Lymari Nadal:
• Puerto Rican actress, screenwriter and producer
• Gained fame for role in “American Gangster” in 2002
• Graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
• Holds a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus
• Married actor Edward James Olmos in 2002, but divorced in 2013



Known from movies

American Gangster (2007)
as Eve

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009)
as Giana O’Neill

America (2011)
like America

Light from the Darkroom (2014)
as Blanca



Lymari Nadal is a Puerto Rican actress, screenwriter and producer, who rose to fame for her role as the wife of Harlem drug dealer Frank Lucas in 2002’s ‘American Gangster’, and in real life for being the third wife of actor Edward James Olmos.

Early life and family

Lymari Nadal Torres was born on February 11, 1978 in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Anaida Torres and Daniel Nadal. She grew up in Ponce along with her sisters, Anaida, Dania and Azarel.

Education background

Lymari graduated from Santa Maria Reina Academy in 1994 and graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

She then completed her master’s degree in chemistry at the age of 22 at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPRM). However, Nadal always wanted to be an actress, so she also took Acting I, II and III in the same college. Wanting to hone her skills further, she said she went to Mexico and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts to do so, then followed a two-year program at the Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts I Los Angeles, under Martin Barter and Marlon. Brando’s ‘Lying to Live’ Actor Workshop. She also had a voice coach and a dialect coach.

Career

First steps

Lymari went to Los Angeles, California in 2001 to pursue an acting career, and had a rough time at first.

She decided to try her hand at theater work and was a part of several stage productions including ‘Shadow of Anthropology’, ‘Yerma’, ‘Celestial Flesh’ and ‘Miss Julie’.

She joined Edward James Olmos’ company as a producer. Her television debut was in 2002 with the minor role of Linda in the PBS story about a Latino family living in LA, ‘American Family’ starring Edward Olmos and Sonia Braga. It was followed by another supporting role of Giana in the three-hour sci-fi drama mini-series ‘Battlestar Galactica’, a remake of the 1978 movie of the same name. It aired on the Syfy channel in December 2003 and would air with 4, 5 million viewers being the network’s third most watched series.

In 2006, she made her film debut in ‘Thieves and Liars’, Puerto Rico’s entry into the 79^e Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but it didn’t make the cut.

Further success

Lymari was cast as Eva, the wife of Frank Lucas played by Denzel Washington, in the crime movie ‘American Gangster’ in 200; the film would be based on a true story involving Lucas, his life of crime as a drug trafficker and Harlem gang leader, as well as being arrested by Detective Richie Roberts played by Russell Crowe. It was a box office success, grossing more than $250 million worldwide against a $100 million production budget, and also earned nominations for Academy and Golden Globe Awards.

Nadal’s role was said to be a fictionalized version of the real woman, and those involved in the case said the film was not an accurate account of what happened – Lucas said only a small portion of the film was true, and former DEA agents even filed a lawsuit against the production company, but it was dismissed by the court.

She reprized her role of Giana in “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan,” a reimagined version featuring new material and clips from the 2003 miniseries and the 2004 TV series. It premiered on DVD and digital download in 2009, and then on Syfy in 2010.

Lymari next appeared in the 2010 episode “Sangre por Sangre” of “CSI: New York”, and in 2011 he was the main protagonist of “America”, which was based on Esmeralda Santiago’s 1996 novel titled “El Sueño de America (America’s dream).

She was shown the script and liked it, and as part of the production team made some changes to the script to give a more realistic depiction of Latinos. It was also chosen as Puerto Rico’s entry at the 84^e Academy Awards, but was disqualified because the Academy was no longer accepting entries from a US protectorate.

Other films she has appeared in include ‘Light from the Darkroom’ (2014), ‘The Blackout’ (2014) and ‘Kreep’ (2016), for which she also served as an executive producer.

Private life

Despite a 31-year age difference, Lymari and Edward Olmos were married in 2002, but separated in 2013. She was Edward’s third wife.

Who is Edward James Olmos?

Edward Huizar Olmos was born in LA on February 24, 1947 to a Mexican immigrant, Pedro Olmos, and Mexican-American Eleanor Huizar. He was raised by his grandparents because his parents were busy working, and then separated when he was seven, which affected him very much, so he started playing baseball every day, and improved to such an extent that he became a batting champion of became California State, and was on the farm team of the Los Angeles Dodgers by the time he was 13.

