Carlos Bernard
There’s something about Carlos Bernard’s good looks that’s just…well, a little scary. Casting agents must see it, too: in the decade or more that Carlos has been hard at work in Hollywood, he almost always plays the villain, the spy, or the hard-ass cop, and almost never the good guy or the best buddy. There’s just a strong sense of command and caution about this Spanish/Polish actor that makes you take a step back.
A classically trained actor with an MFA from the American Conservatory, Carlos has been playing in the majors for quite a while now. Playing Latinos as often as Anglos, he’s probably best remembered for his multi-year turn as “Tony Almeida” on 24, or as a series regular on the first season of Dallas. And Monday, November 26 he’ll appear as Witsec agent Chris Channing in a new episode of Hawaii Five-O. This is Bernard’s second appearance on H5O this year (he was in the third episode of the season as well); whether it grows into a more regular commitment remains to be seen, but it’s still worth watching even if it remains another of his impressive one-offs in hour-long dramas like CSI: Miami, Charlie’ Angels, or Burn Notice.
Carlos’ forbidding presence has made him a favorite for suspense/horror movies as well. He did 10.5 Apocalypse back in 2006, Alien Raiders in 2008, and most recently Ghost Storm that appeared for the first time on the SyFy Channel earlier in November. Here’s the trailer:
Bottom line: Carlos Bernard is one successful Latino character actor with a lot of good work behind him and still to come. In fact, he’s so good at it, it’s scary.
