Victor Rasuk

Victor Rasuk (born January 15, 1984) is an American actor. He was born in Harlem, New York, to Dominican parents and has one brother, Silvestre, with whom he starred in *Raising Victor Vargas*. Rasuk attended a performing arts school as a teenager and began acting at age 14. He landed his first movie role at 16 in *Five Feet High and Rising*, a short film under 30 minutes long that was a hit at the Independent Spirit Film Festival. Two years later, the same director, Peter Sollett, expanded the short into the feature-length film *Raising Victor Vargas*, which earned Rasuk an Independent Spirit Award for his performance. In his next film, *Rock Steady*, Rasuk played a character named Roc. Two years later, he took a leading role in *Haven* alongside Orlando Bloom. In 2005, *Lords of Dogtown* was released, with Rasuk playing Tony Alva, one of the leading roles. The part required surfing and performing skateboarding tricks. Although the more complex maneuvers were performed by stunt men (including scenes of surfing at Pacific Ocean Park pier and skating in empty swimming pools), Rasuk, a method actor, worked on staying in character both on and off screen. Believing he had mastered skating a huge ramp in only his second week of training, Rasuk fractured one of his orbital bones. He says the accident likely earned him more respect from serious skaters within the cast and crew. In 2010, Rasuk appeared on the HBO television series *How To Make It In America*, co-starring alongside Bryan Greenberg and rapper Kid Cudi. Marjorie Ballentine is his acting coach.