Where is Mike Vitar and What Has He Been Up To?

Mike Vitar – full name: Michael Anthony Vitar, born December 21, 1978, is 45 years old.

Currently residing in Los Angeles, California, Mike Vitar has been a firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department for around two decades since he started working there in 2002. Before settling on a career as a firefighter though, Mike Vitar was an actor. His most notable contribution to movie production in Hollywood to date came in the 1993 sports drama film titled The Sandlot where he played the role of Benjamin Franklin “Benny the Jet” Rodriguez. He reprised his role in the 2005 sequel The Sandlot 2 and appeared in a few other blockbusters before calling time on his acting career. This article explores the former actor’s life since then.

Mike Vitar was born in the late 1970s

Mike Vitar was born Michael Anthony Vitar on December 21, 1978, under the birth sign of Sagittarius, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is an American citizen by birth and was born into a predominantly Latin American family.

There is hardly anything known about the couple responsible for bringing Mike Vitar into the world, including their names and what they did for a living. We do know, however, that Mike is not the only child his parents had. The firefighter grew up with two older siblings, a now-deceased older brother named Pablo Vitar and an older sister named Elizabeth Vitar.

Not much is known about the former actor’s sister but we can confirm that his older brother was an actor best known for portraying the role of an older Benny the Jet Rodriguez in the movie The Sandlot. After the first installment of the movie, he joined the LA Police department in 1996 and remained in its employ until his death as a result of colon cancer on January 29, 2008.

Mike Vitar received his high school diploma from St. Francis High School in La Cañada, California, and graduated in 1997. So far, there is virtually no information regarding whether he attended a tertiary institution.

Mike Vitar joined Hollywood at the age of 12

Mike Vitar in The Sandlot – image source

According to several viable sources, Mike Vitar joined the American movie industry as a child actor at 12 years old. He had been discovered by a casting manager who noticed him in line for a ride at a school carnival in 1990.

Over the next seven years, he left a mark in the minds of the general public and the media with masterful performances, particularly in sports dramas like The Sandlot and D2: The Mighty Ducks amongst others. He officially left the movie industry in 1997 after an episode appearance in the TV series Chicago Hope although he earned an acting credit as a result of a flashback scene that featured him in The Sandlot 2, the 2005 sequel of the 1993 original.

Prior to ending his career as an actor, Mike Vitar started working for Gerber Ambulance in Torrance as an EMT, and from there he moved into his present career as a firefighter. In 2002, he officially became a firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Mike Vitar’s movies and TV shows

• 1991 – Diplomatic Immunity as Arturo
• 1991 – Brooklyn Bridge as Anthony Gambuzza (1 ep)
• 1993 – Sunset Grill as Luis
• 1993 – The Sandlot as Benjamin Franklin “The Jet” Rodriguez
• 1994 – D2: The Mighty Ducks as Luis Mendoza
• 1996 – NYPD Blue as Teenager
• 1996 – D3: The Mighty Ducks as Luis Mendoza
• 1997 – Chicago Hope as Carlos Lunes (1 ep)
• 2005 – The Sandlot 2 as Benjamin Franklin “The Jet” Rodriguez, (Flashback scene)

Mike Vitar is a happily married man

The former child actor is now a happily married man with children of his own. The now 45-year-old firefighter exchanged marital vows with his wife Kym Allen, a professional photographer in 2006.

We have yet to uncover the details of how the couple met, how long they dated, and the exact date of their wedding in 2006. At the time of their wedding though, Vitar’s days as a professional actor were long behind so it would probably make sense if the guests that graced the occasion did not include any known celebrity.

As previously mentioned, Mike Vitar is also a father with all three of his children coming during his marriage to Kym whom he has been married to for over a decade. The couple welcomed their first child, a son whom they named Eli Vitar on March 21, 2007.

Just over a couple of years later on April 30, 2009, another son named Wesley Vitar was born to Mike and his wife. Almost four years later on January 31, 2013, Mike’s wife Kym gave birth to their only daughter and they named her Norah Paige Vitar. Mike Vitar’s children are currently 17 years old, 15 years old, and 11 years old respectively, but have been kept away from the media spotlight.

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A look at Mike Vitar’s legal troubles

After calling time on his acting career in 1997, Mike Vitar relatively vanished from the media spotlight. All that changed in 2015 when he got into trouble with the law for assault.

According to several sources, Mike and two other firefighters confronted 22-year-old Samuel Chang, who was handing out candy in their neighborhood to trick-or-treaters and wrongfully accused him of handing out candies that were laced with drugs.

After chasing him down and assaulting him with 2 other firefighters, Chang fell unconscious from the choke hold he had been held in by one of the firefighters. With the intervention of the CPR Mike and his colleagues performed on him, as well as the arrival of the paramedics, Chang survived only to spend weeks in the hospital.

Consequently, Vitar and his colleagues were arrested and charged with felony assault in November, but against the will of Chang’s family, the former child actor was allowed to walk with a plea of no contest to a reduced charge of misdemeanor battery. The only real consequence for him was that he was suspended without pay for six months. He has since returned to full duty with the LA Fire department and continues to live with his family in Los Angeles, California.