Esai Morales pictures & biography

Hot Videos

Female Celeb
Wallpapers

Esai Morales (born October 1, 1962) is an actor who was most recently cast to portray a priest in The Virgin of Juarez and as Lt. Tony Rodriguez on the long-running ABC television police drama NYPD Blue. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family, which was rejected as a series by CBS and later picked up by KCET and PBS and the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd..

Morales took an interest in acting at the age of 12 when he saw Al Pacino in the movie Dog Day Afternoon. He began his pursuit of this career by attending the High School for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. His first professional performances were in theater and television in New York, and his first film—Bad Boys, about teenagers in prison—was released in 1983.

In another role he played a similarly unsympathetic character, the ex-convict/biker half-brother of 1950s rock and roll singer Ritchie Valens in the 1987 movie 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 in 1997, and Southern Cross in 1998. In the last three films, as well as in a few others such as Bloodhounds of Broadway in 1989 and Rapa Nui in 1994, Morales was given roles which highlighted (with increasing amounts of screen time) his acting as a man. He portrayed a police officer with the film Dogwatch in 1996. He has been cast as priest in The Virgin of Juarez.

Before The Virgin of Juarez and NYPD Blue, Morales appeared on television most notably in the mid-1980s, on Fame. In Where Eagles Dare he played a soldier in WWII. Morales has also appeared in Miami Vice, The Equalizer, and The Twilight Zone.

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 (tv series) 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 (due mainly to the lack of screen time squad leaders received).

Appearing in three different television series at once did not mean the end of his film career, though others have commented that his career has taken a nosedive since the film La Bamba. 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 he played a drug dealer named Lulu. He also was cast in another Film American Fusion and On June 19, 2006, he would join the cast of Fox's series Vanished, as the FBI Boss of the Gale Harold and Ming-Na characters. The series was later canceled.


Born in New York and of Puerto Rican descent, his parents divorced. He describes himself as an "actorvist" primarily and as one of the founders of the Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, taking inspiration from his mother, who was an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

In the Febrary 28, 2007 all-star benefit reading of "The Gift of Peace" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, he portrays 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 is an open appeal and fundraiser for passage of U.S. House Resolution 808, which seeks 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.

Latest news about Esai Morales

The Hollywood Reporter May 07, 2008 Esai Morales has joined the cast of Sci Fi Channel's two-hour "Caprica" pilot. The project, from Universal Media Studios, is a prequel to the network's "Battlestar Galactica." Morales will play Joseph Adama, the father of ... Continue reading Esai Morales Talks To Us About Caprica At The Austin Film Festival ... Over the weekend, we were able to sit down with actor Esai Morales for an interview at the 16th annual Austin Film Festival. He was in town plugging his new show, Caprica, a prequel to the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica set ... Continue reading Sotomayor Salsas With Esai Morales at D.C. Gala | ABA Journal ... Invited onto the dance floor last night by actor Esai Morales at an annual Washington, DC, gala held by the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, Sonia Sotomayor drew cheers for her salsa steps and turns during a mambo number, ... Continue reading Esai Morales Did Not Give His Ex Herpes | Guanabee You may remember Esai Morales from his role in La Bamba or his shitty NYPD gig. Either way, I always figured he'd go “places� I mean, he's pretty good in La Bamba and he's not bad looking at all. Oh but there's this whole shady bit. ... Continue reading James Marsters Gets Smacked Around in New 'Caprica' Trailer ... Most of the clips feature stars Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales at odds with each other, trying to keep their families together. The latest trailer finally gives us a peek at James Marsters as bad guy Barnabas Greeley. ... Continue reading How Caprica's Esai Morales follows Edward James Olmos | SCI FI Wire How Caprica's Esai Morales follows Edward James Olmos, by Jenna Busch, for SCI FI Wire,, the Syfy news service. Continue reading Esai Morales Dishes on Caprica Character - TV Fanatic Esai Morales will star in Caprica. The series premieres in January 2010. Continue reading First Look at James Marsters In 'Caprica' | The Flickcast Caprica, featuring the cool James Marsters as well as Eric Stolz, Esai Morales, Sasha Roiz, Polly Walker and Paula Malcomson, premieres on the SyFy network on January 22nd of next year. ... Continue reading A Justifiable Mambo: Sonia Sotomayor and Esai Morales Coolest Supreme Tribunal Justness ever? If her recent karaoke outing ( to keep taking the bench at SCOTUS, natch ) was n't proof plenty, here we hold picture of the newest Justness, Ms Sotomayor, dancing the mambo: Continue reading a justifiable mambo: sonia sotomayor and esai morales justice sonia sotomayor dancing the mambo with esai morales from washington life magazine on vimeo. i like. and i won't ruin your fun by saying, “now try and imagine scalia doing that.� hat-tip: dorinda fox. Continue reading Hollywood Actors Jessica alba Esai Morales pictures and Esai Morales biography

List of celebrities

Mallika Sherawat Mamta Kulkarni Maná Mandy Moore Manisha Koirala Manoj Bajpai Manuel Ojeda Marcela Bovio Marcelo Treviño Marcia Cross Marcia Gay Harden Marco Alcaraz Marco Antonio Regil Margaret Cho María Antonieta de las Nieves Maria Bello María Elena Velasco María Félix Mariana Levy Mariana Seoane Marielle Marisa Tomei Mark Herras Mark Ruffalo Mark Wahlberg Marky Cielo Marley Shelton Marlon Brando Martika Ibarra Martin Lawrence Martin Scorsese Martin Sheen Martina Gedeck Marvin Agustín Mary Lynn Rajskub Mary Steenburgen Mary-Louise Parker Masaharu Fukuyama Masahiko Nishimura Masahiko Tsugawa Masakazu Tamura Masanobu Ando Masatoshi Nagase Matsu Takako Matsushima Nanako Matt Damon Matt Dillon Matthew Broderick Matthew Lillard Matthew McConaughey Matthew Modine Maui Taylor Maura Tierney Mauricio Ochmann Maya Mishalska Mayuko Takata Meg Ryan Megan Mullally Meghna Naidu Mekhi Phifer Complete list of all celebrities