Jackie Torres

Jackie Torres is a Puerto Rican actress, writer, director and producer who gained notoriety while producing the top shows Marcano...El Show and Con lo que cuenta este pais in her native Puerto Rico and La Hora Lunatica in Los Angeles California, all for the Telemundo Television Network. Her move to Los Angeles introduced her to the cinema world. She directed the urban films The Price of the American Dream & East LA King for Laguna Productions and Crossing Frontiers for her own company Jakmar Entertainment. As an actress she has acted in over 20 films and TV series including After Words, Torchwood,ER,The District, Miss Castaway, Blood Relatives, and El Güero Estrada.

In the summer of 1982, Barker's, once a giant of the department stores in USA, wanted to avoid closing its doors in Puerto Rico and launched a media campaign that covered TV, radio and press entitled: "La Nueva Era de Barkers" (Barkers New Era). This campaign put then teenager actress, "Jackie Torres", alongside TV personality "Pedro Zervigón". "Barkers" eventually closed its doors in Puerto Rico but this massive advertising campaign made "Torres" a very recognizable face everywhere and reaffirmed her decision to get a bachelor's degree in Radio, Television & Film from the "University of Maryland at College Park" in the United States. She then returned to Puerto Rico to get a master's degree in Public Communications from the "University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras". While still getting her master's degree, she worked for "Cedme Televisión", the University of Puerto Rico's provider of programming for "WIPR Channel 6", the channel of the government of Puerto Rico. She produced TV special "Estampas Navideñas" for WIPR. A year later, on 1989, "Torres" moved to another local channel in Puerto Rico, channel 13. There, she became one of Puerto Rico's first VJs (Video Jockey – term popularized by MTV) when she hosted "TVS" (Talent, Video & Sound) where she interviewed the top rock bands of Puerto Rico. 6 months later, in 1990, Telemundo, the number one TV station of Puerto Rico at the time, hired her. In Telemundo, "Torres" produced, wrote & acted in top rated variety show Marcano... el show which soon became the first show from Puerto Rico to be aired in the United States through the Telemundo Network. Several Latin stars, including Ricky Martin and "Olga Tañon", made their first solo appearance in "Marcano...El Show". Radio personalities "Héctor Marcano" & "Funky Joe", along a live band and actors "Wilfred Morales" & "Jackie Torres" welcomed top international stars "Vanilla Ice", "José Feliciano", "Ricardo Montaner", "Juan Luis Guerra y su 4–40", "Yuri", "Pandora", "Daniela Romo", "Carlos Vives", "José José", "Ednita Nazario", "Menudo" and many others. In 1991, while still producing "Marcano…El Show," "Jackie Torres" became the producer & played a recurring role in another TV show: Con Lo Que Cuenta Este País. The daily half-hour sitcom, also aired in Telemundo, won the top spot among young audiences and the second spot in national ratings, only preceded by the other TV show produced by "Jackie Torres", "Marcano…El Show". In 1991, while still producing "Marcano…El Show" & "Con lo que cuenta este país", Torres produced another show for Telemundo: "Videoteces" (Puerto Rico’s version of America’s funniest videos). "Videoteces", immediately took a spot among the top ten rated shows in Puerto Rico but the show was short-lived because of the high costs of producing it. It was up to "Torres" to produce a cost-efficient concept and in the summer of 1993 the top rated TV documentaries "Pequeños… Grandes Lecciones" (Little ones…Big lessons) a series of documentaries about kids who have done exceptional deeds, was written, directed & produced by "Jackie Torres". Many other TV specials & live events, including "De plaza en plaza con Coca-Cola" (from town to town with Coca-Cola) were also produced by Torres. By 1994, Torres was set on reaching a wider audience and headed to New York to complete the acting program of "Herbert Berghoff Studios". A year later, in 1995, she moved to Los Angeles, California to produce another TV show for the Telemundo Network.

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