Best Local Actor/Producer

This gritty, passionate performer is not a member of the camp that believes in creating art for art's sake. Though his acting and producing achievements are many and heralded, San José, whose mother died of AIDS when he was 25, believes in tackling roles that reflect and explore culture, community, and politics. His work -- which uncannily captures contemporary urban reality -- investigates the complexities of loss, grief, and the guilt of surviving when your loved ones don't (as in the plays Domino and i feel love). In addition to his acting, he co-founded the award-winning theater company Campo Santo, a troupe created to take, as its Web site states, "the sacred form of storytelling and us[e] it as a tool to bond community through socially relevant plays." San José has performed in venues all over the country, and locally at the Berkeley Repertory Theater and Intersection for the Arts, where he's the theater program director. A recent recipient of the prestigious Audrey Skirball-Kenis Time Grant Award, San José has the talent to be simultaneously searing, sweet, uplifting, and heartbreaking.