Agustin, Rafael

Rafael Agustin was a writer on the award-winning CW show Jane the Virgin. He is a Sundance fellow for his TV family comedy Illegal, based on his life as a formerly undocumented American. Agustin co-created and co-starred in the national touring and award-winning autobiographical comedy N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk, which received acclaim from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Denver Post, and won awards for its advancement of social justice in the arts. In Illegally Yours: A Memoir (Grand Central Publishing), Agustin writes about having his world turned upside down when he tried to get his driver’s license during his junior year of high school. His Ecuadorian parents were then forced to reveal his immigration status. The family bonded together to navigate Rafa’s school life, his parents’ work lives (doctors in their home country, they were reduced to working menial jobs in the U.S.) – and their shared secret life as undocumented Americans. An alternatingly hilarious and touching exploration of belonging and identity, Illegally Yours asks a simple question: What does it mean to be American?