Luis Daniel Rivera

Luis Daniel Rivera (born August 4, 1946, in Utuado, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican actor and radio announcer. He is better known for his participation in Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic and Mexican telenovelas. He has also participated in some films.

Rivera is also a former member of the New Progressive Party or "PNP", a political party which advocates for a possible, future Puerto Rican statehood (as a 51st state of the United States). Rivera, however, says that, since retiring as a member of that party, he prefers not to talk publicly about political issues or ideologies.

Early life Rivera was born on August 4, 1946, in Utuado. He is the son of David Rivera Serrano, who was a farmer. Rivera's father was ill, and as a consequence, Rivera wanted, as a child, to study medicine so he could cure his father's illnesses. When he was only six years old, Rivera got the chance to speak in front of an audience for the first time, when asked to read a poem in front of his first-grade schoolmates. In 1977, Rivera acted in the Mexican film "Santo en Oro Negro" ("Santo in Black Gold"), alongside legendary Mexican Lucha Libre wrestler, Santo.

During 1983, Rivera accepted an offer by Chilean producer Valentín Pimstein to work in Mexico, on a telenovela named "La Fiera" ("The Wild One"), where Rivera worked alongside legendary Mexican actors Guillermo Capetillo and Victoria Ruffo, among others. La Fiera was a major hit in Mexico, Peru and Brazil, giving Rivera international exposure in those countries.

Ever since, he has been semi-retired from acting, due in part to Puerto Rican television networks down-scaling the number of telenovelas produced in the Caribbean island beginning in the late 1980s. Rivera later became a politician for the statehood-claiming New Progressive Party, but he has since retired from that as well and taken a basic non-political standing every time he is asked about politics on interviews ever since. He has returned to acting from time to time.

In addition, Rivera was involved with a project named el "Projecto Dramatico Radial de la Corporacion de Puerto Rico Para la Difusion Publica" (the "Puerto Rican Corporation For Public Diffusion's Radio-Drama Project"), which was a project aimed at giving Puerto Rican actors and others indirectly involved in the acting profession (such as directors, technicians, make-up artists and the such) steady work. He claims to have proposed the project to then governor Rafael Hernandez Colon at first, but that it was the next governor, Pedro Rosselló, who finally accepted it. As part of that project, many shows, such as comedies, radionovelas and other dramatic shows were produced.

He supported Pedro Rosselló for governor of Puerto Rico in the 1992 Puerto Rico elections.