Franc. Reyes Biography

Franc. Reyes grew up in the South Bronx, and began his career as a dancer and choreographer. He made his feature film acting debut playing Luis in the hip-hop classic Beat Street (1984), produced by Harry Belafonte. At about this time, Reyes began to get work as a choreographer.

By 1990, Reyes had added one more talent to his already considerable list: writing songs. Only two years later, he had two top 10 singles to his credit: Lisette Melendez's Together Forever and A Day In My Life Without You for Def Jam/Columbia Records. He established King Reyes Music and signed a partnership deal with EMI Publishing.

In 1993, when Reyes was asked to stage the club sequences for Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way, the experience inspired him to write film scripts. One of his screenplays was a short called In The Deep South, which he also directed. Reyes followed that up with a feature-length script, Empire (2002), as well as songs for the accompanying soundtrack. He also directed the film, which was based on his life growing up in the South Bronx. It took Reyes seven years of knocking on doors and asking for financing before he could get it produced. The effort proved worth it though, as it was shown at the Sundance and the Moscow Film Festivals, and Reyes went on to win the "Emerging Filmmaker Award" at the ALMAs (American Latino Media Arts Awards), while the star of his film, John Leguizamo, received Entertainer of the Year award.

Filmography:

The Ministers (2009)

Illegal Tender (2007)

Empire (2002)