California born Rick Najera started his artistic career as an actor. He is an award-winning actor-writer-director-producer with credits in film, television, theatre and Broadway. Early in his career, he was inspired and mentored by Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, Keenen Ivory Wayans and comedian Cheech Marin. Realizing there were few roles for him to play, he took matters into his own hands and started writing his way into Hollywood, and landed his first big writing gig on In Living Color. Rick Najera is one of three Latinos in the history of Broadway to write and star in his own show. Najera made his Broadway debut in 2005 with his award-winning sketch comedy show, Latinologues (TM), the longest running and only showcase of its kind for Latinos in America. Najera penned the holiday film Nothing Like the Holidays starring Debra Messing, Alfred Molina and John Leguizamo, which won him an Alma Award. He was also honored with two WGA nominations for his writing on MADtv. Najera has been honored twice as 100 Most Influential Latinos in America along with several other awards. Rick Najera's fourth book was released in 2013, Almost White: Forced Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood garnering a press tour and five-star reviews on Amazon.com. Rick Najera is the director of the annual CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase going on 12 years. Rick Najera is a regular contributor to NPR radio and is also a professional speaker (The World Bank, Google, Harvard Law School, Wellesley College, Stanford, CBS, CNN, Al Jazeera, UCLA and more). He is the writer of the multi-Emmy nominated Hulu original series, East Los High and producer of talk show, Latino Thought Makers.
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Biography from TMDB.
- Actor and writer, also producer and director
- 14 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
What are Rick Najera's films like?
Across their 7 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 4
Light 4 · Serious 1 · Dark 0
Grounded 4 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 1 · Charged 4 · Intense 0
Steady 1 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 0
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 3
Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 0
Casual 5 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 3 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 0
Resolved 5 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Roles they play
- Shadowas Calavera in Red Surf (1989)
Moods and endings
- Happy3
- Bittersweet4
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Rick Najera's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 11 of their 14 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Rick Najera's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
21 credits, 14 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Feliz NaviDAD(2020)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all films
Taco Shop(2018)
Midcredits score: 7th percentile of all films
American Lowrider(2010)
Midcredits score: 12th percentile of all films
Legally Brown (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Maria Costa's Macho Men and the Women Who Love Them (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all films
Comics Without Borders(2008)
Midcredits score: 16th percentile of all shows (provisional, few ratings)
Universal Remote (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Pledge This!(2006)
Midcredits score: 5th percentile of all films
TV: The Movie(2006)
Midcredits score: 5th percentile of all films
A Day Without a Mexican(2004)
Midcredits score: 18th percentile of all films
The West Wing(1999)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
Spicy City (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all shows
Floundering (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)
Bakersfield P.D. (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
Red Surf(1989)
Midcredits score: 4th percentile of all films
China Beach(1988)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Falcon Crest(1981)
Midcredits score: 17th percentile of all shows
Columbo (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1971)
Career shape
Star power in the 4th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 20 titles from 1971 to 2020.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Rick Najera's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 10th percentile, the median of all 8; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 11th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th1
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th8
Shape of the crowd
6 of their 14 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved2
- Universally Panned1
- Divisive2
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Mixed6
Reviewers score the acting 61/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles; fans 71, detractors 46. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Rick Najera work with?
People who share at least 2 of Rick Najera's MovieCove titles; Felipe Esparza shares the most, 2.
- Felipe EsparzaShared titles: Taco Shop (2018), Comics Without Borders (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Felipe Esparza
