Carlo Rota is an English-born Italian-Canadian actor, best known to
Canadian audiences for his role on Little Mosque on the Prairie and to
international audiences for starring on the FOX series 24. He also has a
co-starring role as Emilio Solano in Jane the Virgin.
Early life Rota was born in London, England, to
Italian parents, Rina, who worked in the restaurant business, and Dante Rota, a
world-renowned chef. He grew up in Soho with two sisters and one brother.
Through his life he has lived in many places of the world, including Hong
Kong, the Bahamas and the UK before his family settled in Toronto. Rota worked
in the culinary industry for many years until he decided to abruptly switch
careers to acting. According to his interview in the book Inside Section
One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita, he said of this decision:
Career Almost immediately thereafter, Rota
landed roles in the Canadian TV series Street Legal and the critically
acclaimed Canadian independent film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn
Gould. Because of his experience prior to acting, he also hosted the Great
Canadian Food Show for CBC television in Canada, a series which was nominated for
the prestigious James Beard Award for Excellence in Culinary Journalism.
He has appeared in numerous popular TV series including 24, Queer as Folk,
Castle, La Femme Nikita, Relic Hunter, Adventure Inc, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, The
Gospel of John and Traders. Rota co-starred in the CBC sitcom Little
Mosque on the Prairie, playing Lebanese-Canadian construction
contractor Yasir Hamoudi. Rota also played a journalist for The Herald in
the horror flick, Saw V. On 24, Rota portrayed the recurring role
of Morris O'Brian, the arrogant but brilliant computer scientist husband of
Chloe O'Brian. He appeared in a few episodes of seasons 5 and 7 but appeared
for the entire length of season 6. Rota had a recurring role on the TV
series La Femme Nikita as the smarmy, green-listed terrorist informant, Mick
Schtoppel; later revealed to be Mr. Jones, a high-ranking member of Section.
In the 1999 movie The Boondock Saints, Rota starred as crime boss Giuseppe
"Papa Joe" Yakavetta. He also played movie director Tyler Jesseman in the
2000 Disney Channel Original Movie Phantom of the Megaplex.
He has made guest appearances in many other television series, including
Stargate Universe, playing Carl Strom, head of the International Oversight
Advisory, the civilian oversight committee that heads up the Atlantis
expedition and its funding., as a villain named "The Ghost" on White
Collar, as well as roles on CSI: NY, Human Target, Castle, The Mentalist,
Bones, and Grimm. He also appeared on NCIS: Los Angeles in the episode "Found"
as Kalil Abramson, as well as on AMC's show, Breaking Bad. He was a guest on
episode 11 of the second season of Top Chef Canada, the episode dedicated to
Italian cuisine 1. He acts as Edmund Wooler, in World Without End on Reelz
Channel. He married 24 co-star Nazneen Contractor
on 1 April 2010. In 2013, he was announced as the new
host of Recipe to Riches, a Canadian reality show.
He provided the voice and motion-capture performance for Majid Sadiq, leader of
The Engineers and the main antagonist in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
In 2014, he recurred as Ivan on the hit ABC television show Scandal.
In 2014, he began co-starring in Jane the Virgin as Emilio Solano.
Bibliography Heyn, Christopher. "A Conversation with
Carlo Rota." Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme
Nikita. Introduction by Peta Wilson. Los Angeles: Persistence of Vision Press,
2006. 82–87. ISBN 0-9787625-0-9. In-depth conversation with Carlo Rota
about his role as Schtoppel on La Femme Nikita, as well as his culinary
background and early acting experiences. References
External links Carlo Rota at the Internet Movie
Database Carlo Rota Interview on The Hour with
George Stroumboulopoulos Little Mosque's Carlo Rota a Chameleon,
Interview – AOL Entertainment