Esai Morales

Esai Morales is in a relationship with Elvimar Silva. Their daughter Mariana Oliveira was born on September 24, 2010.

He is one of the founders of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts to encourage the presence of Latinos in the media, telecommunication, and entertainment industries. He is also a founding board member of Earth Communications Office.

He was born as Esai Manuel Morales, Jr. on October 1, 1962, in Brooklyn, New York. He is of Puerto Rican descent. His father Esai Morales, Sr., was a welder and his mother Iris Margarita was a union member of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

He was interested in acting from a young age. Wanting to take up a professional acting career, he graduated from the High School of the Performing Arts in New York.

Esai Morales started his acting career with stage performances in New York, followed by minor roles in television. In 1982, he debuted in Paul Morrissey’s drama film ‘Forty Deuce’, followed by ‘Bad Boys’ in 1983. The latter film was about rival teenagers who are sentenced to a juvenile correction facility. In 1984, he appeared in one episode of ‘ABC Afterschool Special’ as Miguel Rados.

His theater credits include Oscar Wilde's ‘Salome’ (Broadway), Joe Papp's production of ‘The Tempest’, ‘Tamer of Horses’ at Los Angeles Theater Center, ‘The Exonerated’, directed by Bob Balaban, and his musical theater debut in ‘The Mambo Kings’.

In 1985, he appeared in an episode of the crime drama television series, ‘The Equalizer’. In the same year, he played the role of George in one episode of ‘Fame’. The following year, he did two films—‘On Wings of Eagles’, and ‘Rainy Day Friends.’

Some of his films like ‘The Burning Season’ in 1994, ‘My Family/Mi Familia’ in 1995, ‘The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca’ in 1997, and ‘Southern Cross’ in 1999 have reflected socio-political issues.

In 2011, he was featured in the film ‘Gun Hill Road.’ In the same year, he appeared in two TV series. He was cast as Lee Valenzuela in eight episodes of ‘Los Americans’, which he produced as well. He played D.A. Aaron Davidson in ‘Fairly Legal’, aired on USA Network. He also starred in three TV movies—‘Seattle Superstorm’, ‘17th Precinct’, and ‘We Have Your Husband’.

Esai Morales portrayed Roberto “Bob” Morales in the 1987 film ‘La Bamba’, a biographical film written and directed by Luis Valdez, which is about the life and career of Chicano rock 'n' roll star Ritchie Valens.

In 2017, he was cast as Del in the Netflix series ‘Ozark’. It was a crime drama thriller web-television series created by Bill Dubuque. The first season consisted of nine one-hour episodes, and a final 80-minute episode. It was released on Netflix on July 21, 2017.