Early life

Garcia was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Dora Mesa, is a Cuban-born professor, and his father, Humberto Garcia, is a Chilean-born doctor. He grew up in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California and went to San Clemente High School. He wrestled in high school, where he was given the nickname "Baby-Faced Killer". As a senior, he was selected by the faculty as "Triton of the Year", the highest award given to a graduating senior.

Garcia graduated from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1995 as a Communication Studies major. He also studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school.

Career

Garcia spent six years working at Borders Books and Music while auditioning. He was in a few commercials during that time. He later said that his first taste of street recognition came from starring in a Jack in the Box commercial which was aired frequently on local television. He began landing roles in television and film, but his career really took off when he played the role of Hugo Reyes (Hurley) in the television series Lost.

Garcia was the first actor to be cast on Lost after the producers saw him on Curb Your Enthusiasm the night before casting began, and created the character of Hugo Reyes specifically for him. García appeared in the second episode of the eighth season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, where he lost to Michael Ian Black. He was a contestant on an episode of Russian Roulette on Game Show Network. He missed a question about the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and fell through the trap door.

Garcia is scheduled to star in the movie When We Were Pirates, for which he is also an associate producer. In the independent film, he will play a man named Jerry, who along with a group of close friends, learn that their childhood love of playing pirates helps them overcome some of the difficulties they face later in their lives. He is also seen singing in the studio for the upcoming project on an officially released YouTube clip. During Lost's run, Garcia wrote a blog about the show called Dispatches from the Island. He also hosted a weekly podcast, Geronimo Jack's Beard, in which he discussed the script of Season 6 along with his then girlfriend Bethany Leigh Shady.

Garcia is also featured on the front cover of Weezer's album Hurley, released on September 10, 2010. The album is named after his character from Lost. He performed as a guest vocalist at several Weezer concerts in 2010.

On 21 November 2010, Entertainment Weekly announced that Garcia was cast in the upcoming U.S. television series Alcatraz. On 23 November 2010, Garcia made a guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother's episode "Blitzgiving". In the episode, references are made to Garcia's time on Lost.

In 2011, Garcia appeared as a recurring character in Mr. Sunshine, portraying a caretaker at the Sunshine Center. Starting in January 2012, Garcia portrayed Dr. Diego Soto, an Alcatraz expert, in the FOX series, Alcatraz. The show was a mid-season replacement for Fox's Terra Nova. Despite an impressive start, the series was officially cancelled by Fox on May 9, 2012, due to dropping viewership throughout its run. Garcia appeared on The Nerdist podcast posted June 18, 2012.

In 2013, Garcia played Steve Wozniak in the parody film, iSteve, produced for the Funny or Die website.

After appearing as a guest star in several season four episodes of Hawaii Five-0, Garcia who plays the character of Jerry Ortega will be promoted to series regular commencing season five.

In 2015, he joined the cast of The Healer starring with British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Camilla Luddington and Jonathan Pryce.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Raven's Ridge	Monty
1999	Tomorrow by Midnight	Jay
2000	King of the Open Mics	Meatloag
2002	The Slow and the Cautious	Teddy	Short film
2003	Tales from the Crapper	Racoon Head	Direct-to-video
2004	Our Time Is Up	Gardener	Short film
2005	The Good Humor Man	Mt. Rushmore
2005	Little Athens	Pedro
2006	Deck the Halls	Wallace
2007	Sweetzer	Sergio
2011	Maktub	Carlos
2014	Cooties	Rick
2015	The Wedding Ringer	Lurch / Garvey
2015	The Healer	Father Malloy
2015	The Ridiculous 6	Herm
2016	Get a Job	Fernando (janitor)	Filming
2016	Rock Dog	Germur	Post-Production

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	The Wild Thornberrys	Ricardo (Voice)	Episode: "Spirited Away"
2001	Spin City	Taxi Driver	Episode: "The Arrival"
2003	Old School	Jorge	TV movie
2003	Columbo	Julius	Episode: "Columbo Likes the Nightlife"
2003	Rock Me Baby	Vizzy	Episode: "Would I Lie to You?"
2003-04	Becker	Hector Lopez	13 episodes
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Drug Dealer	Episode: "The Car Pool Lane"
2005	Higglytown Heroes	Dog Trainer Hero (Voice)	Episode: "Me and My Shadow/Out to Sea"
2004-10	Lost	Hugo "Hurley" Reyes	114 episodes ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Series (2006) ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Television Series (2008) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006) Nominated — ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Television Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie (2007) Nominated — Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor - Television (2007) Nominated — Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor - Television (2008) Nominated — Imagen Award for Best Actor - Television Nominated — Scream Award for Best Ensemble (2009) Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick (2005) Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Performance - Male (2005) Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick (2006) Nominated — Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Sidekick (2007)
2010, 2014	How I Met Your Mother	Steve (The Blitz)	Episodes: "Blitzgiving" and "Gary Blauman"
2011	Mr. Sunshine	Bob Bobinson Bobert	3 Episodes: "Pilot," "Hostile Workplace" and "The Assistant"
2011	Fringe	Kevin	Episode: "Os"
2012	Alcatraz	Dr. Diego Soto	13 episodes
2012	Phineas and Ferb	Rodrigo (Voice)	Episode: "Minor Monogram"
2012-13	Once Upon a Time	Anton, the Giant	3 Episodes: "Tallahassee," "Tiny" and "Lacey"
2013	The Ordained	Carlos	TV Movie
2013	Californication	Drug Dealer	2 Episodes: "Rock and a Hard Place" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen"
2013	Maggie	Gaspar	2 Episodes: "Gaspar, the Friendly A.D.S.A." and "Gaspar, the Ambiguous"
2013	iSteve	Steve Wozniak	Internet Movie
2013-present	Hawaii Five-0	Jerry Ortega	Season 4 recurring, Season 5-present main cast
2014	Food Truck	Kyle	TV Movie

[ Source: Wikipedia ]