David Zayas

David Zayas
Zayas in 2007
Born	(1962-08-15) August 15, 1962 Ponce, Puerto Rico
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1995–present
Notable work	Angel Batista on Dexter Enrique Morales on Oz Sal Maroni on Gotham
Spouse	Liza Colón-Zayas ​ (m. 1998)​

David Zayas (born August 15, 1962) is a Puerto Rican actor. He is best known for his roles as Angel Batista on the Showtime series Dexter and Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama series Oz.

Early life

Zayas was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and raised in The Bronx, New York.

Career

Zayas joined the United States Air Force at age 19 and was a police officer with the New York City Police Department for almost 15 years. His experience as a police officer allowed him to develop as a character actor, leading to a series of acting jobs on television and film, mainly playing law enforcement officers, but playing characters on the other side of the law, as well, such as Enrique Morales on HBO's long-running prison-drama Oz. Zayas was a main cast member of Dexter for all of its eight seasons.

Zayas has been a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company since 1992, a New York City-based traveling actors group. He branched out into television and film projects, and has diversified with guest roles in such popular television series such as New York Undercover, Person of Interest, FBI (playing Mexican drug lord Antonio Vargas), and NYPD Blue. At LAByrinth, he met his future wife, actress Liza Colón.

(L-R): Julie Benz, David Zayas, Michael C. Hall and C.S. Lee at the Paley Center for Media Gala Honoring Showtime Networks in 2008

Zayas played a corrupt police officer in 16 Blocks (2006) and an NYPD officer in Michael Clayton (2007). He is featured in the independent film Shadowboxing (2010), which appeared on the film festival circuit. He appears in Sylvester Stallone's feature film The Expendables (2010) and The Brothers Strause's film Skyline (2010). In 2012, Zayas played Ernie Trask, a hotel super, in the twelfth episode of season 1 of Person of Interest. In the 2013 he portrayed Detective Esteban Flores in Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret, a television movie about the murder of Travis Alexander.

Zayas portrays mob boss Don Salvatore Maroni in the Batman prequel, Gotham, which premiered on Fox on September 22, 2014. Shortly thereafter, he appeared in Annie (2014) as Lou, a gregarious bodega owner who helps Cameron Diaz's Hannigan learn to love herself.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Lena's Dreams	Jorge
1998	OK Garage	Omar
1998	Scar City	Cop #1
1998	Return to Paradise	Construction Foreman
1998	Rounders	Trooper Osborne
1998	Bleach	Lieutenant Ballard	Short film
1999	Bringing Out the Dead	Cop In Elevator
1999	Kingdom Come	Unknown
2000	The Yards	Officer Jerry Rifkin
2001	Sam the Man	Officer Billy
2002	Washington Heights	David
2002	A Gentleman's Game	Alfred D'Angelo
2003	Anne B. Real	Cynthia's Dad
2004	Mimmo & Paulie	Paulie	Short film
2004	Jailbait	Guard
2004	Brooklyn Bound	Popo
2005	The Interpreter	Secret Service Agent Charlie Russell
2005	Sangre/Blood	Nestor	Short film
2005	The Feast of the Goat	Antonio De La Maza
2006	16 Blocks	Detective Bobby Torres
2006	The Path to 9/11	Lou Napoli
2006	Bristol Boys	Detective Benson
2007	Michael Clayton	Detective Dalberto
2007	The Savages	Eduardo
2009	Burning Mussolini	Hector
2009	Wake	Detective Grayson
2009	Flying By	Tony
2010	13	Detective Larry Mullane
2010	Shadowboxing	Bill
2010	The Expendables	General Garza
2010	Skyline	Oliver
2013	Samuel Bleak	Ruben Ramirez
2014	Ride	Ramon
2014	Annie	Lou
2015	The Wannabe	Pablo Guzman
2016	Tallulah	Detective Richards
2017	Teen Titans: The Judas Contract	Alberto Reyes (voice)	Direct-to-video
2017	Shine	Ramon
2020	Body Cam	Sergeant Kesper
2020	Force of Nature	John The Baptist
2021	R#J	Fernando Capulet

