He began working as a professional actor in 1975 when he joined a mime school in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Having appeared briefly in Repo Man[4] and Sid and Nancy, Sandoval has also played the major roles of Treviranus (in Death and the Compass), Bennie Reyes (in Three Businessmen) and Arizona Gray (in the microfeature Repo Chick) for director Alex Cox.

Sandoval's other guest starring roles include appearances in popular series such as Frasier, ER, The X-Files, Seinfeld, Law & Order and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

[2] Sandoval has also directed taking the helm for the third season Medium episode "Whatever Possessed You", which aired in March 2007.

[7] After that, he had roles in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency,[8] Sharp Objects, and Station 19.