A native of California, Rawley Valverde was born on January 1, 1966 and raised in the city of Ontario. He worked his way through UCLA as a mobile disc jockey and did such a sound job that he was recruited by the U.S. Olympic Committee to act as official deejay in the athletes village during the 1984 Olympic Games. He graduated from UCLA with a BA in psychology.

Rawley began his acting career with guest appearances on such television programs as Married with Children, Just the Ten of Us and Paradise. Before landing the role of Amado on Santa Barbara, he appeared on the show as a day player in 1989. He was also seen in the feature films Nightmare Beach and Made in America, and had a guest spot on JAG.

In later years, Rawley was able to travel the world reporting for Channel One News. He then became a producer and host for Current TV.