A talented, intense and strikingly handsome actor of Puerto Rican heritage, Esai Morales displayed promise as a teenager in NYC stage productions before gaining attention as Sean Penn's reform school rival in "Bad Boys" (1983). Effective in hot-tempered roles, he shone in "La Bamba" (1987) as the troubled older brother of Richie Valens. Morales fared less well in the bland Damon Runyon tale "Bloodhounds of Broadway" (1989) and the sci-fi misfire "Freejack" (1992). He has continually fought against ethnic stereotyping by playing a variety of ethnicities including an Iranian in the TV miniseries "On Wings of Eagles" (NBC, 1986), an Irish bootlegger in "Bloodhounds of Broadway" and a ruthless Polish-Jewish-Argentine gangster in "Naked Tango" (1991).
Morales co-starred with Jason Scott Lee in the Kevin Costner-produced period adventure "Rapa Nui" (1994) playing a 15th century Easter Island native and had a brilliant, silent, anguished moment when he nears the finish line in the contest to determine which class will rule the island and breaks the egg he must carry whole. In 1995, he was Chucho, the street-thugish brother of "My Family/Mi Familia" and won praise as the husband of a bulimic runner in "Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story" (ABC, 1996). Though gamely trying and displaying a certain charm, Morales made for a bland hero in the underwritten role of a journalist investigating the mystery surrounding "The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca" (1997). While he continused to appear steadily in feature films, it was on television that Morales made his strongest mark, beginning in 2000 with his role as Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father of the young real-life Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez who was caught in a battle between both his parents and the U.S. and Cuban governments in the Fox Family Channel miniseries "The Elian Gonzalez Story." Morales next big break came with his regular role in the Showtime cable series "Resurrection Blvd," in which he played the recurring role of Paco Corrales in the series centering around a Latino family. That role led to his breakout part on ABC's venerable crime series "NYPD Blue" as Lt. Tony Rodriguez in 2001, replacing James McDaniel as the head of the 15th Precinct's detective squad. As part of "Blue's" large ensemble, Morales was also able to join the cast of another dramatic series, PBS' "American Family," in 2002, playing Esteban Gonzalez, the son of a Mexican American family, a parolee and ex-gang member, struggling to raise his son and put his life back together. His strong performances on both series filled ABC executives with enough confidence to sign him to a development deal that would build a new series around the actor.