Questions for Eric Esparza

1. Your current film project

Waco: The Aftermath (It will be airing on Paramount + /// You can find the first season on Amazon Prime Video)

I am playing Defense Attorney Joe Turner where I am a Recurring “Top of Show Guest Star” where I will be featured in every episode. I am part of a legal defense team led by Giovanni Ribisi who is known for his work in Sneaky Pete, Ted, The Boiler Room, and Saving Private Ryan. The character that I am playing is one of the attorneys that represented surviving members of the Branch Davidians in the fallout of the Waco, TX tragedy that spurred on a series of American tragedies.

2. Your connection to Gallup

I was born and mostly raised in Gallup. I attended Jefferson Elementary, JFK Middle School, and Gallup High School. I played sports throughout my time at Gallup. At the Las Cruces Invitational, I was recruited to play on the traveling baseball team Nataani out of Farmington after posting the highest batting average in the state for most of my junior year which started a tradition of Gallup baseball players going up to Farmington to play baseball in the summer. I graduated from Gallup High in 2005 and moved on to attain my undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico where I also studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, and Guadalajara, Mexico. Upon my college graduation, I spent a summer working in the communications department of the National Science Foundation in Washington DC before eventually moving on to teaching English in Valencia, Spain for a school year. My time spent in Spain inspired me to move back to Gallup to teach at Turpen Elementary and Miyamura High School to serve my community and hometown. During my time working as a teacher in Gallup, I worked alongside the City of Gallup, community members, and my family in planting trees in front of the Pepsi plant, downtown, at the Dog Park, and at the tennis courts at Ford Canyon. I am the son of Kenneth “Tinker” Esparza, Rebecca Wall-Stauder and Michael Stauder.

3. Your achievements in the field of acting.

I started acting at a very early age alongside my brothers and friends by impersonating celebrities and tinkering with accents. I always knew I wanted to be an actor and moved on from my baseball career to pursue Acting in college which was a shock to my coaches, family, and friends. In the past 16 years, I have acted in several student films, independent films, local and national commercials, regional New Mexico commercials, a music video, and a web series that amassed over a billion views on Facebook. This hustle allowed me to improve my craft through hands-on learning. My Acting career began to shift to larger productions in the past two years where I booked two feature films that fell through due to all the chaos the COVID-19 pandemic brought. In the past year, I appeared on The Cleaning Lady on Fox where I had played a Spanish-speaking Waiter in the episode titled “Full-on Gangsta”. I have also been featured as a 70s Police Officer in a documentary titled The Evil Good which aired on the Hillsong Channel. Having the opportunity to play Joe Turner in Waco: The Aftermath is by far the biggest opportunity I’ve had to date. It’s been amazing to work alongside Directors Drew and John Erick Dowdle and observe such a talented group of filmmakers, storytellers and actors. I love watching the magic behind the camera happen. There is so much that goes into telling stories on film. I have learned so much from Giovanni Ribisi, David Costabile, Michael Shannon, John Hoogenakker, John Leguizamo, and all the other uber-talented actors I’ve worked on this project with. I’m proud to be part of the film community and learn from my peers and colleagues. Acting and film is my passion and I’m excited to experience the process that this new opportunity will provide for me. My parents instilled work ethic and drive in me at an early age. They also encouraged me to pursue my dreams and I’m thankful for that. These values gave me the ability to fail and try again which is necessary when pursuing a career in film acting. I’m also proud to have been raised in Gallup which prides itself on its blue-collar values, its diversity, and its art.

MAY 6

Team Forever Bengals Relay For Life Yard Sale

9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Corner of Mesa and Cliff

Contact: Pam (505) 870-6205

MAY 7

Birdhouse Auction at Sammy

C’s Sports Pub & Grill

Relay For Life Ups & Downs

Team Fundraiser

Starting at 6:00 pm

Come early to Preview and select your favorites

Contact: Linda Shelton (505) 297-9515 / Joyce Graves (505) 862-1457

MAY 11

Creative Economy Day

• “Starting a Business 101”