Jay Moreno (1965)

Moreno Jay Moreno

Born and raised in North Whittier, Ca. His father William, and his mother Linda, were also born and raised in Southern California. Spent the majority of his early life participating is sports. He garnered many athletic achievements including lettering 9 times in high school in 4 different sports - Football, Baseball, Track (placed 9th in State Masters meet in the high jump at 1.98 meters- 6'6") & Basketball, all in his junior year. For this he was named Cal-Hi Sports State Athlete of the Month (April 1983). Under the tutelage of Lakers'2-time NBA champion Norman Nixon he was named to the 1983 Los Angeles Times Top 100 All-State team alongside John Williams-Crenshaw (City section) & Tom Tolbert-Artesia in the South East section. While majoring in Drama/Theater Arts he then went on to play 1 1/2 yrs basketball for coach Danny Nee at the Univ. of Nebraska at Lincoln - Cornhuskers (Div. 1 - Big 8 Conference) and was a part of their 1986-87 N.I.T. Final Four team. Soon thereafter, he returned home and was married to Jennifer Chaves from Los Alamitos, CA. In 1992 he worked predominantly as an extra and bit player in many SAG & AFTRA productions, most notably for many seasons in Debbie Allen's "A Different World" on NBC. During the real estate boom of the early century 2001-2006, he obtained his real estate license and concentrated his efforts in the Corona/Riverside area and has been practicing there since 2002. After 13 years of marriage he and his wife finally had their first child Scarlett Shae in 2005 and have been living happily in Corona, Ca. He has 4 brothers and 1 half-sister. His mother still resides in N. Whittier and his father passed away in 2007 at age 61. His uncle (father's brother) Carlos Roberto Moreno (D), a Yale & Stanford graduate, was one of seven California State Supreme Court associate justices. He was appointed the Ambassador to Belize by President Obama but has since finished his term and is now 1 of the alumni fellows in Yale's Board of Trustees. Jay has recently taken up acting again and has had small roles in straight to DVD films including 2003 The Gun, 2008 Metal Man, 2009 Deadly Little Christmas (which also starred his daughter Scarlett & Felissa Rose) and 2010's Frankenstein Rising along with numerous commercials ranging from SuperBowls, Oscars, Olympics, Coca Cola , Pepsi, Mercedes etc. from 2014-23. He has stated that he took up acting again at this age because he is "eligible to portray more "distinguishable" characters in society and that he loves the "work and creative process" and he's emphasizes that it's not in it for the fame aspect."