London Garcia(I)

A Southern California native, London Garcia (born Gina Tavizon), is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, Victor Tavizon, an optician. Her mother, Darsie, a Southern California native of British descent, was a school bus driver later retiring from management at the same school district. And before living in Mexico at the age of 13, London and her sister, Sandi, spent a lot of time with her grandmother and other family in Mexico.

If there's such thing as the "acting bug", Carol Burnett would be to blame for that bite. When London was a young child, she often watched reruns of "The Carol Burnett Show". That was when she learned that being funny was actually a job for some people and from then on, that's all she wanted to do. London's father was an extraordinary artist in many areas and was an award-winning painter of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. His ultimate dream of doing animation for Disney was never realized and after he died, London decided she needed to take her own chances in show business.

London started out doing a few plus size modeling gigs but ultimately found her voice in the world of comedy. While performing with the sketch comedy group, "P.O. Box L.A. Comedy Co.", she met Emilio Rivera (Sons of Anarchy, Mayans MC) who was also a part of the Latino-based group. Through most of the 90's, London also performed stand-up comedy in many clubs throughout Southern California with many of the popular Latino comics at that time including Rudy Moreno, Carlos Oskar, Gilbert Esquivel, Dyana Ortelli, Emilio Rivera, and many others. London was also invited to sing and do stand-up comedy in an ongoing live variety show produced by Rivera, "Latino Nights", that featured many of these Latino comics as well as singers, dancers, and other performers. London would do a few small roles in film and TV projects and had a few close calls for big roles, but nothing quite gained traction.

While pursuing show business, London worked a parallel career as a consultant and project manager in aerospace, telecommunications, investment firms, and real estate. At one point, London took a 9 year hiatus from the industry to grow opportunities in these other fields.

"I believe your destiny is your destiny and nothing can change that," is something that London has always believed. During London's hiatus that thought always lingered. These other business ventures were all so far removed from anything resembling the entertainment industry but someone or something from entertainment would cross her path. Eventually, London made her way back to Los Angeles and slowly back into the entertainment industry. Shortly after coming back, she heard someone say, "There's a future out there calling you forward and it will find you." And it seemed no matter where London went, it seemed to find her.

Going back into the entertainment industry was somewhat of a discovery journey and she ventured into radio and created "The London Garcia Show". People have always butchered the name "Tavizon" since birth so she wanted to create a name for radio that was easy but memorable. "London" was inspired by her English grandmother and "Garcia" was her Mexican grandmother's maiden name. Although still legally known as Gina Tavizon, the name "London Garcia" took on a life of it's own and later became her official professional name in the industry.

"The London Garcia Show", a radio talk show, grew pretty quickly attracting big names from all over that would include actors, directors, writers, composers, rock bands, and any artist London found interesting. This led to producing another radio show exclusively for The Warped Tour, "Radio Saves Lives", where London would interview rock stars and other musical acts from the tour highlighting the causes and charities important to them, something the tour's founder, Kevin Lyman, is well known for. Eventually, London was invited to cover red carpet events and ended up interviewing hundreds of celebrities. However, the little girl that used to watch "The Carol Burnett Show" still wanted to act.

London made the decision to set everything else aside and focus primarily on acting and dive deeper into training through various studios, classes, and coaches in the L.A. area. Slowly but surely, things started to gain traction as London would book roles in a number of shows including 9-1-1: Lone Star, Barry, SWAT, and as Emma Isaacs in The Pitt.

After a brief appearance on NCIS: Origins as Ruth, Gibbs' landlord, the show's creators decided to write an entire episode ("Blue Bayou") around London's character. This historic episode caught the attention of the media and received overwhelming praise and inspired journalist Lynette Rice to interview London for Deadline. The episode was the first crimeless episode in the NCIS franchise and became one of the highest rated of the season and was named one of TV Insider's 24 best TV Episodes of 2024.