Benjamin Bratt

Benjamin Bratt
Bratt in May 2010
Born	Benjamin George Bratt December 16, 1963 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Education	University of California, Santa Barbara (B.F.A. 1986)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Talisa Soto (m. 2002)
Children	2

Benjamin George Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor. He portrayed NYPD Detective Rey Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order, for which he was nominated for the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He has also appeared in the films Demolition Man (1993), Blood In Blood Out (1993), Traffic (2000), Piñero (2001), Miss Congeniality (2000), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), La Mission (2009), The Lesser Blessed (2012), Despicable Me 2 (2013) and Doctor Strange (2016).

Bratt also portrayed Dr. Jake Reilly on ABC's Private Practice (2011–13), and Steve Navarro on Fox's 24: Live Another Day (2014).

Early life

Bratt was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Eldy (née Banda), a nurse, and Peter Bratt, Sr., a sheet metal worker.^[1][2] Bratt's mother is an Indigenous activist of the Quechua ethnic group; born in Peru, she moved to the U.S. at age fourteen.^[3] His father was an American, of German, English, and Austrian descent.^[4] They married December 30, 1960, in San Francisco,^[5] but divorced in September 1967.^[6] Bratt's paternal grandfather, George Cleveland Bratt (March 5, 1893 – March 29, 1984), was a Broadway actor. He married Bratt's grandmother, Wiltrude Hildner, on August 6, 1920, in Detroit, Michigan.^[7][8][9]

He attended Lowell High School in San Francisco, where he was a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. Bratt earned a B.F.A. at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1986, where he also joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.^[10] Although accepted into the M.F.A. program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, he left before receiving his degree to star in the television film Juarez (1987).

American Indian Movement

As a child, Bratt went with his mother and siblings to participate in the 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz.^[11]

Career

One of Bratt's first television series was Nasty Boys, based on a film by the same name in which he appeared, which aired in 1989 on NBC. His best-known role has been that of Detective Reynaldo Curtis on the television show Law & Order. In 1999, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on the series. His more popular films include Miss Congeniality, Blood In Blood Out and Traffic. On June 23, 2009, Bratt appeared on The View to promote The Cleaner. On October 23, 2009, it was announced that Bratt would return as Detective Curtis on Law & Order. Curtis reunited with his former boss, Lt. Anita van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson), in the episode that aired on December 11, 2009. He left the show that same year to continue his film career.^[12]

In 2009, Bratt performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. In 2012, Bratt was passionate about his opportunity to play a Tlicho Indian in the film The Lesser Blessed, a project dear to his heart because of his own Native background.^[13] He voiced El Macho, the main antagonist, in Despicable Me 2, and reprised his role from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs as Manny the cameraman in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Personal life

In 1998, he began dating actress Julia Roberts. He escorted her to the 2001 Academy Awards ceremony, at which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Four months later, they announced that they were no longer a couple.^[14] In 2002, he (along with Priscilla López) received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA). In 2002, he began dating and then married his pregnant girlfriend, actress Talisa Soto, on April 13, 2002 in San Francisco. The two met ten years earlier during the casting audition of Blood In Blood Out (1993) and afterwards they saw each other on and off. It was not until the filming of Piñero (2001) that they began to develop a relationship. Their first child, daughter Sophia Rosalinda Bratt, was born on December 6, 2002; their second child, son Mateo Bravery Bratt, was born on October 3, 2005, in Los Angeles.

His brother, Peter Bratt, wrote and directed the 1996 film Follow Me Home, casting Benjamin as Abel. In 2009, Peter wrote and directed the independent film La Mission, starring Benjamin as Che Rivera, an inhabitant of the Mission District.

Indigenous American Charities

Today due to his activism during the American Indian Movement and pride in his Indigenous American heritage, Bratt is an active supporter of such Native American causes as the American Indian College Fund^[11] and We Shall Remain, a mini-series and multi-media project, narrated by Bratt, that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history from PBS' acclaimed series American Experience.^[15] Bratt has for years been a strong supporter and board member of San Francisco Bay Area's Friendship House Association of American Indians and Native American Health Center.^[16]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1988	Lovers, Partners & Spies	Esteban
1989	Nasty Boys	Eduardo Cruz
1990	Bright Angel	Claude
1991	One Good Cop	Felix
	Chains of Gold	Carlos
1993	Blood In Blood Out	Paco Aguilar
	Demolition Man	Officer Alfredo Garcia
1994	Clear and Present Danger	Captain Ramírez
	The River Wild	Ranger Johnny
1996	Follow Me Home	Abel
2000	The Next Best Thing	Ben Cooper
	The Last Producer	Damon Black
	Red Planet	Lt. Ted Santen
	Miss Congeniality	Eric Matthews
	Traffic	Juan Obregón
2001	Piñero	Miguel Piñero
2002	Abandon	Wade Handler
2004	The Woodsman	Carlos
	Catwoman	Tom Lone
2005	Thumbsucker	Matt Schramm
	The Great Raid	Lt. Col. Henry Mucci
2007	Love in the Time of Cholera	Dr. Juvenal Urbino
2008	Trucker	Leonard "Len" Bonner
2009	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Manny	Voice
	The People Speak	Himself
	La Mission	Che Rivera
2013	Snitch	Juan Carlos "El Topo" Pintera
	The Lesser Blessed	Jed
	Despicable Me 2	Eduardo Perez / El Macho	Voice
	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2	Manny
2015	Justice League: Gods and Monsters	Lor-Zod / Hernan Guerra / Superman
2016	Ride Along 2	Pope
	Special Correspondents	John Baker
	The Infiltrator	Roberto Alcaino
	Shot Caller		Filming
	Doctor Strange	Jonathan Pangborn
2017	Coco[17]		Voice / production

