This Landman Star's Career Began With A Role On America's First Bilingual Sitcom

Almost 50 years before he joined the hit Paramount+ oilfield drama series "Landman" as cartel big wig Danny "Gallino" Morrell, Andy Garcia made his onscreen acting debut in "Qué Pasa, USA?," the first bilingual sitcom in the United States. The PBS show, which ran for four seasons between 1977 and 1980, follows three generations of the Peñas, a Cuban-American family living in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami.

Manolo Villaverde starred as Pepe Peña, the father of the family, with his wife, Juana, played by Ana Margarita Martínez-Casado. Their daughter, Carmen, was played by Ana Margo, and their son, Joe, was played by Steven Bauer, who would go on to appear as Tony Montana's righthand man in "Scarface" and later played Mexican cartel boss Don Eladio Vuente in "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul." There's also Juana's father, Antonio (Luis Oquendo), and her mother, Adela (Velia Martínez).

The Peña family speaks "Spanglish," with the sitcom showcasing the differences between generations in how to handle language in a new location. Grandparents Antonio and Adela struggle with English, which often leads to hilarious misunderstandings. First-generation siblings Joe and Carmen are more comfortable with English and have difficulty pronouncing some Spanish words. Parents Pepe and Juana are caught in the middle, trying to simultaneously keep their heritage alive while adapting to life in America.

Andy Garcia only appeared in one episode of "¿Qué Pasa, USA?," Season 2's "Here Comes the Bride." He plays a handsome young Cubano named Pepe, who Carmen falls for. The pair plan to elope, but Carmen starts to have second thoughts when she realizes that Pepe wants her to be a stay-at-home wife and abandon her plans to go to college.

This small role marked the start of a long career on the screen for Garcia, with the Havana native going on to establish himself in Hollywood. Over the next few years he landed small parts in shows like "For Love and Honor," "Murder, She Wrote," and NBC's influential police procedural "Hill Street Blues," and in 1987 he appeared in his breakout movie role: George Stone in Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables."

In 2017, a stage revival titled "Que Pasa, USA? Today ... 40 Years Later" was put on in Miami, with the parents now grandparents and the kids having children of their own. However, the original cast weren't asked back, which came as a shock to them. "It's not a bitterness I feel but a hurt," Manolo Villaverde told the Miami Herald.