for 15 years, starting out under the guidance of legendary Los Angeles Times pop critic Robert Hilburn. His music profiles and criticism has appeared in URB magazine, LA Weekly and alternative weekly LA CityBeat. Romero’s specialty has been electronic dance music, and he’s been quoted in the New York Times as an expert in the genre. He occasionally practices what he preaches: He’s produced two commercially available mix-CDs, DJ’d at special events and club nights, and served on a Grammy Awards committee.