Luis I. Reyes

Luis I. Reyes is a film historian, writer, publicist, and filmmaker. He is the published author of five books on film and is considered a world-renowned expert on ethnic minorities in Hollywood, with an emphasis on Latinx and Pacific Islanders. Reyes is the coauthor with Peter Rubie of the seminal book, Hispanics in Hollywood : An Encyclopedia of Film and Television. With Ed Rampell, Reyes coauthored Made in Paradise: Hollywood’s Films of Hawaii and the South Seas, which led to the recognition of the South Seas film as its own genre. They followed this with The Hawaii Movie and Television Book: Celebrating 100 Years of Film Production Throughout the Hawaiian Islands, which documents all the films and TV shows filmed in Hawaii and the growth of the Hawaiian film industry. Reyes next wrote Made in Mexico: Hollywood South of the Border, documenting the history of all the Hollywood films made in Mexico. He worked with and interviewed many of the people featured in his most recent book with Turner Classic Movies, Viva Hollywood: The Legacy of Latin and Hispanic Artists in American Film, including such stars as Salma Hayek, Jimmy Smits, Anthony Quinn, Rita Moreno, Gilbert Roland, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Valdez, Robert Rodriquez, and Edward James Olmos. A frequent guest programmer for Hispanic Heritage Month on TCM (with hosts Eddie Muller and Alicia Malone), Reyes hosted a screening of Popi (1969), starring Alan Arkin and Rita Moreno, at the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival. Reyes grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is of Puerto Rican and Dominican ancestry.