Matt Cedeño
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Matt Cedeño (born November 14, 1974) is a Cuban-American actor and former male fashion model.
He was born in Moses Lake, Washington to an African-Cuban father and an Irish-English mother and he starred in the American soap opera Days of Our Lives.
Before becoming an actor he was a runway and magazine model in Italy, Spain and the US for various high-fashion designers including Versace. Matt played a young boxer in the feature film Price of Glory (Jimmy Smits plays the same character years later) and also appeared in the movie The Suburbans with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ben Stiller.
He has been nominated three years in a row for an ALMA award as Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama for his work as Brandon Walker on NBC's Days of Our Lives.
El Pollo Loco's most recent marketing efforts feature Cedeño playing a character named El Caliente. This has drawn fire from Chicano advocacy groups who claim that the ads depict a stereotypical view of Latinos. Generally, however, El Caliente is seen as less offensive than previous Latino mascots such as the Frito Bandito.
Cedeño is also involved with helping "Padres Contra El Cancer," which is an organization devoted to helping economically disadvantaged Latino families in Los Angeles County whose children have been diagnosed cancer, most of whom are terminal.
