Sherri Saum and Kamar de Los Reyes with sons John and Michael at a Disney on Ice presentation of ‘Frozen’ in 2015.
Ari Perilstein/Getty Images for Feld Entertainment
Kamar de los Reyes, the compelling Puerto Rican actor who portrayed the troubled cop Antonio Vega on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live and the villain Raul Menendez in Call of Duty video games, has died. He was 56.
De los Reyes died on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles after a brief battle with cancer, a family spokesperson announced.
De los Reyes also appeared as Watergate burglar Eugenio Martínez in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995) and starred as Tomas in Lisa France’s Love & Suicide (2005), a feature shot clandestinely in Cuba while the principals were attending the Havana International Film Festival.
Most recently, he had recurring roles as Jobe on Fox’s Sleepy Hollow in 2017, as a detective on ABC’s The Rookie in 2021 and as a college football coach on the CW’s All American since 2022.
On One Life to Live, de los Reyes first showed up in Llanview as Antonio in 1995. His character was a former gang member who had unjustly served time in prison for a murder done in self-defense, then became a lawyer and a cop.
De los Reyes left the daytime drama in 1998 but would return in 2000 and remain until the soap’s demise in 2013.
He played the vicious Menendez, a Nicaraguan arms dealer and terrorist who had an extreme hatred for America, in 2012’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II, 2018’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, 2019’s Call of Duty: Mobile and 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard.
“I walked away from this experience knowing that I had just finished work on one of the most amazing projects I’ve ever been a part of,” he said in a 2012 interview.
One of five kids and the youngest of three sons, de los Reyes was born on Nov. 8, 1967, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised in Las Vegas. His father is famed Cuban percussionist Walfredo de los Reyes.
He came to Los Angeles and landed work as a dancer in the Boaz Davidson-directed Salsa (1988).
In Public Theater productions directed by George C. Wolfe, he played the Irish-Mexican boxer Pedro “Roadman” Quinn in 1994’s Blade to the Heat and Ferdinand alongside Patrick Stewart as Prospero in 1995’s The Tempest.
He starred on the syndicated series Valley of the Dolls in 1994 and was named to People magazine’s “Fabulous 50” list in 1997, then romanced Toni Braxton in her 2000 music video for “Spanish Guitar.”
His résumé also included the films The Cell (2000), Mambo Café (2000), Cayo (2005) and Salt (2010) and guest-starring stints on ER, New York Undercover, Touched by an Angel, Early Edition, Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Blue Bloods and Castle.
After the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, he led recovery efforts in his beloved home.
At the time of his death, de los Reyes was at work on All American and had recently shot a role for Hulu’s not-yet-released Washington Black, starring Sterling K. Brown. He also has a significant part in Marvel’s upcoming Daredevil series.
In addition to his father and mother, Matilde, survivors include his wife, The Fosters actress Sherri Saum, whom he married in 2007 (they worked together on One Life to Live, and their characters were romantically involved); their 9-year-old fraternal twin sons, John and Michael; another son, Caylen; his brothers, percussionists Walfredo Reyes Jr. and Daniel de los Reyes; and his sisters, Lily and Ilde.