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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Business
Meg James

How a kid from El Monte became one of Hollywood’s few Latino executives

Cris Abrego Los Angeles Hollywood Cal State Fullerton Mark Cronin

Scouring his high school class schedule, then-14-year-old Cris Abrego caught his breath.

TV Production.

It was 1986, and the incoming freshman, a self-described TV addict, assumed the course would teach Latino teens like him how to build television sets. After all, this was an era when students in working-class communities, including those at El Monte's Mountain View High School, were encouraged to take auto or wood shop to prepare for a blue-collar life.

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