Juan Pablo Raba

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Raba and the second or maternal family name is Vidal.

Juan Pablo Raba
Raba in 2015
Born	(1977-01-14) 14 January 1977 Bogotá, Colombia
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Mónica Fonseca ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	Joaquín Raba Fonseca and Josephine Joie Raba Fonseca

Juan Pablo Raba Vidal (born 14 January 1977) is a Colombian film, TV and telenovela actor, best known internationally for his role as Gustavo Gaviria in the 2015 Netflix series Narcos.

Early life

Raba was born in Bogotá, Colombia where he graduated from Colegio Nueva Granada. After his parents' divorce, he was raised in Spain by his Argentinian father. There, he earned a baccalaureate degree and started studying advertising, but soon decided this was not what he wanted in life. He left his studies incomplete and went to live in Argentina.

Career

Raba subsequently returned to Colombia and worked as a model. He sought work from the Colombian TV channel Caracol, who suggested that he take acting lessons. He took acting classes in Bogota with Edgardo Roman and then continued his studies in New York at the Lee Strasberg Institute.

Not long after, he accompanied a friend to an acting class where Colombian professor Edgardo Roman was impressed by Raba's acting ability. Encouraged, Raba began attending auditions. Two months after his first audition, Caracol channel asked him to co-star in the television series Amor En Forma. In 1999, he played a small part in the TV series Marido y mujer.

Immediately after, he took the leading part in the TV series La reina de Queens. Around the same time, he appeared in the theatrical play Chronicle of a Death Foretold, based on the book by Gabriel García Márquez.

Later the Venezuelan channel RCTV asked him to co-star in the telenovela Viva La Pepa. This led to an offer to appear in La niña de mis ojos, which launched Raba's international career. In 2002's Mi gorda bella, Raba played Orestes Villanueva Mercuri, who falls in love with the good hearted Valentina.

In 2004, when he filmed for RCTV the TV series Estrambótica Anastasia. In 2005, he returned to Colombia and filmed for the channel Caracol the TV series Por amor a Gloria. In 2006 included he appeared in the movie Una Abuela Virgen and as the main character in the TV film Soltera y sin Compromiso.

In the following years he had parts in several soap operas. In 2008 Raba appeared in El Cartel de los sapos, in a 2009 episode of Tiempo final and in an episode of Mental. After that he had a part in Los Caballeros Las Prefieren Brutas. In 2013 he was a main character in Los secretos de Lucía.

In 2014, he was cast as Gustavo Gaviria, the cousin of Pablo Escobar in Narcos. He stated that this was a very personal story for him since his uncle was killed by Escobar. In 2015 Raba joined the third season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the Inhuman Joey Gutiérrez.

Personal life

In 2003, he met Colombian journalist Paula Quinteros, whom he married on December 6 in a barefoot Celtic ceremony in Los Roques, Venezuela.

In 2006, he and Paula announced their separation, which subsequently resulted in their divorce in 2007. In 2007, he dated Venezuelan soap star Marjorie de Sousa, a relationship which lasted over a year.

In August 2011, he married television presenter Mónica Fonseca in a private ceremony in Miami, United States. On 19 July 2012, his wife gave birth to their son, Joaquín Raba Fonseca. Raba is an active cyclist and now resides in Miami. With his family, he has been very active in human and animal rights organizations.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Anillo de compromiso	Fede	Short film
2007	Una abuela virgen	Carlos
2007	Ni tan largos, ni tan cortos	Carlos
2007	Puras joyitas	Bigote
2009	Día naranja	Leo
2011	The Snitch Cartel	John Mario Martínez / Pirulo
2012	El cielo en tu mirada	Mario Domínguez
2012	La Lectora	Waiter	Special appearance
2015	The 33	Darío Segovia
2016	7 años	Carlos
2017	Nacido de Nuevo	Ramon	Short film
2017	Shot Caller	Herman Gómez
2018	Peppermint	Diego Garcia
2018	Operation Entebbe	Juan Pablo
2019	Imprisoned	Dylan Burke
2021	The Marksman	Mauricio

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Amor en forma	Eduardo
1999	Marido y mujer	Isidrio
2000	La reina de Queens	Andres Velásquez
2001	Viva la Pepa	Luis Ángel Perdomo
2001	La niña de mis ojos	Alejandro Rondón
2004	Estrambótica Anastasia	Aureliano Paz
2005	Por amor a Gloria	Esteban Marín
2006	Soltera y sin compromiso	Jaime Villalba	Television film
2006	Y los declaro marido y mujer	Juan Andrés Gutiérrez
2007	Sobregiro de amor	Martín Monsalve
2002	Mi gorda bella	Orestes Villanueva Mercouri
2008	El cartel	John Mario Martínez / Pirulito
2008	Tiempo final	Franco	2 episodes
2009	Sin retorno	Diego	Episode: "Heroína"
2009	Mental	Ray Hernandez	Episode: "Pilot"
2010	El Clon	Said Hashim	Episode: "Encuentro divino"
2010	Los caballeros las prefieren brutas	Alejandro Botero
2011	La Reina del Sur	Jaime Gutiérrez Solana	5 episodes
2011	Flor Salvaje	Emiliano Monteverde	Episode: "Gran estreno"
2012	Pobres Rico	Gonzalo Rico
2013	Los secretos de Lucía	Miguel Gaitán
2013	Wake Up with No Make Up	Iván	4 episodes
2014	El corazón del océano	Unknown role	3 episodes
2015–16	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Joey Gutierrez	6 episodes
2015–16	Narcos	Gustavo Gaviria	10 episodes
2017–2018	Six	Ricky "Buddha" Ortiz	18 episodes
2018	Distrito Salvaje	Jhon Jeiver
2021	Coyote	Juan Diego "El Catrin" Zamora

External links

• Juan Pablo Raba at IMDb