| Antonio Sánchez | |
|---|---|
| [[Image:|225px]] Sanchez with models Taína (left) and Glerysbeth (right) |
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| Birth name | Antonio Sánchez |
| Born | 1961 Puerto Rico |
| Other name(s) | El Gangster |
| Occupation | Host, producer and comedian |
Antonio Sánchez (born in 1961) is a Puerto Rican radio and television personality, show host and producer. Very famous across Puerto Rico for his crass humor, he is also known for his nickname: El Gangster. Sánchez caught the radio bug during the late 70's CB Radio craze. His handle was "Tony Toyota". He began to be known in the early and middle 1980s as a radio show host in Mayagüez for radio station Cosmo 94. Back then, he was known as "Moondance". In 1987, he and friend Hector Marcano were cast as co-hosts of television game show La Hora de Oro (The Golden Hour) on Puerto Rico's Super Siete channel. La Hora de Oro enjoyed a successful run for two years in Puerto Rico, period in which Sanchez's face also became familiar to the Puerto Rican public. During this time, he also performed in comedies like El Cuartel de la Risa and Adultos Solteros, both with Rafael José. When Marcano moved in 1989 to Tele-Once to do a talk show named Marcano, el Show, Sánchez was offered a job by Telemundo Puerto Rico, to make a show that would compete with Marcano's show. No te Duermas (Do not go to Sleep), the show that put Sánchez against his old friend Marcano, eventually was the survivor of this talk show ratings battle, and Sánchez is still host of the show. In 1992, Sánchez began production of Minga y Petraca, where he plays one of the main characters. As of March 2005, the show was cancelled due to the fact that Telemundo Puerto Rico wanted to open a new telenovela spot at 9:00pm, making all the sitcoms and programs at this spot to be axed, only leaving Sanchez's No Te Duermas, as a daily show. Sánchez also became a manager of other entertainers. Among the people he has managed is merengue singer, Giselle. Sánchez also hosts a radio show, alongside Funky Joe, named El Bayú de la Mañana (The Bayu of the Morning, Bayú being a word with no meaning in English, but it loosely means "party" or "mingling"). Both his No te Duermas and Bayú de la Mañana shows have attracted a large list of local and international entertainers to be interviewed by El Gangster. On May of 2005, chaos broke in his No Te Duermas show when singer Banchy Serrano, the musical guest, slapped another show guest as the show was being shown live. As a consequence, both Serrano and Sánchez now face lawsuits and could lose 450,000 dollars each if found responsible for the act. Upon Laura Hernández's release from jail in the Dominican Republic during August of that year, Sánchez became the first television producer to offer her a job. Hernández began working in "No Te Duermas" immediately after her release. Sánchez had spent several weeks traveling back and forth between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to rehearse the show's scripts with Hernández.
Personal Life
Sanchez has been married for several years, but he rarely comments on his personal life.
