Performing and Producing with Mario Diaz
Mario Diaz
In this profile series, Revry is highlighting authentic contributors to the LGBTQ media and entertainment community. We ask questions to find out who they are and where they are going in the future. The questions remain the same but the answers tell their unique story. It’s time to explore and celebrate true representation beyond the limits of Hollywood.
Mario Diaz is thrilled to be sharing his story in the documentary film CLUB KING now streaming free on Revry. He is known to audiences as the leading man and King of Douche-bags in the indie hit HOLLYWOOD SEX WARS. Or you may recognize him as the Circus Ring Leader in a Subway Five Dollar FootLong commercial. He is also the co-lead singer of the band Dirty Sanchez and the creator and promoter of countless nightclubs and dance parties including The Cock in NYC, HOT DOG, BONKERZ!, FULL FRONTAL DISCO, BRUTUS and B.F.D. He is also the producer of the official closing party of San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, DEVIANTS. Film and TV work also includes LA LA LAND, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, FEUD, FRESH OFF THE BOAT, RAISING HOPE, ANGER MANAGEMENT, music videos for Heart, Smashing Pumpkins and more and independent films Troma’s TERROR FIRMER, SCRATCH MERCHANTS and CHARLIE. Mario loves puppies, pizza -- and tube socks ...but hates your flip-flops.
What are you best known for?
I've been performing for over 30 years but I'd say my work as a queer event producer is what I'm best known for. To me it's all in the same wheelhouse. Throwing a party is very much like producing a play. You cast the characters, create the set with lighting and sound and then you show off and play with your friends. It's all showbiz and I feel so lucky to have made this my career. Bringing people together and putting smiles on their faces is really the best job I can think of.
What is the first thing you performed in?
My first memory of performing was in my middle school play WORKING. I played a latino migrant worker and sang a sad song in spanish, a real tear jerker. I remember making all the mom's in the audience cry and getting so much love and adoration after the show. Those are the moments that create performers. That moment you realize you can touch someone's soul through make believe is a rush. I knew from that moment on that was what I wanted to do.
What are you working on that no one knows about yet?
I'm writing. Writing absurd queer sketches that will perhaps be its own show. I'm writing stories about my life that will perhaps be a film or a stand up comedy act, I'm really not sure. And I'm writing music as well. Writing is the thing that scares me the most which tells me I need to continue. I just want to tell my stories in whatever form that takes.