Jeffrey Licon
Jeffrey Licon is an actor, born 1985.
A Nickelodeon sitcom and one of the bleakest American independent films of its decade sit side by side on Licon's resume, which tells you most of what is interesting about him. He was working as a child, on Hearts Afire and then the family drama Second Noah, before landing his first regular job as Carlos Garcia on The Brothers Garcia. That is still the credit people recognise, and it is the least representative thing he did.
The other half is darker and better. He played Eric Preston in Mysterious Skin, a supporting role in a film built on two extremely exposed lead performances, and he holds his corner of it without ever reaching for sympathy. He then took a lead in Alien Raiders, a contained siege horror picture that is a good deal more competent than its budget required.
Since then the pattern has been guest work: Joan of Arcadia, where he appeared as one of the show's rotating incarnations of God, plus single episodes across the network procedurals. It is a steady, unshowy career of the kind that almost never gets written up.
Movies (2)
TV (5)
Where to start with Jeffrey Licon
Mysterious Skin first, and this is not a soft recommendation: the film is hard going by design. Watch it for how much Licon does with a part wedged between two leads who take up all the available air.
Alien Raiders is the opposite errand, a genre piece where he actually carries scenes, and worth an evening if contained siege horror is your thing. Joan of Arcadia holds his most enjoyable television appearance, playing one of the show's many faces of God with a flat teenage sullenness that suits the joke exactly. Completists can go back to The Brothers García and The Nightmare Room for the child-actor years, though neither tells you much about what he became.