Santiago Cabrera (; born 5 May 1978) is a Chilean actor who has worked mainly in the UK and United States. Cabrera is best known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

'' Heroes'',

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthu ...

in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

drama series ''

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

'', and Aramis in the BBC series '' The Musketeers''. He was also the lead in the CBS drama ''

Salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

'' as Darius Tanz, Captain Cristóbal "Cris" Rios in the

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series '' Star Trek: Picard'', and Richard Deetz in '' Beetlejuice Beetlejuice''.

Early life

Cabrera was born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Venezuela, where his father, a Chilean diplomat, was stationed at the time. He is the middle child of three. Moving along with his father's career, Santiago grew up mainly in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, but also in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. His family returned to Chile when he was fifteen years old. He was captain of his football team in high school, and only tried acting when his teachers encouraged him. He trained at the

Drama Centre London Drama Centre London (often abbreviated as Drama Centre) was a British drama school in Kings Cross, London, King's Cross, London, where it moved in 2011 after a major reshaping of the University of the Arts London. It was part of Central Saint ...

from 2000 to 2003.

Career

Concurrent with his final year at the centre, he made his television debut with small roles in the British television series '' Battlefield Britain'', '' Judge John Deed'', '' Spooks'' and '' As If''. His first role after graduating from drama school was Montano in Shakespeare's ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'', at the Northampton Theatre Royal. He also starred in the 2006 film ''

Love and Other Disasters ''Love and Other Disasters'' is a 2006 romantic comedy film written and directed by Alek Keshishian. It had its world premiere at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2008, the film had its UK premiere in London as the gala scree ...

'' as the Argentinian Paolo Sarmiento, alongside

Brittany Murphy Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer, known for her work in both comedy and drama. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue a career in a ...

and

Matthew Rhys Matthew Rhys Evans ( ; born 8 November 1974) is a Welsh actor. He gained recognition for playing Kevin Walker in the family drama series '' Brothers & Sisters'' (2006–2011) and Philip Jennings in the spy drama series ''The Americans'' (2013 ...

. He has appeared on American television first in ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

,'' as Octavius. He appeared as Isaac Mendez in the NBC series '' Heroes''; once the character's arc ended, he narrated some episodes of the BBC's spin-off documentary series '' Heroes Unmasked''. He also played

in the

drama series ''

'' and Aramis in The Musketeers. On 20 January 2007 episode of the NBC Universal late-night programme ''Vivo Mun2'', Cabrera discussed his semi-professional football career in London before he fully committed to acting. He also stated that C.D. Universidad Católica of Santiago is his favourite team, however, he remains a fan of London club Queens Park Rangers F.C., for which he was a mascot as a child. On 7 September 2008, Cabrera participated in Soccer Aid, a British charity football match in support of

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

. He later repeated this venture in 2014, playing once again for the Rest of the World. In November 2008 he played for the Hollywood United team in a special charity match raising money for people affected by the devastation of

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

. Santiago has also played the role of Darius Tanz in the CBS/Netflix show ''

''. On 4 March 2019, CBS announced Cabrera was cast in '' Star Trek: Picard'', starring Patrick Stewart, which started shooting in April 2019. He played the supporting role of Captain Cristobal Rios in the limited series. Cabrera appeared in Disney's '' Godmothered'' in 2020. On 9 September 2021, Cabrera announced he would return to Star Trek: Picard for the series' second season with a trailer posted to his Instagram. On 5 May 2022, Cabrera promoted the final episode of the second season of Picard on his Instagram. It was his last appearance on the series. In 2024, he played Richard Deetz, husband of Lydia and father of Astrid Deetz, in '' Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'', a sequel to 1988's ''

Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American Gothic film, gothic dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Michael McDowell (author), Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren based on a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson (sc ...

''.

Personal life

Cabrera is married to Anna Marcea, a theatre director, and they have a son.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video game

Theatre

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Santiago 1978 births Living people Alumni of the Drama Centre London 21st-century Chilean male actors Chilean male film actors Actors from Caracas English male actors Chilean expatriates in England Naturalized citizens of Chile Hispanic and Latino American male actors