Rubén Blades

Rubén Blades

1948-07-16 Panama City, Panama 74 Credits

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and political inspired Nuyorican salsa to his music, creating thinking persons' (salsa) dance mu...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Salsa Lives

Salsa Lives

2025

as Ruben Blades

Acting

La Salsa Vive is a vibrant cinematic exploration of Afro-Cuban music's history, tracing its roots from New York's lively streets to Cali, Colombia, no...

Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple

Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple

2024

as Self

7.3
Acting

Stevie Van Zandt, known as New Jersey's most famous consigliere to Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano, takes center stage. Featuring a wealth of never...

Stay Homas. The Band That Shouldn’t Exist

Stay Homas. The Band That Shouldn’t Exist

2024

as Self - Singer

8.0
Acting

In the most tragic moment of the pandemic, confined to a terrace in the centre of Barcelona and almost by chance, the musical phenomenon of the Stay H...

Nueva York: A Musical History of Latin New York

Nueva York: A Musical History of Latin New York

2021

as Self (archive footage)

8.0
Acting

When the film West Side Story was released in 1961, New York's reviled Puerto Rican community gained some visibility and, over time, both in Spanish H...

Red Pill

Red Pill

2021

as Rocky

6.0
Acting

Set over Halloween weekend 2020, this political thriller follows six friends as they head into "red" country to canvas white women to vote. They are a...

Operation Just Cause

Operation Just Cause

2019

Music

7.0

The stories of a Panamanian officer who feels betrayed by his superiors, of a young man from the neighborhood trying to prevent his friends from going...

Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage

Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage

2019

as Self

Acting

Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage is a warm and revealing portrait of the charismatic, groundbreaking actor’s journey from his native Puerto Rico to the...

John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons

John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons

2018

as Self

7.5
Acting

In this one-man Broadway show, John Leguizamo finds humor and heartbreak as he traces 3,000 years of Latin history in an effort to help his bullied so...

Ruben Blades Is Not My Name

Ruben Blades Is Not My Name

2018

as Self

6.4
Acting

The story of one of Latin America's most beloved singer-songwriters in a journey across his 50-year career. In an intimate way, the film gives us a ch...

Hands of Stone

Hands of Stone

2016

as Carlos Eleta

6.6
Acting

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

Yo soy la salsa

2014

Acting

More than a genre, salsa was a cultural movement that arose in a time of need for strengthening the Latino culture and spread across the world with su...

Invasion

Invasion

2014

as Self

7.3
Acting

INVASION is a documentary about the collective memory of a country. The invasion of Panama by the U.S in 1989 serves as an excuse to explore how a peo...

The Counselor

The Counselor

2013

as Jefe

5.3
Acting

A lawyer finds himself in far over his head when he attempts to get involved in drug trafficking.

Outlaws - For Greater Glory

Outlaws - For Greater Glory

2012

as Président Calles

6.8
Acting

A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.

Safe House

Safe House

2012

as Carlos Villar

6.5
Acting

A dangerous CIA renegade resurfaces after a decade on the run. When the safe house he's remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, a rookie operative esc...

¡Sonó, Sonó… Tite Curet!

2011

8.0
Acting

Homage to Puerto Rican composer Catalino Curet Alonso, or as his friends and fans call him, "Tite", representing how widely influential the composer r...

The Next Season

The Next Season

2011

as Benito

Acting

Emotionally battered by the paternal relationship with her husband, Eva is a young immigrant photographer, a misfit who strives to find the perfect li...

Rubén Blades: Todos Vuelven Live, Vol. 2

2011

5.2
Acting

Celebrated actor, political activist, songwriter, and multiple Grammy Award winning performer Rubén Blades returned to the stage with the live tour "T...

Rubén Blades: Todos Vuelven Live, Vol. 1

2011

5.2
Acting

Celebrated actor, political activist, songwriter, and multiple Grammy Award winning performer Rubén Blades returned to the stage with the live tour "T...

Spoken Word

Spoken Word

2009

as Cruz-Sr.

4.8
Acting

A San Francisco spoken word artist returns to New Mexico to be with his dying father, only to find he loses his "voice" as he is sucked back in to the...

La clave

2008

Acting

Musical documentary film about the similarities between two types of music genres known as Salsa and Reggaeton. The clave is the five-note two-bar rhy...

Lo mejor de nuestra música popular: 15 años de éxitos

Lo mejor de nuestra música popular: 15 años de éxitos

2007

as Self

1.0
Acting

The film includes highlights of the Banco Popular's music specials, whose production started in 1993.

The Hunters and the Hunted: The Making of 'Predator 2'

The Hunters and the Hunted: The Making of 'Predator 2'

2005

as Self (archive footage)

6.0
Acting

The Hunters and the Hunted: The Making of Predator 2 is a 2005 documentary that details the production of the 1990 film Predator 2. Created for the Pr...

