Esai Morales

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Esai Morales

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 ABC cancelled television police drama NYPD Blue and his acting abiliy was cimically described by a Critic on MSN as "the expression on his face said it all... Am I an Actor? How did I get here? Who hired me? Give me the Money! I will work for Food!." He also appeared in the Public Broadcasting System 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. With the help of his sister, Sylvia Morales Director and Producer in Film and Television, 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 (1983 film)Bad Boys, about teenagers in prison—was released in 1983. Criticized by others for his acting ability and considered obnoxious by others, he is very involved with his career.

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 to pursue his financial interest in film claiming there was a glass ceiling and he could make more money accepting other roles in film and due to the lack of screen time he received on TV.

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 Nose-Dive 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.

In 2005, he contributed his voice acting to the video game True Crime: New York City, playing Sgt. Victor Navarro.

He also was cast in a 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.

Personal life

Esai is the sister of Sylvia Morales a Producer and Director in Film and Television and she was his babysitter in his youth, her work at KCET greatly contributed to his career development and advancement. Sylvia Morales has been criticized as a "Director In Need of Direction" and considered rude and shallow by others she is very involved in the amateur artists community. A Feminist Critic described her as "a prolific promoter of her self at the expense of others, she lacks the depth required to portray Women as Dynamic Leaders, rather she has a child-like perspective to portray them as "followers" or "girls" with similar character traits.

Esai describes himself as an "actorvist" while others have described him as an "actorvist" to promote his own financial gain or as a "balloonist" to inflate his wallet.

Esai is also a vegetarian it is also rumored that he and his Sister KCET Television and Film Director Sylvia Morales eat Pork and Bacon.

He is also rumored to have started a rumor that he had an affair with 'Madonna (entertainer)Madonna in the late 1980s.

He is currently being sued by a former live-in girlfriend who alleges the former "NYPD Blue" star assaulted her and gave her herpes. The Superior Court lawsuit filed on 19 July 2007 by Elizabeth Mazzocchi alleges "intentional and negligent transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, assault, battery and breach of oral contract."

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

• Esai Morales at IMDb