Esai Manuel Morales, Jr. is an American actor. He played Bob Morales in the 1987
biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the
Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. He is perhaps best known for his roles as
Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue and Joseph Adama in the science fiction
television series Caprica. Early life
Of Puerto Rican descent, Morales was born in Brooklyn, New York to Esai
Morales, Sr., a welder, and Iris Margarita, 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 film was Bad Boys, about teenagers in juvenile correction
facility. He played the ex-convict and biker half-brother of 1950s rock and
roll singer Ritchie Valens in La Bamba. 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 and Southern Cross. In the
latter three films, as well as in others such as Bloodhounds of Broadway and Rapa
Nui, Morales saw increased amounts of screen time, starting with a role in the
Pauly Shore film In The Army Now. He portrayed a police officer in the film
Dogwatch and Father Herrera in The Virgin of Juarez.
Morales appeared on television in the mid-1980s on Fame. He co-starred with
Burt Lancaster in the NBC-TV 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. 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 was a featured TV actor, seen in a two-part
episode of Family Law in 2000. His tenure on NYPD Blue as the head of the
15th precinct detective squad began in mid-season 2001 and continued until
2004, when he decided to cancel his contract.
The film Paid in Full was scheduled for release in October 2002. It marked a
return to a criminal character such as those in his previous roles - in this
case playing a drug dealer named Lulu. In 2005, he received the Rita Moreno
HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.
That same year, he contributed his vocal talents to the video game True Crime:
New York City, playing Sgt. Victor Navarro.
Morales was cast in the film American Fusion, and on June 19, 2006, he joined
the cast of the Fox series Vanished, as FBI agent Michael Tyner alongside actors
Gale Harold and Ming-Na. The series was later canceled. In 2007, he completed
filming for Kill Kill Faster Faster, a contemporary film noir inspired by the
critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Joel Rose. Also 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 early 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.
In May 2008, it was announced that Morales would play the role of Joseph
Adama in the science fiction television series Caprica – Syfy's prequel to the
series Battlestar Galactica. The series premiered on January 22, 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. In March 2015 Robert Rodriguez casted him as Lord Amancio Malvado for
the horror drama series From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.
Personal life 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..
In the 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, and plays alongside actors Ed Asner, Barbara Bain, Amy
Brenneman, George Coe, Wendie Malick, and James Pickens, Jr.. 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. Morales is a vegetarian. He and
girlfriend Elvimar Silva had a daughter, Mariana Oiveira, on September 24, 2010.
Filmography = Film=
= Television= Video games
References External links
Official MySpace
Facebook Esai Morales at the Internet Movie
Database