En mi país

En mi país

2004

as Rubén Blades

9.0
Acting

The illusion and joy of Christmas arrives from the four cardinal points of Latin America. The film recreates a typical Christmas party with Puerto Ric...

Secuestro Express

Secuestro Express

2004

as Carla's Father

6.4
Acting

Young couple Carla and Martin are abducted by three men and spend a terrifying night in Caracas as they wait for Carla's father to hand over the ranso...

Spin

Spin

2003

as Ernesto

6.0
Acting

"Spin" tells the story of a boy who loses his parents in a plane crash, is taken in by his uncle (Tucci), who then leaves him for ten years in the car...

Imagining Argentina

Imagining Argentina

2003

as Silvio Ayala

5.6
Acting

Set during the unsettling disappearances in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of the 1970s, the film involves theater director Carlos Rueda and his...

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

2003

as Jorge, Retired FBI Agent

6.3
Acting

A corrupt CIA agent Sands hires hitman El Mariachi to assassinate a Mexican general hired by a drug kingpin attempting a coup d'état of the President ...

Assassination Tango

Assassination Tango

2003

as Miguel

5.3
Acting

John J. is a seasoned hit man sent on a job to Argentina. When the General he's sent to kill delays his return to the country, John passes the time wi...

The Maldonado Miracle

The Maldonado Miracle

2003

as Cruz

4.7
Acting

A story about a small, dying town in need of hope until one day a young boy gives them something to believe in.

Encuentro

2002

Acting

The social vision of the lives of three Hispanic singer-songwriters who enjoy the favor of Puerto Rican public and Latin America is presented: Rubén B...

Empire

Empire

2002

Original Music Composer

6.0

Big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. ...

All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses

2000

as Rocha

5.7
Acting

The year is 1949. A young Texan named John Grady finds himself without a home after his mother sells the ranch where he has spent his entire life. Lur...

Cradle Will Rock

Cradle Will Rock

1999

as Diego Rivera

6.5
Acting

A true story of politics and art in the 1930s USA, centered around a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades - Live In Venezuela

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades - Live In Venezuela

1998

as Rubén Blades

Acting

Concert in Venezuela at the July 1998 under the AMNISTIA festival. Here Ruben forgets a part of the lyrics and the musicians, although they still play...

A Roll of the Dice: The Capeman on Broadway

1998

Acting

A made for TV documentary about the creation of Paul Simon and Derek Walcott's controversial and ultimately flop of a musical, "The Capeman". Explores...

Chinese Box

Chinese Box

1997

as Jim

5.9
Acting

The story of Hong Kong, from New Year's Day to June 30th, 1997, when the British left their colony and turned it over to the People's Republic of Chin...

From Son to Salsa

1997

Acting

A testimony about Afro-Cuban popular music from its origins to the present day.

The Devil's Own

The Devil's Own

1997

as Edwin Diaz

6.2
Acting

Frankie McGuire, one of the IRA's deadliest assassins, draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. But when he is sent to the U.S. to bu...

Al compás de un sentimiento: la música de Pedro Flores

1996

Acting

The music of the Puerto Rican composer Pedro Flores which was televised on Dec. 8, 1996.

Scorpion Spring

Scorpion Spring

1996

as Border Patrolman Sam Zaragosa

6.6
Acting

On the run from the law, desperate drug runner Astor and his beautiful prisoner struggle through the savage heat...

Somos un solo pueblo

Somos un solo pueblo

1995

as Self

Acting

Presents a bit of the history of the migration of our people, people who came out opening new horizons and looking for new destinations. During that a...

Color of Night

Color of Night

1994

as Hector

5.8
Acting

A color-blind psychiatrist is stalked by an unknown killer after taking over his murdered friend's therapy group and becomes embroiled in an intense a...

A Million to Juan

A Million to Juan

1994

as Bartender

5.4
Acting

Romantic comedy about an honest Mexican immigrant who struggles without a green card by selling oranges on a street corner. One day a limousine pulls ...

Miracle on Interstate 880

Miracle on Interstate 880

1993

as Pastor Beruman

4.9
Acting

A man attempts to rescue people trapped on the I-880 bridge after the top half collapses during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

The Super

The Super

1991

as Marlon

5.9
Acting

Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge giv...

Rabbit Ears - Joseph and His Brothers

1991

as Narrator (voice)

Acting

This is the touching story of Joseph, who is sold into slavery by his brothers yet later forgives their betrayal by saving them from famine. The mesme...

Crazy From the Heart

Crazy From the Heart

1991

as Ernesto Ontiveros

3.8
Acting

A small-town, high-school principal still living at home with her mother shakes up her life in a way that even she never expected when she agrees to g...

