5. Alan Tudyk - Actor

We start of the list with Alan Tudyk for two reasons; first he is a great comedic actor as seen in the movie Dodgeball: A true underdog story as Steve the Pirate, the voice of Sonny the robot in I, Robot and Wash in the awesome Sci-fi show firefly; and second because his last name sounds like a future Mexican word-of-the-day ready to happen (for those who don’t know what I am talking about in Spanish Tu=Your, insert penis joke here…) Tudyk was born in El Paso but, upon realizing that he was going to have to endure endless spanglish “dyk” jokes in school, moved to Plano, Texas a suburb of Dallas in which I am pretty sure he still had to deal with the same jokes…

4. Jaime Reyes the Blue Beetle - Superhero

Jaime Reyes AKA The Blue Beetle
Holy Border Crossing Bandits! El Paso has its own superhero? Yes! Thanks to affirmative action there’s finally a Mexican Superhero who’s superpower doesn’t involve super-landscaping! Meet Jaime Reyes the newest incarnation of DC comics the Blue Beetle, for those of you who don’t read comic books and don’t know who that is I am going to say that I don’t know either, but if you click here you can probably find out... seeing El Paso in comic books rocks! But then you realize that if superhero lives in El Paso why is he not crossing into Mexico to fight the drug war? Either he is not allowed or he is the most ineffective superhero out there, either way the way that the blue beetle mantle gets passed around (there’s been like 20 characters named blue beetle so far) enjoy Jaime while you can…

3. Debbie Reynolds – Actress, singer and dancer

Debbie Reynolds

As someone under the age of 50 I have never seen a movie with Debbie Reynolds, which include Singing in the Rain and the Singing Nun, apparently she liked singing… but being a sci-fi geek, I know she is the mother of Princess Leia, and that alone places her in third on this list, but according to Wikipedia, Debbie Reynolds was born in El Paso and lived here until age 7 and was a very successful Hollywood personality in the time when movies were kinda boring (i.e. no explosions or full frontal nudity.) Today she hangs out showing movie memorabilia to whoever asks and lives next to her daughter, which shows that she is truly from El Paso, as we all know mothers in this town won’t ever leave you alone even in your 50’s…

2. Gene Roddenberry - Futurist

Yes, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of one of the most successful sci-fi franchises was from El, goddamn, Paso! And although he quickly moved to California (sellout…) he places second on the list because Star Trek… well… it’s freaking awesome! Gene, (that’s what we hardcore fans call him) also holds the distinction of being one of the first people to be buried in space… Yes a person from El Paso was one of the first ones to be buried in freaking space! If that is not cool I don’t know what is. There is more to his story but no one really cares about it; all it matters is Star Trek, Start Trek, Star Trek… in my mind El Paso=Gene Roddenberry=Star Trek=Mind Blown!

1. Oscar Zeta Acosta – Activist

For those people that are not familiar with the Chicano movement and the late sixties drug culture, Oscar Zeta Acosta most commonly known as Dr. Gonzo, yes the “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” Dr. Gonzo, was born in El Paso. And even though just knowing the great Hunter S. Thompson would put this guy on this list his very public, involvement with the Chicano Movement makes him take the #1 spot on it. This guy who not only hung out with the guy who created gonzo journalism and did an insane amount of drugs (all recorded in several books and recently movies) with him, but also had a career as a lawyer and ardently (ardently meaning he kicked a lot of ass of people that deserved it…) fought for Latino and Chicano rights (see kids drugs aren’t all bad…). If that wasn’t enough, he also found time to write a few books and do more drugs. And in true El Paso born, hardcore fashion, simply disappear one day in 1974 in a boat made of cocaine but not before starting the Hispanic rights movement that gave the LAPD trouble for years after he disappeared. He was portrayed in two films by quasi-badasses Benicio “The Wolfman“ Del Toro in Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas and Peter “Young Frankenstein” Boyle in Where the Buffalo Roam. What can I say this guy is my new hero…

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