Daily Times
Lou Diamond Phillips didn’t think he was the right fit to play Frankie Valli.
That’s not a misprint. It was, however, an error his agent’s office made when first alerting the young actor about auditions being held in Dallas for La Bamba — which, of course, was about the tragically curtailed life and career of Ritchie Valens — not future Jersey Boys subject Frankie Valli.
Born on a naval base in the Philippines and raised in Texas, Phillips was living in Arlington, working on local commercials and tiny underground film projects as well as teaching acting, when the call came in. “It came out of the blue, man. One hundred percent out of the blue,” Phillips, now 59, told Yahoo Entertainment during a new interview (watch above) promoting La Bamba’s re-release into theaters as part of TCM Big Screen Classics series.