Giancarlo Esposito

Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Esposito, 2012
Born	Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (1958-04-26) April 26, 1958 Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, producer
Years active	1966—Present
Spouse	Joy McManigal (1995–?)(divorced)

Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (born April 26, 1958) is an American film and television actor and director best known for his roles in such films as Do the Right Thing, The Usual Suspects, and King of New York, and for his portrayal of Gustavo "Gus" Fring on the AMC series Breaking Bad, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award at the 2012 Critics' Choice Television Awards and was nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards. He appeared in the ABC series Once Upon a Time as the Evil Queen's magic mirror and "Daily Mirror" reporter Sidney Glass, and he currently appears in the NBC post-apocalyptic TV drama Revolution as Major Tom Neville. In November 2012, he was seen as a priest "Father Heery" in the motion picture Certainty.

Early life

Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and an African-American mother. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, who once appeared on the same bill as Josephine Baker. His father was from Naples, and worked as a stagehand and carpenter. Esposito lived in Europe, until the family settled in Manhattan when he was six.

Career

Esposito made his Broadway debut (1966) at age eight playing a slave child opposite Shirley Jones in the short-lived Maggie Flynn.

During the 1980s Esposito appeared in films such as Maximum Overdrive, King of New York, and Trading Places and TV shows such as Miami Vice and Spenser: For Hire. He played J.C. Pierce, a cadet in the 1981 movie Taps. In 1988 he landed his breakout role as the leader ('Dean Big Brother Almighty') of the black fraternity "Gamma Phi Gamma" in director Spike Lee's film School Daze. Over the next four years, Esposito and Lee collaborated on three other movies: Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, and Malcolm X. During the 1990s Esposito appeared in the acclaimed indie films Night on Earth, Fresh and Smoke, as well as its sequel Blue in the Face. He also appeared in the mainstream film Reckless with Mia Farrow and Waiting to Exhale starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett.

Esposito is known for his portrayal of FBI agent Mike Giardello on the TV crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street. That role reflected both his black and Italian heritage; he portrayed the character during the show's seventh and final season. Mike's estranged father, shift lieutenant Al Giardello, is portrayed as subject to racism, something Esposito's character practiced in School Daze. Another biracial role was Sergeant Paul Gigante in the television comedy series, Bakersfield P.D. (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1993–1994). In 1997 Esposito played the role of Darryl in Trouble on the Corner and Charlie Dunt in Nothing to Lose. Other TV credits include NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Practice, New York Undercover, and Fallen Angels: Fearless.

Esposito has portrayed drug dealers (Fresh, Breaking Bad, King of New York), cops (The Usual Suspects, Derailed), political radicals (Bob Roberts, Do the Right Thing) and even a demonic version of the Greek God of Sleep Hypnos from another dimension (Monkeybone). He played Cassius Clay, Sr., in Ali and Nuyorican poet Miguel Piñero's friend and collaborator Miguel Algarín in Piñero, both released in 2001. In 2006 Esposito starred in Last Holiday as Senator Dillings, alongside Queen Latifah and Timothy Hutton. Also in 2006, he played an unsympathetic Detective named Esposito in the 2006 film, Hate Crime, written and directed by first-time director/writer Tommy Stovall and starring Seth Peterson, Bruce Davison, Chad Donella, Cindy Pickett, and Brian J. Smith. The film explores homophobia.

Esposito played Robert Fuentes, a Miami businessman with shady connections, on the UPN television series South Beach. He has appeared in New Amsterdam and CSI: Miami. He recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's hip hop literacy campaign to encourage reading about Muhammad Ali. In Feel the Noise (2007) he played ex-musician Roberto, the Puerto Rican father of Omarion Grandberry's character, aspiring rap star "Rob". Gospel Hill (2008) was Esposito's directorial debut; he also produced the film and starred in it. New York theatre credits for Esposito include The Me Nobody Knows, Lost in the Stars, Seesaw, and Merrily We Roll Along. In 2008 he appeared on Broadway as Gooper in an African American production of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Debbie Allen and starring James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, and Terrence Howard.