One Man’s War

One Man’s War

1991

as Perrone

6.8
Acting

Anthony Hopkins plays an English medical doctor living with his family in Paraguay and treating the poor people from the surroundings, who has his lif...

The Josephine Baker Story

The Josephine Baker Story

1991

as Count Giuseppe Pepito Abatino

6.0
Acting

Biography of the African-American who became a major performer in the Paris cabarets of the 1920s and 1930s. The film follows her life beginning as a ...

Predator 2

Predator 2

1990

as Danny Archuleta

6.3
Acting

A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next ...

The Two Jakes

The Two Jakes

1990

as Mickey Nice

6.0
Acting

Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for some run-of-the-mill matrimonial work. After Berman shoot...

Mo' Better Blues

Mo' Better Blues

1990

as Petey

6.5
Acting

Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he ...

Q & A

Q & A

1990

Original Music Composer

5.8

A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who...

The Heart of the Deal

1990

Acting

Short film directed by Marina Levikova and Yuri Neyman.

The Lemon Sisters

The Lemon Sisters

1989

as C.W.

4.6
Acting

Three life-long friends work the bars in 1980s Atlantic City performing the songs of the 1960s girl groups.

Disorganized Crime

Disorganized Crime

1989

as Carlos Barrios

5.4
Acting

Lou Diamond Phillips and Fred Gwynne team up with a gang of professional criminals who have everything it takes to rob a bank. The only things they do...

Dead Man Out

Dead Man Out

1989

as Ben

6.3
Acting

A psychiatrist is sent to evaluate if a convicted multiple murderer who's awaiting execution on Death Row for eighth year now and whose behavior durin...

Oliver & Company

Oliver & Company

1988

Songs

6.7

A young cat named Oliver is left alone in a kitten box, while all the other young cats have new owners. A big dog named Dodger shows him how to get fo...

The Story of Fausta

The Story of Fausta

1988

Music

6.0

An unhappily married cleaning woman in the slums of Rio entices all the money and gifts she can out of an elderly widower.

Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair

Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair

1988

Music

6.0

Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair is the third feature-length documentary produced by the Empowerment Project. The shadow government of assassins...

Homeboy

Homeboy

1988

as Doctor

4.9
Acting

Johnny Walker is a cowboy and a boxer. He is very shy and a bit of a fool. He is in love with Ruby, but he cannot tell her. He is also a bit old to ke...

The Milagro Beanfield War

The Milagro Beanfield War

1988

as Sheriff Bernabe Montoya

6.5
Acting

The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real ...

Fatal Beauty

Fatal Beauty

1987

as Carl Jimenez

5.5
Acting

Detective Rita Rizzoli is accustomed to donning costumes and going undercover to nail crooks. But she'll be required to use all of her get-ups and mor...

Critical Condition

Critical Condition

1987

as Louis

5.5
Acting

Eddie is a con artist. When he's framed and comes before a judge, he hopes to get off the hook by climbing insanity—but instead ends up in a hospital ...

The Return of Rubén Blades

The Return of Rubén Blades

1985

as himself

Acting

Robert Mugge's 1986 film provides a full-blooded portrait of the Latino singer, actor, bandleader, and composer. Blades' Panama homeland, his Harvard ...

Crossover Dreams

1985

as Rudy Veloz

5.7
Acting

Salsa singer screws over everybody on his way to the top; when his latest record flops, his career starts doing downhill.

The Making of Sun City

1985

as Self

Acting

Documentary Chronicling the making of Artists United Against Apartheid “Sun City”

Por los Caminos Verdes

Por los Caminos Verdes

1984

Music

In the city of gold as they call it, Palenque, Jean, Rose and Machete find themselves immersed in a marginal world trying to survive with the opportun...

Peter Knife

Peter Knife

1984

Songs

7.5

Based on the international hit song, Pedro Navaja (Peter the Knife) is the story of the coolest, street smart hustler ever to walk the streets of Mexi...

When the Mountains Tremble

When the Mountains Tremble

1983

Original Music Composer

9.5

A documentary on the war between the Guatemalan military and the Mayan population, with first hand accounts by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menc...

The Last Fight

The Last Fight

1983

as Andy "Kid" Clave

4.4
Acting

Singer-turned-boxer Andy 'Kid' Clave signs a contract with a shady promoter Joaquin Vargas. But Clave turns against Vargas when the promoter's thugs k...

Ligia Elena

1983

Music

An upper middle class white young girl leaves her suburban family in shock when she moves in with her lover, an Afro-Latino trumpeter.

Beats of the Heart: Salsa

Beats of the Heart: Salsa

1979

as Self

Acting

'Salsa' captures a unique moment in time for this most exuberant and socially dynamic music.