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Law & Order	McGinty	Episode: "Savages"
1996	New York Undercover	Paco Martinez	Episode: "The Enforcers"
1996	Law & Order	Raoul Cervantes	Episode: "Causa Mortis"
1997	Feds	Unknown	Episode: "Somebody's Lyin'"
1998	Trinity	Uniform Cop #1	Episode: "...To Forgive, Divine"
1998	Law & Order	Carlos	Episode: "Flight"
1999	Third Watch	Motorman	Episode: "Welcome to Camelot"
2000	NYPD Blue	Joaquin Enriquez	Episode: "These Shoots Are Made for Joaquin"
2000	The Beat	Rei Morales	12 episodes
2000	All My Children	Unknown	Episode: "13 December 2000"
2000–2003	Oz	Enrique Morales	26 episodes
2001	Wit	Code Team Blue Head	Television movie
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Detective Milton	Episode: "Protection"
2002	UC: Undercover	Jorge Gonzales	Episode: "Manhunt"
2002	Guiding Light	Prison Guard	Episode: "22 October 2002"
2003	Law & Order	John Mireles	Episode: "Smoke"
2003	Angels in America	Super	3 episodes
2003	Undefeated	Paulie	Television movie
2005	Angel	Angel's Father	Television movie
2006–2013	Dexter	Angel Batista	96 episodes Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2009–12)
2006	Numb3rs	Carlos Costavo	Episode: "Brutus"
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Fire Marshall	Episode: "On Fire"
2007	Without a Trace	Gabriel Molina	Episode: "Crash and Burn"
2007	Shark	Alvarez	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"
2007	The Closer	Brian	Episode: "Grave Doubts"
2007	Burn Notice	Javier	Episode: "Pilot"
2008	Law & Order	Detective Justin Cabrera	Episode: "Submission"
2009	CSI: Miami	Ben Porterson	Episode: "Wolfe in Sheep's Clothing"
2009	In Plain Sight	Harrison Locke	Episode: "Rubble with a Cause"
2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Lt. Stanley Maas	Season 9: 2 episodes
2012	Person of Interest	Ernie Trask	Episode: "Super"
2012	Grimm	Salvadore Butrell	Episode: "Leave It to Beavers"
2013	The Following	Tyson Hernandez	Episode: "Guilt"
2013	Deception	Frank	Episode: "Pilot"
2013	Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret	Detective Esteban Flores	Television movie
2013–2023	The Blacklist	Manny Soto	4 episodes
2014	Saint George	Junior	6 episodes
2014–2015	Gotham	Sal Maroni	8 episodes
2015	Elementary	Juan 'El Gato' Murillo	Episode: "The Past Is Parent"
2016	Bloodline	Sheriff Aguirre	7 episodes
2016–2017	Shut Eye	Eduardo Bernal	20 episodes
2017–2021	Blue Bloods	Governor of New York Martin Mendez	6 episodes
2018	Seven Seconds	Captain Carlos Medina	Episodes: "Of Gods and Men", "Until It Do"
2018	Chicago P.D.	Carlos Mendoza	Episode: "Endings"
2018	Quantico	Charlie	Episode: "Hell's Gate"
2019	Deadly Class	El Alma del Diablo	5 episodes
2020	Next	Ignacio	3 episodes
2020–2021	FBI	Antonio Vargas	3 episodes
2021	Pose	Carlos	Episode: "Something Old, Something New"
2021–2022	Dexter: New Blood	Angel Batista	Episodes: "Runaway" & "Sins of the Father"
2024	Diarra from Detroit	Marshall	Recurring role
2024	Bob's Burgers	Bubble Master (voice)	Episode: "Jade in the Shade"
2024	The Bear	David Marrero	2 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train	Valdez	East 13th Street Theatre
2003	Our Lady of 121st Street	Edwin	Union Square Theatre
2003	Anna in the Tropics	Cheché	Royale Theatre
2008	The Little Flower of East Orange	Espinosa / Surgeon 2	Joseph Papp Public Theater/Martinson Hall
2022	Cost of Living	Eddie	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
2024	Brooklyn Laundry	Owen	New York City Center Stage I

External links

• David Zayas at IMDb
• "One on one with David Zayas". HoboTrashcan.com. July 3, 2008.