Manuel C Cruz

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Carrollton, Texas Manuel has been a soldier, an educator, and an actor. He studied theater in high school but dropped the elective after receiving nominations to the Naval Academy at Annapolis and the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. He was not accepted to either school; he was accepted to Virginia Military Institute, The Citadel, Marion Military Institute, and New Mexico Military Institute. He chose to attend New Mexico Military Institute whose famous alumni include, Conrad Hilton, Sam Donaldson, Roger Staubach, and Owen Wilson who also attended the same year. Prior to reporting to N.M.M.I., Manuel enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and completed Basic Training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Training included infantry training with the Garryowen Squadron, N.M.M.I., and as an officer trainee with E Battery 2/89th Field Artillery Training Center in Amarillo, Texas. After a year of training, he received a medical entry-level separation from the Army. Manuel rediscovered his love for theater when he returned home and enrolled at Brookhaven College. He studied theater and worked backstage as a student assistant and after graduation worked at odd jobs and with Teatro Dallas as an actor. In the 1990s signed with his first agency and did television and film in the Dallas area. Encouraged to return to finish his degree, Manuel entered Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in the Fall of 2000. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with a BA in Communications with an emphasis in Theater. He later earned his MFA in Acting from the Academy of Art University's School of Acting, cum Laude in 2016. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Theatre at Dallas College, Tarrant County College, and the University of North Texas.