Esposito at the 2013 Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

Between 2009 and 2011, Esposito appeared in seasons 2 through 4 of the AMC drama Breaking Bad, as Gus Fring, the head of a New Mexico-based methamphetamine drug ring and the show's primary antagonist in the fourth season. Esposito received critical acclaim for this role. As noted above, he won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award at the 2012 Critics' Choice Television Awards and was nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to co-star Aaron Paul. Esposito appears in Rabbit Hole (2010), with Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. He also appeared in an episode of the series Leverage, reuniting with his Taps co-star Hutton.

Esposito appeared in the first season of the ABC program Once Upon a Time that debuted in the fall of 2011. He portrayed the split role of Sidney, a reporter for The Daily Mirror in the town of Storybrooke, Maine, who in actuality is the Magic Mirror, possessed by The Evil Queen in a parallel fairy tale world. Esposito currently appears in Revolution as Major Tom Neville, a central character who kills Ben Matheson in the pilot and escorts a captured Danny back to the capital of the Monroe Militia in Philadelphia.

Esposito has also appeared in Community as a guest star for an episode entitled "Digital Estate Planning". He is set to reappear in the delayed fourth season. Esposito has additionally appeared in an upcoming video of the action role-playing sci-fi first-person shooter Destiny, titled "Law of the Jungle". Esposito has close ties with JAM who met him at a Los Pollos Hermanos on the set of Breaking Bad in late 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Running	Puerto Rican Teenager
1981	The Gentleman Bandit	Jamie	Television movie
1981	Taps	Cadet Captain J.C. Pierce
1983	Trading Places	Inmate
1983	Enormous Changes at the Last Minute	Julio
1984	Go Tell It on the Mountain	Julio
1984	The Cotton Club	Bumpy Hood
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan	Street Vendor
1986	Maximum Overdrive	Videoplayer
1986	Rockabye	Marcus	Television movie
1987	Sweet Lorraine	Howie
1988	School Daze	Julian
1989	Do the Right Thing	Buggin' Out
1990	Mo' Better Blues	Left Hand Lacey
1990	King of New York	Lance
1991	Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man	Jimmy Jiles
1991	Night on Earth	YoYo
1992	Bob Roberts	John Alijah "Bugs" Raplin
1992	Malcolm X	Thomas Hayer
1994	Fresh	Esteban
1995	The Usual Suspects	Jack Baer
1995	Blue in the Face	Tommy
1997	Nothing to Lose	Charlie Dunt
1998	Stardust	Mr. Peavy	Television movie
1998	Twilight	Reuben Escobar
1998	Creature	Lt. Thomas Peniston / Werewolf	Television movie
1998	Phoenix	Louie
1998	Thirst	Dr. Lawrence Carver	Television movie
1998	Naked City: Justice with a Bullet	Chaz Villanueva	Television movie
2000	Homicide: The Movie	Officer Mike Giardello	Television movie
2001	Josephine	Spike
2001	Monkeybone	Hypnos
2001	Ali	Cassius Clay Sr.
2001	Piñero	Miguel Algarín
2003	Ash Tuesday	Karl
2003	Blind Horizon	J.C. Reynolds
2004	Noise	Hank
2004	Doing Hard Time	Captain Pierce
2004	A Killer Within	Vargas
2005	Hate Crime	Detective Esposito
2005	Chupacabra: Dark Seas	Dr. Peña
2005	I Will Avenge You, Iago!	Director
2005	Back in the Day	Benson Copper
2005	Carlito's Way: Rise to Power	Little Jeff
2005	Derailed	Detective Franklin Church
2006	Last Holiday	Senator Dillings
2006	Sherrybaby	Parole Officer Hernandez
2006	Rain	Ken Arnold
2007	Racing Daylight	Fred / Drifter
2007	The Box	Det. Dwayne Burkhalter
2007	Mano	Nino	Short
2007	Feel the Noise	Roberto
