Louis Diamond Phillips (born Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is an American actor. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film La Bamba (1987). For Stand and Deliver (1988), Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an Independent Spirit Award.
Phillips in 2017
Lou Diamond Phillips in 1987, the year that the film "La Bamba" was released
Phillips performing at an after-party for the film Filly Brown at the 2013 Miami International Film Festival
Phillips speaking at the Filipino American Library Spirit Awards and Dinner Gala in Los Angeles in October 2006
Richard Steven Valenzuela, better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died in a plane crash just eight months after his breakthrough.
Valens in 1958
Billboard advertisement, December 15, 1958
Valens in 1959
Grave of Valens and his mother at San Fernando Mission Cemetery