Law and Order Special Victims Unit
For years, Raúl Esparza has been doing amazing things–on stage and on TV. T’s about time he got noticed.
Born in the U.S., but “a Cuban-American at heart,” Raúl Esparza is barely in his forties, and he’s already pretty much conquered Broadway. Now he’s working his way up to the stardom he deserves in television as well.
First it was a couple of episodes of Pushing Daisies back in ’07, then appearances on dramas produced in New York, like the Law and Order franchises and A Gifted Man, all the while continuing his stage work.
And his stage work has been nothing short of amazing. Nominated for Tony Awards on multiple occasions, he’s performed everything from Sondheim to Shakespeare, Pinter to Mamet, Shakespeare to Stoppard. His Great Performances performance as “Bobby” in Sondheim’s Company is a joy to watch even now.
Hannibal
And if exposure alone can make people notice him, then Esparza’s doing the right thing. He’s an undeniable asset to two separate NBC series right now, and terrific in both roles–as intense Assistant D.A. Rafael Barba on every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit along side the solid Danny Pino, and as the entirely unlikable and equally memorable psychiatrist Robert Chilton on the cult favorite Hannibal, also on NBC (and don’t worry, as all good Hannibal fans know, Chilton–who’s already lost a kidney to the insatiable psychopath–is certain to come to a bad end).
Still, Esparza’s done some other amazing things that don’t get noticed as often:
- Along with everything else, Esparza’s a talented audio book narrator. The best? He read Stephen King’s Under the Dome in 2009.
- In 2010, he performed alongsize Lucie Arnaz and Desi Armaz, Jr. In Bablue: The American Songbook Goes Latin, an event honoring Desi Arnaz and his band.
- He’s even done horror movies before, like Wes Craven’s My Soul To Take in 2010 (though sadly, he doesn’t last long)
Intense, intelligent, funny and sometimes forbidding, Raúl Esparza is a man of many talents. And maybe now, when he’s all over NBC, he’ll get a fraction of the notice he deserves.
