Career
Escandon's U.S. career gained its widest visibility through advertising. Between 1979 and 1988, Frito-Lay chose him to introduce Tostitos tortilla chips to American consumers, making him the brand's television spokesperson for approximately eight and a half years.2 The campaign became a recognizable fixture of 1980s American television advertising; later installments placed Escandon in parody versions of classic programs including The Lone Ranger, The Addams Family, Mr. Ed, and Dragnet.2
Alongside his commercial work, Escandon maintained a steady presence in film and television. His screen credits include a role in Kung Fu (1973), four episodes of the primetime soap Falcon Crest (1982) as Dave Herrera, an episode of Reading Rainbow (1985) as narrator, the live-action/animated hybrid film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and a voice role as the Pirate in The Pagemaster (1994).1 He also appeared in the Disney animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).1
In animation, Escandon voiced the recurring character El Dorado, a Latino superhero, in the Super Friends animated series from 1981 to 1984.45 Later television voice credits include Professor Spinoza in one episode of The Wild Thornberrys (1998), Senor Cisneros in one episode of Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1996), Dr. Salazer in the Real Adventures of Jonny Quest episode "The Mummies of Malenque," and Commercial Narrator in one episode of Breaking Bad (2010).1 His most substantial later animation role was Don Toro in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (2003), a recurring role across 11 credited episodes of the children's series.1
Extreme Ghostbusters
In 1997, Escandon provided the guest voice of Cohila in the Extreme Ghostbusters episode "The Crawler."3 Cohila is an ancient South American insect demon who had been sealed in a state of hibernation for centuries before being unleashed on a present-day city.6 The episode was one of several in Extreme Ghostbusters to feature antagonists drawn from non-European mythological traditions, and Escandon's experience voicing characters with Latin American roots made him a natural fit for the role.
Death
Fernando Escandon died on September 22, 2017, in Los Angeles, California.1 The Fandom wiki for the Hanna-Barbera animated universe noted him as one of the last surviving voices of the Super Friends El Dorado character.
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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IMDb, "Fernando Escandon (nm0260197)," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0260197/bio/
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hobbyfan, "You Know The Voice: Fernando Escandon (1979)," Saturday Morning Archives (May 31, 2017), http://saturdaymorningarchives.blogspot.com/2017/05/you-know-voice-fernando-escandon-1980.html
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IMDb, "Extreme Ghostbusters: The Crawler (tt0574540)," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0574540/
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"El Dorado (Super Friends)," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_(Super_Friends)
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Marc Tyler Nobleman, "Super '70s and '80s: Super Friends -- Fernando Escandon (El Dorado)," Noblemania (August 2011), https://www.noblemania.com/2011/08/super-70s-and-80s-super-friendsfernando.html
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Spook Central, "Extreme Ghostbusters: The Crawler," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.spookcentral.us/sclib/extreme-ghostbusters-the-crawler
