Charles de Lauzirika, of Basque ancestry, grew up in La Crescenta, California. He attended Glendale College, where he served as entertainment editor for "In Focus", the college's weekly public-access TV show. He also contributed to the campus newspaper El Vaquero, earning multiple JACC student journalism awards as an editorial cartoonist, entertainment editor, and editor-in-chief. Lauzirika later attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he wrote and directed a fully funded 16mm sync-soun ...