2008	Gospel Hill	Dr. Palmer	Also director
2008	Xenophobia	Young	Television movie
2010	Rabbit Hole	Auggie
2011	S.W.A.T.: Firefight	Inspector Hollander
2011	Certainty	Father Heery
2012	Alex Cross	Daramus Holiday
2012	Dreaming American	Daytona LeMans	Short
2013	Over/Under	Oliver Ohrt	Television movie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Sesame Street	Mickey	5 episodes
1984	Miami Vice	Luther	Episode: "Little Prince"
1985	Miami Vice	Ricky	Episode: "Nobody Lives Forever"
1985	Miami Vice	Adonis Jackson	Episode: "The Dutch Oven
1985	American Playhouse	Elisha	Episode: "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
1986	American Playhouse	Simon Fernandes	Episode: "Roanoak"
1986	The Equalizer	Jumpin' Jack	Episode: "The Line"
1987	Spenser: For Hire	Ramos	Episode: "On the Night He Was Betrayed"
1987	Leg Work	Tyson	Episode: "Blind Trust"
1990	Lifestories	Julio	Episode: "Jerry Forchette"
1993	The American Experience	Dr. Kenneth Clark	Episode: "Simple Justice"
1993-1994	Bakersfield P.D.	Detective Paul Gigante	17 episodes
1995	New York Undercover	Adolfo Guzman	3 episodes
1995	Fallen Angels	Paris Minton	Episode: "Fearless"
1996	Chicago Hope	Cherchez LaFemme	Episode: "Right to Life"
1996	Swift Justice	Andrew Coffin	3 episodes
1996	NYPD Blue	Ferdinand Hollie	Episode: "Hollie and the Blowfish"
1996	Living Single	Jackson Turner	Episode: "Kiss of the Spider Man"
1996	Law & Order	Mr. Baylor	Episode: "Good Girl"
1998	The Hunger	Vampire	Episode: "Fly-By-Night"
1998	NYPD Blue	Jamaal	2 episodes
1998-1999	Homicide: Life on the Street	Federal Agent Mike Giardello	22 episodes Nominated-NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
2000	Touched by an Angel	Antonio	Episode: "Here I Am"
2000-2001	The $treet	Tom Divack	12 episodes
2001	Strong Medicine	James Bell	Episode: "Mortality"
2001	100 Centre Street	Jacob Lenz	Episode: "Andromeda and the Monster"
2002	The Practice	Ray McMurphy	Episode: "Pro Se"
2002	Third Watch	Father Romero	Episode: "The Unforgiven"
2002	Girl Club	Nicholas Hahn	9 episodes
2004	5ive Days to Midnight	Tim Sanders	TV mini-series
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Orlando Ramirez	Episode: "Boys Will Be Boys"
2005	Law & Order	Rodney Fallon	2 episodes
2006	South Beach	Robert Fuentes	5 episodes
2006	Ghost Whisperer	Ely	Episode: "Fury"
2006	Bones	Richard Benoit	Episode: "The Man in the Morgue
2006	Las Vegas	Reggie Archibald	Episode: "White Christmas"
2006-2008	CSI: Miami	Chief Braga	2 episodes
2007	Kidnapped	Vance	2 episodes
2008	New Amsterdam	Special Agent James Lawson	Episode: "Legacy"
2009-2011	Breaking Bad	Gustavo 'Gus' Fring	24 episodes Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Supporting Actor Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television Nominated-NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated-Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2010	Leverage	Alexander Moto	Episode: "The Scheherazade Job"
2010	Lie to Me	Beau Hackman	Episode: "Black and White"
2010	Detroit 1-8-7	Eddie Henderson	Episode: "Shelter"
2011	Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior	Gordon Ramirez	Episode: "The Time Is Now"
2011-2012	Once Upon a Time	Sidney Glass	8 episodes
2012-2013	Community	Gilbert Lawson	2 episodes
2012	NYC 22	Harvey Williams	2 episodes
2012-present	Revolution	Tom Neville	20 episodes Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television
2013	Axe Cop	Army Chihuahua	Voice Episode: "Night Mission: Stealing Friends Back"

External links

• Giancarlo Esposito at IMDb
• Giancarlo Esposito at the Internet Broadway Database