{{Infobox actor
| name = Esai Morales
| image = Morales, Esai (FMC).jpg
| caption = Morales in 2007
| birthdate = 
| birthplace = Brooklyn, New York
}}

'''Esai Manuel Morales'''<ref name="filmr"/> (born ABC television police drama ''PBS drama ''American Family'' and in the Jericho'' and is spokesperson for Allstate insurance.

==Biography==
===Early life===
Morales was born in Puerto Rican-born parents Iris Margarita (née Declet), a union activist involved with the Bad Boys'', about teenagers in prison&mdash;was released in 1983.

===Career===
In another role he played a similarly unsympathetic character, the ex-convict/biker half-brother of 1950s La Bamba''. Some of his other roles have reflected his socio-political interests, such as ''My Family/Mi Familia'' in 1995, ''Southern Cross'' in 1998.  In the last three films, as well as in a few others such as ''Bloodhounds of Broadway'' in 1989 and ''Rapa Nui'' in 1994, Morales was given roles which highlighted (with increasing amounts of  screen time) his acting as a man.  He portrayed a police officer with the film ''Dogwatch'' in 1996.  He played Father Herrera in ''The Virgin of Juarez''.

Morales appeared on television in the mid-1980s, on ''Fame''. He co-starred with Burt Lancaster in the NBC-TV miniseries, "On Wings of Eagles," playing the Iranian Rashid, the hero of this true story about Ross Perot. Morales has also appeared in ''24''.

In the 1990s, he guest-starred on episodes of ''Tales from the Crypt'', and two shorter-lived series, ''L.A. Doctors'' and ''The Hunger''.  He was a featured TV actor, seen in a two-part episode of ''Family Law'' (tv series) in 2000.  His tenure on ''NYPD Blue'' as the head of the 15th precinct detective squad began in mid-season 2001 and continued until 2004 when he decided to cancel his contract (due mainly to the lack of screen time squad leaders received).  

In 1994 he was in the highly satirical Pauly Shore film ''In The Army Now''. ''Paid in Full'' was scheduled for release in October 2002.  It marked a return to a criminal character such as those in his previous roles - in this case he played a drug dealer named Lulu. 

In 2005, he contributed his voice acting to the video game ''True Crime: New York City'', playing Sgt. Victor Navarro. He was also cast in the film ''American Fusion'', and on June 19, 2006, he joined the cast of Fox's series ''Vanished'', as FBI agent Michael Tyner alongside actors Gale Harold and Ming-Na. The series was later canceled. In 2007, he completed filming for ''Kill Kill Faster Faster'',<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0785016/ Kill Kill Faster Faster (2007)]. imdb.com</ref> which is a contemporary film noir inspired by the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Joel Rose.

On May 7th 2008, it was announced that Morales will play the role of Joseph Adama in ''Caprica'' &ndash; the Sci-Fi Channel's prequel to its popular science fiction series ''Battlestar Galactica''.<ref>http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i00cf1beb205423cd228e48e070c965eb</ref>

'''Esai Morales''' est un acteur, producteur et réalisateur américain né le  New York (États-Unis).

== Biographie ==
== Filmographie ==
=== comme acteur ===
* 1982 : ''The Great Love Experiment'' (TV) : ''Miguel''
* 1982 : ''Forty Deuce'' : ''Mitchell''
* 1983 : ''Bad Boys'' : ''Paco Moreno''
* 1986 : ''On Wings of Eagles'' (feuilleton TV) : ''Rashid''
* 1986 : ''Rémission pour un voyou'' (''L.A. Bad'') : ''Neekos Valdez''
* 1987 : ''Deux flics à Miami'' (feuilleton TV) : ''Deux flics à Miami''
* 1987 : ''La Bamba'' : ''Bob Morales''
* 1987 : ''Le Proviseur'' (''The Principal'') : ''Raymi Rojas''
* 1989 : ''Bloodhounds of Broadway'' : ''Handsome Jack''
* 1990 : ''Amazone'' (''Amazon'')
* 1991 : ''Naked Tango'' : ''Zico Borenstein''
* 1992 : ''Bay City Story'' (TV) : ''Jim Duran''
* 1992 : ''Ultraviolet'' : ''Nicholas Walker''
* 1992 : ''Freejack'' : ''Ripper''
* 1993 : ''Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun'' (vidéo) : ''Kenny''
* 1993 : ''The Waiter'' : ''Julius''
* 1994 : ''Rapa Nui'' : ''Make''
* 1994 : ''In the Army Now'' : ''Sgt. Stern''
* 1994 : ''The Burning Season'' (TV) : ''Jair''
* 1994 : ''Don't Do It'' : ''Charles''
* 1995 : ''Rêves de famille'' (''My Family'') : ''Chucho''
* 1995 : ''Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14'' (TV) : ''Tony Archer''
* 1996 : ''Dog Watch'' (vidéo) : ''Murrow''
* 1996 : ''Scorpion Spring'' : ''Astor''
* 1996 : ''Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story'' (TV) : ''Federico Pena''
* 1997 : ''The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca'' : ''Ricardo''
* 1997 : ''Livers Ain't Cheap'' : ''Collin''
* 1998 : ''The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit'' : ''Dominguez''
* 1998 : ''Circle of Deceit'' (TV) : ''Jeff Silva''
* 1999 : ''Doomsday Man'' : ''Mike''
* 1999 : ''Southern Cross'' : ''Philip Solano''
* 1999 : ''Atomic Train'' (TV) : ''Noris 'Mac' MacKenzie''
* 2000 : ''Spin Cycle'' : ''Nickens''
* 2000 : ''Live Virgin (UK)'' (''American Virgin'') : ''Jim the Director''
* 2000 : ''Elian, une affaire d'état'' (''A Family in Crisis: The Elian Gonzales Story'') (TV) : ''Juan Miguel Gonzalez''
* 2002 : ''The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina'' (vidéo) : ''Vergas Mouse'' (voix)
* 2002 : ''Paid in Full'' : ''Lulu''
* 2003 : ''Sudbury'' (TV)
* 2004 : ''Return to Babylon''
* 2005 : ''Once Upon a Wedding'' : ''Pineda''
* 2005 : ''Heartless'' (TV) : ''Rick Benes / David Lopez''
* 2005 : ''American Fusion'' : ''Jose''
* 2006 : ''The Virgin of Juarez''
* 2006 : ''Fast Food Nation'' : ''Tony''
* 2006 : ''How to Go Out on a Date in Queens''
* 2007 : ''Jericho'' (feuilleton TV) : ''Major Beck''
* 2008 : ''Caprica'' (pilote série TV) : Joseph Adama