Hechter Ubarry, an actor working and living in New York City.

I grew up in Harlem where music was ever present in our home. I made my first stage appearance in the 4th grade at PS 119, playing Prince Charming in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". That was all the encouragement I needed - my future beckoned.

When I was getting close to entering high school, I decided to audition for the High School of Performing Arts choosing to do a monologue from "Macbeth". I am not sure whether I was displaying unbelievable naiveté or unbelievable "chutzpah". I had never seen Shakespeare performed on stage or film and I had a street-wise inner-city accent, but I was always imitating what I heard in the movies and, apparently, youth has no fear. When the audition was over, they asked me who my favorite performer was and I answered "Elvis Presley". They accepted me anyway.

Three months out of high school, I landed my first Broadway show: "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" starring Christopher Plummer and David Carradine. I auditioned with - what else - Shakespeare (Hamlet's "To be or not to be"), and was cast as an Inca Indian. My second Broadway show was "Man of La Mancha" starring Richard Kiley.

My film career was now beginning to take off. My first movie was "The Cross and the Switchblade" with Pat Boone and Erik Estrada where I played Moonlight, a tough gang kid. In "McBain", with Christopher Walken and Maria Conchita Alonso, I was the infamous drug kingpin, Simon Escobar. But it was as the South American drug kingpin, Rico, in "Crocodile Dundee II" that I had my biggest role.

I returned to Broadway in the musical "Chu Chem" playing a Jewish-Chinese prince (now that's inspired casting). Some other theatre credits include "Bye, Bye, Birdie", "Romance Language", "West Side Story", "The King and I", "The Me Nobody Knows" a musical version of "Gone with the Wind" and the Broadway revival of "Man of La Mancha" with my long-time friend, Raul Julia.

In spite of humble beginnings, I have happily made my life in New York and have been able to spend my life doing the one thing I have always wanted to do.