Giancarlo Esposito Biography

Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is best known 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 is well known for his roles in Spike Lee films such as Do the Right Thing, School Daze, and Mo' Better Blues. Other notable films include The Usual Suspects and King of New York. He has portrayed Sidney Glass/Magic Mirror on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Major Tom Neville in the NBC series Revolution.

Early life

Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of an Italian father, Giovanni Esposito, and an African-American mother, Elizabeth Foster. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, and his father was a stagehand and carpenter from Naples. Esposito lived in Europe until the family settled in Manhattan when he was 6. He attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and received a two-year degree in radio and television communications.

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, 1993-94).

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 Marcellus Clay, Sr. in Ali and Nuyorican poet Miguel Piero's friend and collaborator Miguel Algarn in Piero, 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 2005 film, Hate Crime. 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.

From 2009 to 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 appeared 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 Republic in Philadelphia.

Esposito has also appeared in Community as a guest star for an episode entitled "Digital Estate Planning". He then reappeared in the fourth season, in the episode titled "Paranormal Parentage". Esposito has additionally appeared in a video of the action role-playing sci-fi first-person shooter Destiny, as well as playing The Dentist, a non-playable story character, in the game Payday 2.

He has joined the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series. He played Ra's al Ghul in Son of Batman and Black Spider in Batman: Assault on Arkham.

Personal life

Esposito married Joy McManigal in 1995; they later divorced. He has 4 daughters.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Running	Puerto Rican Teenager
1981	The Gentleman Bandit	Jamie	Television film
1981	Taps	Cadet Captain JC Pierce
1983	Trading Places	Cellmate
1983	Enormous Changes at the Last Minute	Julio
1984	Go Tell it on the Mountain	Elijah
1984	The Cotton Club	Bumpy Hood
1985	Finnegan Begin Again	Intruder	Television film
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan	Street Vendor
1986	Maximum Overdrive	Videoplayer
1986	Rockabye	Marcus	Television film
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
1995	The Keeper	Paul Lamont	Also co-producer
1995	Waiting to Exhale	David Matthews	Uncredited
1997	Nothing to Lose	Charlie Dunt
1997	Big City Blues	Georgie
1998	Stardust	Mr. Peavy	Television film
1998	Twilight	Reuben Escobar
1998	Creature	Lt. Thomas Peniston	Television film
1998	Phoenix	Louie
1998	Thirst	Dr. Lawrence Carver	Television film
1998	Naked City: Justice with a Bullet	Chaz Villanueva	Television film
2000	Homicide: The Movie	Officer Mike Giardello	Television film
2001	Josephine	Spike
2001	Monkeybone	Hypnos
2001	Ali	Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr.
2001	Piero	Miguel Algarn
2003	Ash Tuesday	Karl
2003	Blind Horizon	JC Reynolds
2004	Noise	Hank
2004	Doing Hard Time	Captain Pierce	Direct-to-DVD
2004	A Killer Within	Vargas
2005	Hate Crime	Det. Esposito
2005	Chupacabra: Dark Seas	Dr. Pea	Direct-to-DVD
2005	I Will Avenge You, Iago!	Director
2005	Back in the Day	Benson Copper
2005	Carlito's Way: Rise to Power	Little Jeff	Direct-to-DVD
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	Detective Dwayne Burkhalter
2007	Mano	Nino	Short film
2007	Feel the Noise	Roberto
2008	Gospel Hill	Dr. Palmer	Also director and producer
2008	Xenophobia	Young	Television film
2010	Rabbit Hole	Auggie
2011	S.W.A.T.: Firefight	Inspector Hollander	Direct-to-DVD
2011	Certainty	Father Heery
2012	Alex Cross	Daramus Holiday
2012	Dreaming American	Daytona LeMans	Short film
2013	Over / Under	Oliver Ohrt	Television film
2014	Requiem for the Big East	Narrator
2014	Son of Batman	Ra's al Ghul (voice)	Direct-to-DVD
2014	Batman: Assault on Arkham	Black Spider (voice)	Direct-to-DVD
2014	Poker Night	Bernard
2015	Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials	Jorge
2015	Stuck	Lloyd	Post-production
2016	The Pills - Sempre meglio che lavorare (it)	Bangla Boss
2016	The Jungle Book	Akela (voice)	Post-production
2016	Money Monster	Captain Marcus Powell	Post-production
2016	This Is Your Death	Mason Washington	Post-production, also director and producer
2017	The Long Home	William Tell Oliver	Post-production
2017	Maze Runner: The Death Cure	Jorge	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Sesame Street	Mickey	5 episodes
1982	Guiding Light	Clay Tynan
1984-1985	Miami Vice	Luther / Ricky / Adonis Jackson	3 episodes
1985-1986	American Playhouse	Elisha / Simon Fernandes	2 episodes
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
1996-1998	NYPD Blue	Ferdinand Hollie / Jamaal	2 episodes
1996	Living Single	Jackson Turner	Episode: "Kiss of the Spider Man"
1996	The Tomorrow Man	Jonathan Driscoll	Pilot
1996-2005	Law & Order	Mr. Baylor / Rodney Fallon	3 episodes
1998	The Hunger	Vampire	Episode: "Fly-By-Night"
1998-1999	Homicide: Life on the Street	Federal Agent Mike Giardello	22 episodes
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	4 episodes
2004	NYPD 2069	Lt. Garner	Pilot
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Orlando Ramirez	Episode: "Boys Will Be Boys"
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
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"
2011-2016	Once Upon a Time	Sidney Glass/Magic Mirror	13 episodes
2012-2013	Community	Gilbert Lawson	2 episodes
2012	NYC 22	Harvey Williams	2 episodes
2012-2014	Revolution	Tom Neville	41 episodes
2013	Timms Valley	Pruit Normings (voice)	Pilot
2013	Axe Cop	Army Chihuahua (voice)	2 episodes
2015	Allegiance	Oscar Christoph	7 episodes
2015	Drunk History	Andrs Pico	Episode: "Los Angeles"
2016	The Get Down	Pastor Ramon Cruz

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Payday 2	The Dentist	Voice & likeness in trailers
2014	Destiny	Father	Trailer

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1995	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Male	Fresh
1995	National Board of Review	Best Cast	The Usual Suspects
1999	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Homicide: Life on the Street
2011	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Breaking Bad
2011	Saturn Awards	Best Guest Starring Role on Television	Breaking Bad
2012	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Breaking Bad
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Breaking Bad
2012	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Breaking Bad
2012	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actor on Television	Breaking Bad
2012	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Breaking Bad
2013	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actor on Television	Revolution