Dr. Mario Beguiristain joined the full-time faculty at Miami Dade College's School of Entertainment and Design Technology after thirty years of experience in the fields of film production, advertising, broadcasting, and television program production.  Mario has created, written, produced and/or directed hundreds of television and radio commercials and over forty television special programs in English, Spanish and French for the NBC, Univision, CBC and Telemundo television networks.

Born in Matanzas, Cuba, Mario came with his family to the U.S. in 1963, briefly attended Hialeah High School, and graduated from O’Keefe High School in Atlanta in 1966.  After a year studying architecture at Georgia Tech, he went to film school at New York University (1968) and, later, The University of South Carolina, from where he received a B.A. in Comparative Literature (French/English) (1970).  After graduation he set out to California with the express purpose of breaking into the motion picture industry.

Upon arrival in Los Angeles in 1970, he was selected as Assistant Cameraman Trainee by IATSE Local #659 and during his two-year training, he worked on Robert Wise’s “The Andromeda  Strain,” George Roy Hill’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” and John Cassavetes’ “Minnie & Moskovitz,” as well as many TV series, including “The Lucy Show,” “Mission Impossible,” “The Brady Bunch,” “The Odd Couple,” "Mannix," "Marcus Welby M.D.,” "The Man and the City" "Night Gallery" and an episode of  “Columbo,” directed by Steven Spielberg.

In 1972 he was accepted as a Graduate Student at The University of Southern California.  At USC, he completed an M.S. in Film Education (1975), a doctorate in Communication (Cinema) (1978), and was recipient of a CBS Fellowship.  His short films have been official selections at the Miami, Chicago and Atlanta International Film Festivals.

While doing his doctoral dissertation on the Influence of the Actors Studio in Hollywood during the Fifties, he worked as a free-lance writer/director of industrial films and had the honor of directing Orson Welles on two projects.  He has also worked as script consultant on Richard Lester’s “Cuba” and Sydney Pollack’s “Havana,” then in 1981 he served in that same capacity and as Al Pacino’s dialect coach on Brian de Palma’s “Scarface” until Oliver Stone, a filmmaker he admires to this day, had him fired.  Immediately thereafter, he collaborated with Academy Award winning cinematographer Nestor Almendros and director Orlando Jimenez Leal on their documentaries about the oppression of basic human rights in Cuba, “Improper Conduct” and “Nobody Listens.”

In the mid-eighties, Mario entered the field of Hispanic Advertising, eventually becoming Creative Director at six major national Hispanic advertising agencies where his campaigns won awards for clients such as BellSouth, The Florida Lottery, Chivas Regal, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and Cerveza La Tropical (Publicis Sánchez & Levitan); Chevrolet-Geo, Shell Oil Co., and Smirnoff Vodka (Lezcano/Campbell-Ewald);  Toyota, Texaco, Campbell Soup Co., The Disney Channel, Conroy’s Flowers and Standard Brands. (Conill/Saatchi & Saatchi);   Coca-Cola, Disneyland, Tree-Top Juices, Del Monte, Milk Advisory Board and Buick (La Agencia de McCann-Erickson).

His advertising work has been recognized with a Clio Award, a Belding Award (Los Angeles Ad Club), a New York Festival Award, two Golden Mike Awards, two Sunny Awards (Southern California Broadcasting Assoc.) and five Se Habla Español Awards (Hispanic Business Magazine).

As a Broadcaster in the General Market, NBC-TV commissioned his ground breaking 90-minute late-night comedy pilot “Off-Hollywood,” which aired as an alternate to Saturday Night Live during the show’s heyday in 1978.  He has considerable experience in the field of Direct Response TV, having directed over 14 one-hour infomercials for the global DRTV market in three languages.

As a Broadcaster in the U.S. Hispanic Market, in 2000 he launched, staffed, created the on-air look and served as General Manager of The International Football Channel—a 24-hour pan-regional signal exclusively broadcasting soccer to Latin America from its base in Miami.  Earlier in Los Angeles, he was part of the team that launched KVEA-TV Channel 52, (now Telemundo), where he was in charge of its on-air look, advertising and programming/sales promotions. At KMEX-TV Channel 34 (Univision), also in Los Angeles, he served as on-air promotions director and was in charge of the station's advertising in other media as well as creating, marketing and directing many star-studded specials for the Univision Network.

In the field of Education, Mario has taught Film History and a course on American International Pictures at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) as well as TV Commercial Production at the Miami Ad School.  He also teaches U.S. Hispanic Marketing at Saint Thomas University. 
In 2003 he joined the full-time faculty of the School of Entertainment and Design Technology at Miami Dade College where he plans to stay put.