Marlon Rhoden

Aloha & Welcome: My name is Marlon Rhoden; I was born on November 8, 1963, in a town of Port Limon, San Jose, Costa Rica, a country in Central America. I remember there was a time when most people had not known where Costa Rica was. Costa Rica sits between two oceans, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, or what we used to call it, was the "Caribbean side". Where I lived in Limon, it was very tropical; we had an array of beautiful birds, rain forest, volcano's, scenic trails and beaches, as far as the eye could see. Limon was also agricultural, coffee was imported and exported, we grew banana, cocoa beans, pineapple, sugarcane, coconuts, mango's, avocado's etc. I guess in their minds, Costa Rica was just a 3rd world country.

My grandfather was born in Kingston, Jamaica and migrated to Costa Rica in the late 30's, where he met and married my grandmother, and had three daughters. One of those daughters became my mother. My mother was studying nursing at the local college, when she met my father, a young college professor, they fell in love, and thus I came in to this world. Although my parents were never married, they both shared in my upbringing. My father was a strict educator and a scholar, he taught me values and that education was always first. Costa Rica took pride in education, it was their top priority. I not only learned to speak two languages, I also learned to read and write in two languages as well.

My grandmother was the strong matriarch in the family, she also took a great deal in my upbringing, although she was not rich, she was rich in spirit and love. My grandparents were farmers; they had a market stall, selling fruits and vegetables. I remember times when we would wake up at 4am, to catch the train to get to the farm, if the train was full; our transportation was a mule or a donkey. Life in Costa Rica was very poor, so after college, my mother left to America for a better life and at the age of 10 I also, was sent to America.

In the 80's, I got involved with acting in high school and started doing plays that lead to several off Broadway shows in New York City. In 1996, I made my first (Feature) film debut in a surf drama called, "In God Hand's", playing the role of the sheriff's assistant. The following year, I worked as a "Set Production Assistant" on the set of "George of the Jungle", and also securing a scene in the movie, as being in the line-up as one of the persons that shot "George". In 1997, we shot a pilot for "Hawaii Five-0" (CBS), the same year I did a rock video for my Manager/Teacher, Lisa Seagram, called "Paradise Pictures".

Other projects I did in 1997 ware, "Mighty Joe Young" and "Godzilla", in which I played one the National Guards, and also working on the set as a Production Assistant. In 1998, I played a scene as an African American Tourist, in a weekly show, shown in Japan called "Hotel"., that same year, I was also was in the re-making of "Fantasy Island", that was filming in Hawaii. In 1999, I was in a scene of a Disney Production show called "Johnny Tsunami". I did "Set Production Assistant" in the making of "Pearl Harbor" (Feature), 2000, a pilot by HBO, called "Lesson Learned", 2000, "Dragon Fly" (Feature) 2001, "Punch Drunk Love"(Feature),2001, Promotional Video for "JTB Hawaii", a "Visa" commercial, 2001, Snoop Dog video "Loosen Control", 2001, "AT&T Commercial",2002, "Sports Illustrated", commercial, 2002, "Blue Crush (Feature), my scene was surfing (stunt double), 2002, "ER-Hawaii" 2003, "Punch Love Drunk" 2003, "The Break" (Pilot) 2003, a John Stockwell Production, "Fifty First Kisses", 2003, "Lost" (Stand in for Mr. Eko) 2006 - 2007. Also in 2003, I did some modeling for "Vogue Magazine".....stay tuned; I'm not finished yet....