Esai Morales
Esai Morales
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...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth1 October 1962
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
We understand 'Roots,' and that experience was mind-boggling, and it changed the way society viewed race relations. It was incredibly important. With 'Roots,' I was just as proud as anybody else that people of color were getting their stories told.
My mother taught me when you go someplace, you leave it better than you found it.
You know, I'm not making top dollar, but when you're making top dollar, there are a lot of people waiting for you to fall.
Well, actually yes, in 1988. There was a warrant for me because my assistant hadn't paid a ticket of mine.
When you have a little 10-month-old who is climbing up your leg because you are their mountain - there's no nobler reason to get out of bed every day. There's no better reason to live, to make sure you provide as much guidance and as much room for that child to thrive.
It's people politics, people dynamics that make a show really good, whether it's 'Desperate Housewives' or 'Lost' or 'The Sopranos.' It's the people we've grown to love or otherwise.
I just arrive, they hand me a script and say, do it.
I don't want to be the 'spice' added to a show. I'm not a condiment!
I am tired of our characters being so incomplete. When do we ever save the day in a film? When does a Latino actor get to be the hero?
We hear a lot in this country about family, and 'American Family' just shows us a portrait we haven't seen as much of yet. 'American Family' lets us know that being American isn't about the color of your hair or eyes or skin: it's really a state of mind.
I think that racism has gotten more subtle, and it's not even racism anymore: it's placism. Like where you live or whether you went to community college or Harvard, and it exists within the race.
Do I have to see movies and television about the English throne or the Holocaust every year? There are multiple multi-million dollar movies with the same backdrop. But our Holocaust - meaning Latino - aren't ever told.
I think the legacy left behind by 'Battlestar' speaks for itself. I thought that these avid fans, most of whom were skeptical at first... to turn them into a fan of 'Caprica' as well is a daunting task, a big challenge.
We as Americans of Latin descent are just as American as anyone else of any other descent.