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Juarez	Sgt. Rosendo Juarez	Television film
1988	Police Story: Gladiator School	Officer Dave Ramirez	Television film
1988–89	Knightwatch	Tony Maldonado	9 episodes
1989–90	Nasty Boys	Eduardo Cruz	13 episodes
1990	Capital News	Unknown
1993	Shadowhunter	Nakai Twobear	Television film
1994	Texas	Benito Garza	Television film
1995–99	Law & Order	Detective Rey Curtis	95 episodes
1996–99	Homicide: Life on the Street	Detective Rey Curtis	3 episodes
1996	Woman Undone	Jim Mercer	Television film
1998	Exiled: A Law & Order Movie	Detective Rey Curtis	Television film
2001	After the Storm	Arno	Television film
2003	Frasier	Kevin, the Caller	Episode: "The Doctor Is Out"
2005–06	E-Ring	Lt. Col. Jim Tisnewski	23 episodes
2008	The Andromeda Strain	Dr. Jeremy Stone	4 episodes
2008–09	The Cleaner	William Banks	26 episodes
2009	American Experience	Narrator	3 episodes
2009	Law & Order	Detective Rey Curtis	Episode: "Fed"
2010–15	Modern Family	Javier Delgado	5 episodes
2011–13	Private Practice	Dr. Jake Reilly	36 episodes
2014	24: Live Another Day	Steve Navarro	10 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1996	NCLR Bravo Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Law & Order	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
1997
1998
	OFTA Television Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series		Won
1999
		Outstanding Actor in Made-for-Television Movie or Mini-Series	Exiled: A Law & Order Movie
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Law & Order	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2000
2001		Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Traffic	Won
	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Screen Combo	The Next Best Thing (with Madonna)	Nominated
	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actor – Comedy	Miss Congeniality	Won
2002	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Piñero
	HOLA Awards	Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence	Himself
2005	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Screen Combo	Catwoman (with Halle Berry)	Nominated
2009	PRISM Awards	Outstanding Performance in a Drama Multi-Episode Storyline	The Cleaner	Won
	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
	Imagen Awards	Best Actor – Television		Nominated
2010		Best Actor – Film	La Mission	Won
2012	ALMA Awards	Favorite TV Actor	Private Practice	Nominated
2013	Imagen Awards	Best Actor – Television

References

1. "Benjamin Bratt Biography (1963–)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
2. Vanity Fair. Google Books.
3. "How Hollywood Gave 'Cholera' a Delicate Treatment". The Washington Post. November 11, 2007. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
4. Biography for Benjamin Bratt at the Internet Movie Database
5. "California Marriage Index 1960–1985". Ancestry.com. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
6. "Colorado Divorce Index 1966–1984". Ancestry.com. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
7. Liz Braun (November 14, 2007). "Benjamin Bratt gets personal". Jam.canoe.ca. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
8. "Benjamin Bratt Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
9. "Michigan Marriages 1868–1925". FamilySearch. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
10. "Law and Order Comes to UCSB". Coastlines. Summer 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
11. "Benjamin Bratt -Native Networks". Native Networks. December 2, 2001. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
12. "Benjamin Bratt Returning to Law & Order". TV Guide.
13. Cupryn, Isabel. "Interview: Anitca Doron talks 'The Lesser Blessed'". CriticizeThis.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013.
14. Silverman, Stephen M. (July 11, 2001). "Julia Roberts Lays It on the Line – David Letterman, Julia Roberts". People. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
15. "We Shall Remain". PBS. April 13, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
16. "Friendship House". Friendshiphousesf.org. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
17. "Benjamin Bratt to Voice a Character in Pixar's, 'Coco'". July 14, 2016.

External links

• Benjamin Bratt at the Internet Movie Database
• Benjamin Bratt at AllMovie
• Rare 1989–1990 Footage of Benjamin Bratt Behind the Scenes of Dick Wolf's "Nasty Boys"
• Article "Emmy-Nominated Actor Benjamin Bratt"