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What To Know
- Erik Estrada rose to fame as Officer Frank Poncherello on CHiPs, overcoming on-set injuries and contract disputes to become a household name in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
- After CHiPs, Estrada revitalized his career with roles in Spanish-language telenovelas, numerous guest appearances on TV shows, and continued involvement in film and animation projects.
- In addition to acting, Estrada has served as a reserve police officer and child protection advocate, maintaining a strong presence in public safety and media into his seventies.
For a generation of viewers, Erik Estrada will always be the smooth-talking California Highway Patrol officer riding a motorcycle down Los Angeles freeways on CHiPs. But while Ponch may be the part he is most known for, he has built a successful Hollywood career that has not stopped, even hosting the Hollywood Christmas Parade this season, airing on the CW on December 12, 2025. In the meantime, let’s find out what the 76-year-old has been up to!
How did Erik Estrada begin his career?
Estrada grew up in Manhattan and originally imagined a future in law enforcement before discovering acting in high school. His early film roles came quickly. He played Nicky Cruz in the 1970 film The Cross and the Switchblade and landed a part in the disaster hit Airport 1975, where he played flight engineer Julio. He worked steadily in film throughout the early 1970s, including another major picture, Midway, in 1976. Everything changed in 1977 when Estrada put on the tan uniform of California Highway Patrol officer Frank Poncherello for NBC’s primetime hit CHiPs. He became a household name but, behind the scenes, it was not always easy. Estrada suffered a serious on-set accident on August 6, 1979, when he was thrown from a motorcycle, fracturing ribs and breaking both wrists. He returned to the show after his recovery. However, he was briefly replaced during a salary dispute in 1981, but he came back and carried the series until it was canceled in 1983.
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After CHiPs, Estrada rebuilt his career. He acted in low-budget films throughout the 1980s and guest-starred on series like Hunter. Then, in the early 1990s, he made the wildly successful jump into Spanish-language television. He starred in the telenovela Dos mujeres, un camino, which went from its planned 100 episodes to more than 200. It became one of the most successful telenovelas in Latin America, and Estrada became enormously popular with new audiences.
By the mid-1990s, Estrada co-hosted the syndicated adventure show American Adventurer from 1994, and appeared as Ponch in music videos for Bad Religion and the Butthole Surfers. He wrote his autobiography in 1997 and reunited with the CHiPs cast in the 1998 TV movie CHiPs ’99. Throughout the ’90s, 2000s, and 2010s, he guest-starred on numerous shows, including Lizzie McGuire, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scrubs, Drake & Josh, According to Jim, and animated series such as Sealab 2021, King of the Hill and Adventure Time.
What is Erik Estrada doing now?
Erik Heinila/TNT/Everett Collection
One of the most unexpected chapters of Estrada’s life is his real involvement in law enforcement. His long association with public safety organizations eventually led him to become a reserve officer with the Muncie Police Department in Indiana, a role documented on the reality series Armed & Famous. He later moved to Virginia, where he worked for eight years as an investigator with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Bedford County. As of 2016, he has served as a reserve police officer with the St. Anthony Police Department in Idaho. His work in traffic safety campaigns and child protection programs is well documented and frequently covered by local and national media.
He has stayed busy on screen, too. Over the past decade, he has appeared in the 2013 film Finding Faith, voiced characters in animated projects like Planes: Fire and Rescue and El Americano: The Movie, and popped up in everything from the Hallmark series Picture Perfect Mysteries to the 2024 series Fallout.
Adam Taylor/NBC/Everett Collection
Off-screen, Estrada has been married three times. He married Joyce Miller in 1979, and they divorced the following year. He married entertainment executive and songwriter Peggy Rowe in 1985. They divorced in 1990 and have two sons, Anthony Erik, born in 1986, and Brandon Michael Paul, born in 1987. In 1997, he married film sound technician Nanette Mirkovich. They have one daughter, Francesca Natalia, born in 2000.
While many actors step back as they get older, Estrada has remained active in charity work, fan conventions, public safety events, and television appearances. He has supported organizations including D.A.R.E., the American Heart Association, United Way, and the CHP 11 99 Foundation, and he remains closely connected to motorcycle communities through groups like the Blue Knights.
