Doing it All

Former Queens resident Jorge-Luis Pallo, currently a cast member of the ABC Family show “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” is working on fulfilling a career goal of doing it all.
Originally from Corona, Pallo started taking dance classes at a young age and then did a couple of musicals in high school, where he also joined the drama club. Pallo said that it was as a high school student that he “got the drama bug.”
Pallo went on to graduate from New York University, having studied in the Playwrights Horizons studio. After graduating, his best friend from high school said that his brother was a casting director in Hollywood and asked Pallo if he wanted him to give the brother a call. From there, Pallo got signed with an agent in New York.
Before moving to Hollywood 10 years ago, Pallo, who is Ecuadorian and Puerto Rican, did some theatre and traveled with the Latino sketch comedy group Vaso de Leche.
When Pallo first moved to Hollywood, he said he thought it would be easy but found out that was not the case. He even had a difficult time getting a restaurant job, although he had experience working in some of the finest restaurants in New York City.
“Hollywood’s a lot of hard work,” Pallo said during a recent trip back to New York.
Pallo said that one of the reasons he had a hard time finding work was because he didn’t have his SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card. That changed after a poker game.
While working as a tour guide at Universal Studios, Pallo and some friends had organized a poker game. A casting director came to one of these games, and the casting director and Pallo were the only two left in the hand. The director said that if Pallo won, he would get him his SAG card.
“I won trip queens over his trip jacks,” said Pallo, who then got enough work as an extra to get his card. “After that is when things started to happen.”
Pallo did a guest appearance on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and has now appeared in films such as “Missing Pieces,” “Minority Report,” “War of the Worlds” and “Lions for Lambs.”
During the last pilot season, Pallo, who also teaches acting, was helping one of his students who was going to audition for “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” As he was reading the role of the guidance counselor, Pallo said that he knew the character and began to develop a desire to audition for the role. A few weeks later, Pallo’s manager called to say he had an audition for the role, although he hadn’t actually told her about wanting it, and he ended up getting the job to play Marc Molina.
“I’m so grateful for [this] show it’s unbelievable,” Pallo said. He continued, “I think it stretched me a lot more as an actor. It’s a role that I really love.”
“The Secret Life of the American Teenager” premiered its second season on January 5 on ABC Family.
Also in January, Pallo will appear in an episode of “24” and “Eleventh Hour.” His future goals include doing more directing, producing and Broadway. He said that the world is pretty open and he wants to do it all.
However, he said that Queens will always be in his heart.
“Queens has given me an edge and street smarts that I don’t think you get growing up in most other places,” he said. “I draw a lot from my history and what I’ve seen. Queens has given me a lot of character I would say.”
For more information on Pallo, visit www.myspace.com/jorgeluispallo.