(^)
(^)
(^)
(^9)
0 2 1
0
B
E
V
ER
L Y^ H I L
L S
Mark D. Espinoza
as
JES
SE
when andrea Zuckerman met Jesse
Vasquez over fruit punch as he tended
bar at Jim and Cindy Walsh’s 20th-
anniversary party in season 4, the law-
student-by-day, bartender-by-night
represented two fi rsts for the show: the
fi rst semisteamy story line for squeaky-
clean Andrea, who dumped her boy-
friend after fl irting with Jesse (“You
have two of the most beautiful eyes I’ve
ever seen—I’d like to see them again,”
he told her before she handed over her
dorm number), and the fi rst time a
character of color took center stage on
Beverly Hills, 90210. To drive the point
home, Andrea’s jilted boyfriend lobbed
a racial slur when he heard his rival’s
name (“What is this, some equal-
opportunity program?”), and then Jesse
dropped a little español on their fi rst
date to a park as they passed by a family
celebrating with a piñata. Actor Mark
D. Espinoza admitted that he had never
watched the show before joining the
cast, but his little sister was a huge fan
who had named her daughter after
Gabrielle Carteris. In his two-season
run Jesse changed the course of An-
drea’s life as the two got pregnant, got
married and had a premie (plus simul-
taneous aff airs) before leaving Beverly
Hills for Yale in what seemed like a hap-
pily ever after—until Andrea returned
in season 8 and revealed their marriage
was over. For Texas-born Espinoza, now
59, his 90210 role was just the beginning
of a career with roles on The Young and
the Restless and Major Crimes.