Esai Morales

Esai Morales is an American actor of Puerto Rican descent, born Esai Manuel Morales Jr. on October 1, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in a working‑class family; his father was a welder and his mother, Iris Margarita Declet, was a union activist with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Morales attended the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, where his passion for storytelling and performance began to flourish. He debuted on screen in the early 1980s, gaining attention with the teenage drama Bad Boys (1983) and later cementing his reputation with the iconic role of Bob Morales in La Bamba (1987), a biopic about Ritchie Valens. Throughout the 1990s he chose projects that reflected his socio‑political interests, appearing in films such as The Burning Season (1994), My Family/Mi Familia (1995), and The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (1997).

In television, Morales became a familiar face on series like NYPD Blue (2001‑2004), where he portrayed Lt. Tony Rodriguez, and the sci‑fi prequel Caprica (2009‑2010) as Joseph Adama. More recent highlights include his compelling turn as the villainous Gabriel in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and its sequel, as well as a recurring role as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in the superhero series Titans (2019). Beyond acting, he is a musician, director, and producer, and has been an outspoken activist, co‑founding the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts and serving on the board of the Earth Communications Office. Morales is a lifelong vegetarian, married to Elvimar Silva since 2010, and the father of a daughter born that same year. His career, spanning over four decades, showcases a blend of artistic versatility, cultural advocacy, and enduring commitment to his craft.