John Ortiz has played everyone from a mobster in Public Enemies to Othello off-Broadway. He and Philip Seymour Hoffman were co-artistic directors of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City for eight years. And this year Ortiz appears in HBO’s critically acclaimed new series Luck, about the mercurial world of horse racing, along with heavyweights Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. Ortiz now lives in Los Angeles, but he spent part of his childhood in Brooklyn and recently lived with his family in Bay Ridge. With his young son in tow, Ortiz says, he often went biking or strolling down Third Avenue—home to cozy mom-and-pop cafés and restaurants. “I’m a bit nostalgic,” he says, “And I’m kind of missing home a little bit.” Someday, he adds, he’d like to move back there and open a Puerto Rican restaurant.—Sarah Elbert
Photos by Evan Sung