Esai Morales

Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films '' Bad Boys'' with Sean Penn and '' La Bamba'' with Lou Diamond Phillips. His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series '' American Family'', the Showtime series '' Resurrection Blvd.'' (2000–2002), portraying Lt. Tony Rodriguez on ''NYPD Blue'' (2001–2003), Joseph Adama in the science fiction series ''Caprica'' (2009–2010), Camino del Rio in the Netflix original series '' Ozark'' (2017), and the DC Comics supervillain Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in the superhero series ''Titans'' (2019).

Morales appeared as Gabriel, the main antagonist in the 2023 spy action film '' Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'' opposite Tom Cruise, a role which he reprises in '' Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning'' in 2025.

Early life

Of Puerto Rican descent, Morales was born in Brooklyn to Esai Morales Sr., a welder, and Iris Margarita (née Declet), a union activist involved with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Morales began his pursuit of an acting career by attending the School of Performing Arts in Manhattan.

Career

His first professional performances were in theater and television in New York. His first major film was '' Bad Boys'' (1983), about rival teenagers sentenced to a juvenile correction facility. Morales appeared in a 1985 episode of the TV series '' Fame''. He co-starred with Burt Lancaster in the 1986 NBC miniseries '' On Wings of Eagles'', playing the Iranian Rashid, the hero of a true story about Ross Perot. Morales also appeared in ''Miami Vice'', '' The Equalizer'', and '' 24''.

He played Bob Morales, the real-life ex-convict and biker half-brother of 1950s rock and roll singer Ritchie Valens, in '' La Bamba'' (1987). He also played Nicholas Walker in ''Ultraviolet'' (1992). Some of his other roles have reflected his socio-political interests, such as '' The Burning Season'' in 1994, '' My Family/Mi Familia'' in 1995, ''The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca'' (1997), and ''Southern Cross'' (1999). In the latter three films, as well as in others such as '' Bloodhounds of Broadway'' (1989) and '' Rapa-Nui'' (1994), Morales saw increased amounts of screen time, starting with a role in the Pauly Shore film '' In The Army Now'' (1994). He portrayed a police officer in the film '' Dogwatch'' (1996) and Father Herrera in ''The Virgin of Juarez'' (2006).

In the 1990s, he guest-starred on episodes of '' The Outer Limits'', '' Tales from the Crypt'', and two shorter-lived series, '' L.A. Doctors'' and '' The Hunger''. He appeared in a two-part episode of ''Family Law'' in 2000. He was part of the main cast of the long-running series ''NYPD Blue'' for three and a half seasons, from 2001 to 2004, as the head of the 15th precinct detective squad.

He played a drug dealer named Lulu in the 2002 film '' Paid in Full''. In 2005, he was a voice actor in the video game '' True Crime: New York City''.

Morales was cast in the film ''American Fusion'' (2005), and in 2006, he joined the cast of the Fox series '' Vanished'', as FBI agent Michael Tyner; the series ran for one season. In 2007, Morales appeared in an episode of the USA Network drama series ''Burn Notice'', as a Cuban shopkeeper being shaken down for "protection" money by local criminals. In 2008, Morales had a role in the CBS drama ''Jericho'', as Major Edward Beck. He appeared in all seven episodes of the shortened second season. That same year, he appeared in '' Kill Kill Faster Faster'', a film noir based on the novel of the same name by Joel Rose.

Morales played the role of Joseph Adama in the science fiction television series ''Caprica'' – Syfy's prequel to the series ''Battlestar Galactica''. The series, though highly anticipated, only ran for one season in 2010. In 2009, he served as an official festival judge for the Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles.

In 2011, Morales starred in the drama film '' Gun Hill Road'' as Enrique, and in the web drama ''Los Americans'' airing on PIC.tv. Morales worked with Tony Plana, Yvonne DeLaRosa, Lupe Ontiveros, and JC Gonzalez in '' Los Americans'', an Internet program launched in 2011.

In 2015, Robert Rodriguez cast him as Lord Amancio Malvado for the second season of horror series '' From Dusk till Dawn: The Series'', which was followed in 2017 by a main role in the first season of the Netflix original series '' Ozark'', and then in 2019 in an antagonist role for the second season of the DC Universe superhero series ''Titans'' as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke.

Morales appeared in '' Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'' as Gabriel, the film's main villain, a role which he reprised in its sequel '' Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning''.

In 2023, Morales starred in the western thriller ''Cottonmouth'', which is set for release in 2024.

Awards and honors

In 2005, Morales (along with Mercedes Ruehl) received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA).

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art, for his impact as an actor and role model.

Activism

Morales has described himself as an "actorvist", primarily as one of the founders of the ''National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts'', taking inspiration from his mother, who was an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. He is also interested in environmental issues and was a founding board member of E.C.O. (Earth Communications Office).

In a February 28, 2007, all-star benefit reading of ''The Gift of Peace'' at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, he portrayed a hopeful member of a struggling immigrant family. The play was an open appeal and fundraiser for passage of U.S. House Resolution 808, which sought to establish a Cabinet-level "Department of Peace" in the U.S. government, to be funded by a two percent diversion of the Pentagon's annual budget.

Personal life

Morales is a vegetarian. He has a daughter, born in 2010.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video game

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Esai
1962 births
American male film actors
American actors of Puerto Rican descent
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Living people
Male actors from Brooklyn
Hispanic and Latino American male actors
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors