Vince Romo: A Chicano Star

Credit to Mario A.Cortez

MundoTheMovie.com

Born in Pico Rivera, California, Vince Romo grew up in a loving home and had a typical upbringing. However, after his parents divorced, Vince’s life took a nasty turn, leading him down a life path full of danger and destructive choices.

One day, however, Vince had a revelation that turned his life around.

“I didn’t want to continue to live on a path that was going to either put me either in prison for the rest of my life or leave me dead,” Vince told La Prensa San Diego. “I got to a point in my life where I wanted to go home to a beautiful wife and a beautiful family. I wanted to have have my own car and my own home one day.”

“I wanted the good things in life,” Vince declared.

With faith in God and a new mentality, Vince decided to pursue his dreams and ambitions through music and acting.

“Music is my first love and I have had the opportunity to travel and improve my life thanks to music,” Romo shared.

Romo became an accomplished musician, having toured and performed throughout Chicano rap hubs in California, Arizona, and Texas under the stage name Assassin. Romo has had extensive tours and has performed alongside major acts such as DMX.

One day an opportunity to appear in a film came up for Romo, who had not been on screen at that point.

“I got my start in acting thanks to a gentleman by the name of Ken Diaz,” Romo said. “[Diaz] called me up one day and told me to be at a movie shoot at 4:30 a.m. and I almost didn’t go.”

Romo’s first experience on set was for “Training Day”, which starred Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. His five-day experience opened many doors for him years later despite taking a hiatus from acting to pursue his musical career.

Years later, Romo was contacted by Brian Eric Johnson, a movie producer who wanted to use one of his songs in a movie. Romo agreed on the condition that he be cast into the film. Johnson obliged and made Romo a cast member of the 2013 film “Mobster”.

Since then, Vince Romo has appeared and collaborated in over 40 feature films.

Romo’s hard work has paid off, as he was chosen to play the lead role in the upcoming crime drama film “Mundo”.

“‘Mundo’ is a true story about Ramon ‘Mundo’ Mendoza, who rose very high in the ranks of a prison gang,” Romo explained.

Despite becoming earning respect and recognition as a musician and an actor, Romo’s most important and personal work is currently being done with youth.

Through a program he has developed, Romo has taken up speaking to young people in troubled communities about the dangers of making destructive decisions in life.

“I have been at Santa Maria High School in Santa Maria, California and at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, California to show youngsters two paths in life. We all have a choice, we can choose to prosper or we can choose to fail,” Romo stated.

“Youngsters have come up to me in tears and said that I have changed their lives,” Romo said. “I just try to bring the reality of living a bad path of life to them.”

The future looks bright for Romo, as he lives his life by doing three things that are very important to him: Working hard, staying humble, and trusting God.

Cedar Films Presents “Mundo”, starring Vince Romo, premieres on July 22.