It’s likely that you’ve seen Noel Gugliemi more than once in the movies and on TV since he’s been around for a while and he’s played a lot of the same roles even if he’s not the same guy in every production. The thing about Noel is that he was once homeless and without a lot of hope in his life, at least until he was discovered and given the chance to turn things around with his inclusion into show business. He actually shot a Taco Bell commercial when he was younger, and while that might sound a bit dodgy considering that he’s part Mexican and part Italian, but it helped him leave a life of crime it sounds like and it’s kept him on the straight and narrow ever since. Looking at Noel he does have what some might claim is the street hood look since he does keep his appearance in a certain way, but the upbeat thing about him is that he has done quite a bit of motivational speaking when it comes to younger folks and has encouraged them to stay out of gangs and to stay away from that type of life as much as possible. Being an authority on where a person’s life can go at a young age he’s definitely someone that kids might want to listen to, and it’s easy to think that he’s been a positive influence throughout his time in the business.
Noel does tend to play a lot of similar characters, though he’s broken out of that mold a time or two in his career, making sure that he can stretch out when he needs to. There are a few roles that he’s taken on that, despite being kind of a stereotype, have been great since he made it happen and managed to work with a few of the great actors of his time. The first mention is pretty simple since it came during the movie Bruce Almighty when he plays a thug that messes with the titular character at one point, roughing him up after Bruce tries and fails to act tough. Of course, once Bruce has the power of God at his disposal he does get a bit of payback on the thug when he’s tempted by a poor choice of words that Noel’s character uses. Deciding to tell someone that has the power of God, despite not knowing as much, that you’ll apologize when a monkey comes out of your butt isn’t that great of an idea since that’s about the moment that the audience knows what’s coming. Defying all logic and the basic biology of human beings and monkeys, the little capuchin that comes rocketing out of the thug’s backside makes it worse when he’s told to go back where he came from and as a result ends up traveling back into non-existence the way he came. Yeah, that was kind of painful to think about.
Another role that Noel took that has something to do with his backside yet again was one of the Latino’s playing cards with Ethan Hawke in Training Day, when his lead detective up and leaves Hawke with Smiley and his crew. The line “You ever had your s*** pushed in?” is more than a little disturbing, especially one it’s not hard to tell what they’re talking about. Even more disturbing however is that Smiley and his crew were willing to execute Hawke’s character in their home with young ones present. Also, did anyone happen to notice that when Noel’s character found Smiley’s cousin’s wallet that he still pocketed the cash while alerting Smiley to the fact that it was hers? Just an interesting tidbit, that’s all, but it was easily noticed, as was the fact that Noel’s character wanted to watch the execution, which sounds absolutely grisly. The whole exchange had the effect of lending even more of a serious and dire note to the movie however, as some people actually thought it was one of Hawke’s worst performances.
One more role that was memorable largely because of the franchise it came in was his role as Hector in the first Fast and Furious movie. Hector wasn’t much of anything other than a street racer and a generally cocky guy that enjoyed a spot atop his clique’s hierarchy. For the most part Hector was a friend to Dominic and the rest, but was also considered competition as well as someone that was best held at arm’s length at times. He’s also the first person, apart from Mia, that came into peaceful contact with Brian in the series since he called him “Snowman” before coming over to inspect his ride. At the risk of typecasting the guy though, Noel has been extremely successful when portraying a tough guy from southern Cali, and it’s definitely allowed him to become an icon in the industry.
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