Raymond Arrieta
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Raymond Arrieta (born March 26, 1965 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is considered by many to be one of Puerto Rico's greatest comedians.
Arrieta was born and raised in Puerto Rico's Capital, San Juan. He went to school in the "Academia Nuestra Señora de la Providencia" (Our Lady of the Providence). When he was in the third grade, Arrieta volunteered to play the part of "Ramoneta Cienfurgos" in a school play. After that he continued to participate in many of the other plays of the school. He wrote and directed "Mundo Loco" (Crazy World), which told a story about a war between the lovers of "Salsa music" against the lovers of "Rock music".
After Arrieta graduated from high school, he enrolled in the "Universidad del Sagrado Corazon" (University of the Sacred Heart) of San Juan, where he earned a Bachelors Degree in "Radio and Television Production". There, he joined Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity.
On one occasion, Arrieta and some friends visited the café theater "El Punto del Coqui" located in "Old San Juan". He sat down and played the piano while doing imitations. The owner of the club was impressed and asked Arrieta to prepare an act for his club. Arrieta prepared an act called "Black and White" which was a success and he was soon traveling around the island with his "show".
In 1988, Arrieta already had his own radio show and was also participating in Telemundo's "Estudio Alegre" (Happy Studio);"El Show del Medio Día" (The Noon Show) for WAPA among others. He landed a role in the Spanish version of the play "The Diary of Anne Frank".
In 1991, Arrieta went to Mexico where he participated in the play "Mama ama el Rock" (Mother loves Rock) with Mexican stars Angelica María and Angelica Vale. That year, he also co-hosted the T.V. show "Lente Loco" ("Crazy Lens"), a Candid Camera-style show with the Cuban model Odalys Garcia.
Later in the ninties, he got his own show "Que Vacilón" aired in prime time through WAPA. In this comedy show of sketches and stand-ups, he bringed to life, along with other local talents, a bunch of peculiar characters who gained inmense popularity in the Puertorrican pop culture, like the clown Trompetilla, a grumpy clown with a kind of fraudulet circus; and Andresito a kind of Dennis the Menace little boy. Many consider this period to be the peak of his career.
Arrieta had his own T.V. show in Puerto Rico called "El Show de Raymond". Which was transmitted through Televicentro and Wapa TV. Puerto Rican comedian, Jose Miguel Agrelot once said, that Raymond Arrieta was the greatest comedian of the "new" generation.
In 1983, Our Lady of the Providence Academy established the "Raymond Arrieta Award" which is annually awarded to the student with the best artistic qualities.
