Born in Panamá City, Panamá, Carlos has appeared as an actor in films, television and theater, including on and off Broadway as well as at many U.S. regional theaters. He has co-starred in such feature films as Speed (Gigantor), and Blood In Blood Out (Popeye), along with Crocodile Dundee II, The Burning Season, The Fisher King, Parker, One Man’s Hero and Double Take. He is currently co-starring in Turnover, a film which is winning awards at prestigious festivals around the country. Later this year, audiences can catch Carrasco starring in the horror film Diablo Rojo, his first role in a film shot on location in Panama. On television, he has been a guest on many prime-time series, including HBO’s Insecure and Looking, Gang Related, CSI, Star Trek: Voyager, The Steve Harvey Show, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and ER.
As a filmmaker, Carlos has traveled the festival circuit with two award-winning dramatic shorts: One and Honesty, Pencil, Rose; as well as the documentary Art Galleries and Back Alleys, cataloging the transformation of a hybrid vehicle into a Chicano work of art. He is currently in production on a new short film written by Manny Rey, a frequent collaborator.
Carrasco is the founder of the Panama International Film Festival in Los Angeles. In its 5th year, the festival, also known as Panafest, is a celebration of cinema, culture and community. The inspiration for the annual event was Carrasco’s desire to recognize the growth of filmmaking in Panama and to bridge that creative community with Latinx filmmakers from the US and around the world. Panafest 2019 will be at The Downtown Independent Los Angeles October 18, 19 and 20th.
For ten consecutive years, Carlos was the Executive Producer and Director of the annual creative awards show for Advertising Age and the Association of Hispanic Advertising honoring the best achievements in Hispanic Advertising in the United States. Prior to that he was Executive Director of HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors) an arts service organization headquartered in New York where he also served as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts.
Carlos began his theatrical training at the Canal Zone College in Panamá and earned an acting scholarship to Stephens College in Missouri where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater. A year at the University of Illinois earned him a Master's Degree, followed by three years on an acting fellowship at Wayne State University where, as a member of the Hilberry Classic Theater, he appeared in a wide range of classical roles. In New York he appeared on Broadway in the Circle-In-The-Square's production of The National Health and worked at such regional theaters as The Hartford Stage Co., Stage West, The Alliance Theater, The Arizona Theater Co., The Folger Theater, Shakespeare & Co. and The American Shakespeare Theater and with New York companies The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, INTAR, Theater for a New Audience and The New York Shakespeare Festival.
