Edinburg man now lives in 'House' with Hugh Laurie
The Monitor
>>> Festiva's "Hometown Hollywood" tracks down the big names that have emerged from the Rio Grande Valley, as well as the rising stars who are bound to make us proud in the future.
The drive from Los Angles to Edinburg takes a little more than 24 hours to complete. It's the kind of long haul Lee Perez likes to take when he gets a chance to.
After all, life in L.A. can be intense. But working on the set of an Emmy-winning TV series is even more so.
Being a production assistant on Fox's House has taught the Edinburg North High School graduate a few things. Learning how to tolerate 14+-hour-days of running around set is the least of them.
In fact, Perez thrives on the pressure. It's the kind of activity he never quite found while in the Valley, he said.
He'd tried following the steps of dad, working in law offices in the area to get a taste of the career. It was a bitter one. He wanted more and knew that finding what he was looking for would require stepping out of his comfort zone, even when his parents told him he was crazy for dropping out of The University of Texas-Pan American after a year and a half and moving to Florida to attend technical film school.
"It's tough to have people understand that when you go out there it's a rat race. You gotta love it and be a little crazy to be in this business. If you're a lot crazy, you have a better chance," he said.
Sucking up to the big wigs also gets you to the top. But that's where he draws the line.
"In this industry people like you to kiss their (expletive), suck up to them and feel like they're Gods. I'm not going to do that unless I respect you. If I respect you, you have my admiration you have everything," he said. "But if you don't, you're just another person to me."
Perez's three brothers and parents still live in the Valley. He returns during breaks and television hiatus time to decompress and relax on the sprawl of land where his family home sits. He misses the stars in LA, he said.
But as much as he enjoys the ease of life in the area, he remembers after a few days here why he left. He gets agitated quickly and likes to remain active.
In the future, he wants to bring a movie production down to the Valley. He first needs to assemble a team in LA and secure funding. It could take a while, but like any seemingly long road before him, Perez says he is in it for the long haul.
All About LEE PEREZ
Age: 24
Hometown: Edinburg
Graduated from: Edinburg North High School, 2003
Where he lives now: Los Angeles, two years
Job: Production assistant on House
Also worked on: Last Comic Standing, America's Funniest Home Videos and Beauty and the Geek
On meeting actor Hugh Laurie for the first time: "To be honest, I'd never seen an episode of House before I started working on it. ... But I walk in and Hugh Laurie is just standing there and he said 'hey.' That's the first time I ever got star struck. And I don't get star struck. But it's Hugh Laurie. The guy is a big guy. He's a tall, good-looking fella, and very polite. A lot of other shows have this rule that you don't talk to the stars, you don't talk to the actors, you don't talk to anybody unless they talk to you, so I didn't want to say anything. I just said 'Hi.' My boss later said, ‘You know, you can say hi to him. He doesn't mind. We're not that kind of show.' ... I still don't know what to say sometimes, but he's very proper. So you say 'Good morning' instead of just 'hey.' And when you say 'Good morning, how are you?' He prefers that. If you show him courtesy, he starts up, 'how are you doing? How's the family?' and asking you questions."
On the real side of some stars: Being in L.A., Perez has had a chance to work around many actors and has friends who work on different TV show sets. That inside view has given him a glance at some stars' true personalities. "Sometimes they (TV show stars) are blunt and say, 'I don't want to talk to you,'" he said. "They look at you, they give you the stink eye and are just 'Hmm, you're nothing to me. You're a pee-on. Get away from me. Don't touch me.' ... You could see them on TV and think they're the nicest person in the world and you meet them in real life and you're like, 'Oh my God, that person is evil. He or she is the spawn of Satan.'"
Oh House as a TV show: "It's a great show. The character development is amazing. The relationships between the characters are so real. And House, he's just a complex character. There are so many layers to him. And how he loves everyone around him so much, he just can't show it. But it's just not his character. He tries to, it's just not him."
His TV recommendation: "Watch the Battlestar Galactica. That's a show that's about characters. It's not the robotics and spaceship battles. It's about these heroes, these people, the last surviving people in this world and they all come together to try to survive. ... I watched the whole 4.5 seasons before the finale before I wanted to see it. It's a brilliant, brilliant show."
On choosing gigs: While many TV fans dream of working up close and personal with their favorite stars, Perez said it could be a bittersweet experience. As a devout fan of NBC's Chuck, he said he'd refrain from working on it if possible because a behind the scenes perspective often ruins shows. "I hear it's a really great show to work on, but it takes away from the magic. And the people, if you see what that person is behind the scenes, it takes away from it," he said. "Everyone I work with says not to work on a show that you enjoy and like to watch."
Best advice for the LA-bound: Get experience. "I get résumès from friends who go out there and they have nothing. It's all, 'I was a secretary at a law firm' or ... 'I worked at a movie theater.' ... You have to have some experience otherwise they toss your resume in the trash."
Long-term goal: While TV gigs pay the bills, Perez eventually wants to produce, write and direct his own pictures. "I want to actually bring something down to the Valley. People have made movies in the Valley, but I want to show the Valley. The architecture, the Rio Grande, you can't create that on a back lot."
Click the links below to read more Hometown Hollywood profiles.
* STEVEN ESCOBAR: TV editor went from Edinburg to Emmy Awards
* NOEL GUERRA Brownsville boy is behind your favorite TV shows
* MIKE ZEPEDA Former Mustang got his big break in 'Prison'
* LAUREL ST. ROMAIN 'Gossip Girl' makes McAllen fashionista the talk of the town
* DR. NOEL OLIVEIRA: Edinburg physician finds 2nd career on primetime television
* JOSH WISE: Mission actor starred in films, TV with Hilary Duff, 'Gossip Girl''s Penn Badgley
* SHELBIE BRUCE: Valley girl in 'Spanglish' is now an L.A. woman
* LINDSAY GRAHAM: Sharyland grad helped cast Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler
* CARLOS MORENO: San Juan actor had roles in Transformers, ER
* ENRIQUE CASTILLO: A South Texan who wrote music in Will Smith's new film, Seven Pounds
* VERONICA LOREN: A McAllen actress and singer who's sweeping 2008's indie awards
* LIZ RAMOS: A McAllen dancer who taught Brad Pitt to tango
* ERIC HAHN: A clown at the Nolana IHOP who did stuntwork in 'Platoon,' 'Delta Force'
* MANDO ALVARADO: San Juan actor shared scene with strippers, Doogie Hauser
* RICK DEL CASTILLO: A Brownsville rocker who found a knack for screenwriting
* RAUL CASTILLO: A McHi grad who has acted and studied with Philip Seymour Hoffman
* TANYA SARACHO: A Valley playwright who is hot in Chicago
* DAVID BARRERA: A San Juan native who was in an NYPD Blue episode everybody saw
* MICHAEL RAY ESCAMILLA: A writer, actor, director and producer from Pharr
* MARISA QUINTANILLA: A McAllen Memorial grad who was in Road House 2
* FAUSTO CUEVAS: A Brownsville drummer who has toured with Britney Spears and Stevie Wonder
* GABRIEL PENA: An Edinburg North grad who does Matrix-style stuntwork
