Esai Morales

Actor

1962-10-01 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

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.

• Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) — Gabriel
• Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) — Gabriel
• War Machine (2026) — Torres
• La Bamba (1987) — Bob Morales
• Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016) — Hugo Vega
• Fast Food Nation (2006) — Tony
• SuperFly (2018) — Adalberto Gonzalez
• Freejack (1992) — Ripper
• Master Gardener (2023) — Oscar Neruda
• Jarhead 2: Field of Fire (2014) — Cpt. Jones
• Bad Boys (1983) — Paco Moreno
• The Principal (1987) — Raymi Rojas
• Paid in Full (2002) — Lulu
• In the Army Now (1994) — Sgt. Stern
• Spare Parts (2015) — Mr. Santillan
• Rapa Nui (1994) — Make
• Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012) — Francisco d'Anconia
• Cherry (2010) — Wes
• Crescent City (2024) — Luke Carson
• My Family (1995) — Chucho
• The Line (2009) — Pelon
• Seattle Superstorm (2012) — Tom Foster
• The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina (2003) — Vargas Mouse (voice)
• Return to Babylon (2013) — Assistant Director (scenes deleted)