Esai Morales
Acting
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.
Known for
2026War Machine
Army Officer Torres
2026Dark Horse
Paulo Pontes
2025Cottonmouth
Abe
2025Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Gabriel
2025Queen of Manhattan
Papi
2024Crescent City
Luke Carson
2023Master Gardener
Oscar Neruda
2023Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Gabriel
2021Art of Love
2021More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story
Self
2021Senior Moment
Diego Lozana
2020The Wall of Mexico
Henry Arista
2020Find Your Groove
Self
2019Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage
Self
2019Imprisoned
Governor Mandera
2018Love and Other Stunts
2018SuperFly
Adalberto Gonzalez
2017Halfway There
Ian Sanchez
2016Never Back Down: No Surrender
Hugo Vega
2016Casa Vita
Rodrigo Vita
2015Spare Parts
Mr. Santillan
2015Playin' for Love
Principle Jose Marti
2014The Journey of a Female Comic
2014Jarhead 2: Field of Fire
Cpt. Jones