However, in 1960 he stopped playing baseball because he wanted to be a rock and roll singer instead – he wasn’t much of a singer actually, but he could dance because his father taught him from the age of ten.

When he was able to get a job as an artist, he went through high school and college. In 1964, in his first year of college, he took acting classes and began acting in plays.

His big break in theater came when he played the role of El Pachuco in “Zoot Suit,” which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in A Play. Written by Luiz Valdes, the play premiered at LA’s Mark Taper Forum in April 1978, then debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater in March 1979. A film adaptation was made in 1981 with Olmos reprising his role.

He made his television debut in 1974 in “Cannon” as an unnamed character and continued to accept various projects from minor to leading roles.

In 1984, he was part of the main cast when he played the role of Detective Lieutenant Martin “Marty” Castillo in the crime drama series “Miami Vice”, which ran for five seasons (1984-1990) and 112 episodes – Olmos starred in 106 of them. He also appeared in numerous popular television series, including ‘American Family’ (2002-2004), ‘Battlestar Galactica’ (2003-2009), ‘Dexter’ (2011) and ‘Mayans MC’ (2018-present).

His film debut was also in 1974 when he played an uncredited role of a junkie in the bathroom in ‘Black Fist’. After playing a series of small and supporting roles, he was cast as Jaime Escalante in “Stand and Deliver” in 1988, which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the 61st^st Academy Awards.

He was then a part of several hit movies including ‘Selena’ (1997), ‘The Green Hornet’ (2011), ‘El Americano: The Movie’ (2016) and ‘Coco’ (2017).

Edward starred in more than 120 films and television series from 1974 to 2019, with a few more yet to be released. He also produced and directed several.

He married Kaija Keel in 1971, they divorced in 1992, had two children, Bodie and Mico, and adopted four more, namely Tamiko, Brandon, Michael and Daniela. His second wife was the actress, Lorraine Bracco, whom he married in 1994, but they divorced in 2002.

Excited to be part of @StoriesFromTomorrow! Children from all over the world have written poems, stories and self-expression lets the world know what’s on your mind! @StoriesFromTomorrow Text 707070 TOMORROW to make a donation and change children’s lives. #StoriesFromTomorrow pic.twitter.com/L5Ke9mIbHE

— Edward James Olmos (@edwardjolmos) June 21, 2020

Interesting facts and rumours

• Lymari was involved in a controversy in Ponce, when she was hired to provide her services of consulting, promoting art films and offering acting workshops for 11 months for $55,000. Lawmaker Vilma Flores, a member of the Ponceño Autonomous Movement (MAP), accused Mayor Maria Melendez Altieri of hiring Nadal when there are non-profit organizations that can do these things at no cost to the government.
• It was said that ABC had developed a sitcom that would be her TV debut, supposedly about her high school life, but it was never picked up.

Appearance

She is 1.73 m tall and weighs about 53 kg; her dress size is 8. She has brown hair and green eyes..

Net value

Lymari has an estimated net worth of over $3 million as of June 2020, according to sources.

General information

First and last name	Lymari Nadal
Date of birth	February 11, 1978
Height	1.75 meters
Profession	Actor
Education	Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico

Family

Husband	Edward James Olmos
Children	Bodie Olmos, Mico Olmos

Performance

Nominations	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Movies	American Gangster, Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, Thieves and Liars, America, Light From the Darkroom

Links to social profiles

Facts

Pictures

Movies

Actress

Title	Year	Status	Character
Crawl	2016/i	completed	Crawl
Light from the dark room	2014		Blanca
A blackout	2014		Juliet
America	2011		America
CSI: NY	2010	TV serials	Hazel Ortega
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan	2009	Video	Giana O’Neill
American gangster	2007		Eve
Thieves and liars	2006		Marisol
Te amaré in silence	2003	TV serials	Linda
Battlestar Galactica	2003	TV Miniseries	Giana
American family	2002	TV serials	Linda

author

Title	Year	Status	Character
America	2011	written by

Producer

Title	Year	Status	Character
Crawl	2016/i	executive producer completed

Yourself

Title	Year	Status	Character
More vale tarde	2008	TV serials	herself
Fallen Empire: Making ‘American Gangster’	2008	Video documentary	herself

Awards

Nominated awards

Year	Price	Ceremony	Presentation	Movie
2008	Actor	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	American Gangster (2007)

Source: IMDb, Wikipedia