Esai Morales
Biography
Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in Bad Boys with Sean Penn and La Bamba with Lou Diamond Phillips. His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series American Family, the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd. (2000–2002), portraying Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue (2001–2003), Joseph Adama in the science fiction series Caprica (2009–2010), Camino del Rio in the Netflix original series Ozark (2017), and the DC Comics supervillain Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in the superhero series Titans (2019).
Morales appeared as Gabriel, the main antagonist in the 2023 spy action film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opposite Tom Cruise, a role reprised in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in 2025.
Filmography
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Live Like That
2027
Dark Horse
2026
as Paulo Pontes
War Machine
2026
as Torres
Queen of Manhattan
2025
as Papi
Cottonmouth
2025
as Abe
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
2025
as Gabriel
Crescent City
2024
as Luke Carson
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
2023
as Gabriel
Master Gardener
2023
as Oscar Neruda
Art of Love
2021
Senior Moment
2021
as Diego Lozana
More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story
2021
as Self
The Wall of Mexico
2020
as Henry Arista
Find Your Groove
2020
as Self
Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage
2019
as Self
Imprisoned
2019
as Governor Mandera
SuperFly
2018
as Adalberto Gonzalez
Love and Other Stunts
2018
Halfway There
2017
as Ian Sanchez
Never Back Down: No Surrender
2016
as Hugo Vega
Casa Vita
2016
as Rodrigo Vita
Spare Parts
2015
as Mr. Santillan
Playin' for Love
2015
as Principle Jose Marti
Jarhead 2: Field of Fire
2014
as Cpt. Jones