Jonathan William Scott Hofstedt (born October 23, 1969) is an American actor. Known professionally as Jon Huertas, he is best known for his role as witch hunter Brad Alcerro in ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', Sergeant Antonio 'Poke' Espera in HBO's ''

Generation Kill ''Generation Kill'' is a 2004 book written by ''Rolling Stone'' journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps (the " Devil Dogs" mentioned on ...

'',

Joe Negroni Jose Negroni (September 9, 1940 – September 5, 1978) was an American singer of Puerto Rican descent. He was a rock and roll pioneer and founding member of the rock and roll group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Early years Negroni's famil ...

in the film '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'', homicide detective Javier Esposito in ''

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

'' and Miguel Rivas in ''

This Is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American drama television series created by Dan Fogelman that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents and their three children in several different ti ...

''.

Early life

Huertas was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to a Puerto Rican father and an American mother. He was raised by his grandparents. By ten years of age, he began taking part in school plays, which was his first inspiration to pursue acting. Huertas graduated

John Handley High School John Handley High School (usually referred to as JHHS) is an endowed public high school located in the city of Winchester, Virginia. It is a part of Winchester Public Schools. It was founded by a grant from Judge John Handley, hence the schoo ...

in Winchester, Virginia, in 1987 at the age of 17. After spending a year attending college, he enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

in 1987 and served for eight years as an aircraft nuclear/conventional weapons specialist. He participated in

Operation Just Cause Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Career

Huertas's acting career started in 1993 when he played an uncredited part in ''

The Webbers ''At Home with the Webbers'' is a 1993 television film directed by Brad Marlowe. Starring Jeffrey Tambor, Jennifer Tilly and David Arquette, the film centers on a typical American family who are cast in a reality TV series. Cast *Jeffrey Tambor ...

''. In 1998, Huertas portrayed

in the romantic drama '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' alongside such stars as

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry ( ; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant of 1986 and also placing six ...

Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (; April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards for '' ...

, and

Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (né Middleton; October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. He gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received ...

. In 1999, he appeared in two films: the horror movie '' Cold Hearts'' and the action movie ''Stealth Fighter''. In the 2000s, he appeared in many films, but his biggest role was in television in 2008 as Sergeant Espera in

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

'' about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. From 1998 to 1999, Huertas played the role of Antonio in the television series ''

Moesha ''Moesha'' (, ) is an American television sitcom that aired on UPN from January 23, 1996, to May 14, 2001. The series stars Contemporary R&B, R&B singer Brandy Norwood, Brandy as Moesha Denise Mitchell, an African-American teenager living with ...

''. From 1999 to 2000, he played Brad, a witch hunter, in ''

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appea ...

''. From 2009 to 2016, Huertas starred in the role of Detective Esposito in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's police procedural ''

''. In 2012, Huertas and his ''Castle'' co-star Stana Katic received the award for Performance in a Drama Episode at the 16th Annual PRISM Awards. Huertas was elected to serve a one-year term, beginning September 25, 2010, as an alternate member of the National Board of Directors and as a member of the Hollywood Division Board of Directors of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

. Huertas joined the cast of ''

'' in 2016 for the show's first season. In an interview with Tell-Tale TV, Huertas said he didn't know at first that his character Miguel on ''This Is Us'' would be aged, or that he would wind up married to

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single "Candy (Mandy Moore song), Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot ...

's character, Rebecca. In October 2019, Huertas appeared on '' The Rookie''. He played Alejandro Mejia/Cesar Ojeda in the episode "The Bet", reuniting with former co-stars from ''

'',

Nathan Fillion Nathan Christopher Fillion (born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian and American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on ''Firefly'' and its film continuation '' Serenity'', and Richard Castle on ''Castle''. , he sta ...

and

Seamus Dever Seamus Patrick Dever (born July 27, 1976) is an American actor known for his role as Detective Kevin Ryan in the ABC series ''Castle''. Early life Dever was born in Flint, Michigan, and moved at the age of six to Bullhead City, Arizona, ...

, as part of ABC's Cast from the Past Week.

Personal life

Huertas married his long-term girlfriend, Nicole Bordges, in Tulum, Mexico, on May 4, 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

Directing credits

References

External links

* *
Jon Huertas
at

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huertas, Jon Living people American male television actors United States Air Force personnel of the Gulf War United States Air Force airmen Puerto Rican male actors 1969 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors