He was a well-known radio performer in the 1940s, and opened the popular Copacabana nightclub in September 1941, which was frequented by visiting Hollywood celebrities.
He hosted shows in the nightclub and performed in vaudeville, and recorded an album in the mid-40s, "A Night at Joaquin Garay's Copacabana".
Jack Cutting, who was still the studio's resident "foreign expert", noted the problem as early as February 1944 when he heard the earliest recordings: "The Garay rendition of the song ['The Three Caballeros]' is excellent, but do not care for his handling of the narration back of 'Las Posadas'.
[4] In the 1950s, Garay appeared in the films Crisis (1950) Saddle Tramp (1950), Lightning Strikes Twice (1951), Fast Company (1953) and Latin Lovers (1953).
In the 1970s, Garay appeared on television in the TV-movies Red Sky at Morning (1971) and The Gun (1974), and in the shows Sanford and Son ("Pops 'n' Pals", 1973) and Mannix ("Bird of Prey", 1975).