Benjamin Bratt

Early life and education

Bratt was born on December 16, 1963, in San Francisco, California the third of five children of Eldy (née Banda), a nurse and political activist, and Peter Bratt Sr., a sheet metal worker. His mother was born in Lima, Peru, and is of Quechua descent. She moved to the United States with her family at age 14. His father has English, German, and Austrian ancestry. His paternal grandfather, George, was a Broadway actor.

An activist for Native American rights, Bratt's mother took Bratt, age six, and her other children to participate in the 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz. Led by young people from San Francisco, it raised national awareness of issues facing Native Americans and attracted participants from across the country.

Bratt 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 joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Enrolled in the M.F.A. program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, he left before receiving his degree to star in the 1988 television film Juarez.

Career

Early work

Bratt started his professional acting career at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, where he played supporting roles in Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III and The Comedy of Errors during their 1987 season. He starred in the 1988 television film Juarez which received critical acclaim. He then landed a supporting role in the television film Police Story: Gladiator School. He had his first film role as Esteban in Lovers, Partners & Spies, which did not perform well at the box office. Bratt worked extensively in television, with roles in the Knightwatch and Nasty Boys series. In 1989, he starred in the film Nasty Boys, based on the television series.

Hollywood breakthrough and success

After several low-budget films and television films, including One Good Cop and Shadow Hunter, in 1993, Bratt appeared in two Hollywood films. He portrayed a gang member turned LAPD officer named Paco Aguilar in Blood in Blood Out, and Officer Alfredo Garcia in Demolition Man. The following year, he played supporting roles in the popular films The River Wild, Clear and Present Danger, and James A. Michener's Texas.

Returning to television, he played Detective Reynaldo Curtis in the series Law & Order replacing Chris Noth, which gained him international recognition. He reprised the role in Homicide: Life on the Street and Exiled: A Law & Order Movie. For his role, he received three American Latino Media Arts Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

In 1999, Bratt decided to leave Law & Order. "I've felt like it was time to get back home to my family," Bratt said. "How do you walk away from the best job in the world and a group of people that you've grown to love? It's not easy, and it was an extremely difficult decision that I had to make." On May 26, 1999, Bratt's final episode was aired. In 2009, Bratt returned as the now-retired Curtis on Law & Order, where he was reunited with his former boss, Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson), in the episode that aired on December 11, 2009. He returned to his film career that same year.

Later work

In 2000, Bratt appeared in The Next Best Thing. That same year, he played opposite Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy Miss Congeniality and had a small role in the ensemble work Traffic. In 2004, the actor co-starred in Catwoman. Bratt often portrays Hispanic characters, especially in his later work. Bratt said, "I've played 'Latin-looking spiv, third from the right so many times I can't count." In 2001, he starred in the biopic film Piñero, for which he received an American Latino Media Arts Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. He played Puerto Rican actor and poet Miguel Piñero. Piñero was bisexual and when talking about Bratt having to portray his bisexuality, Bratt stated that this was "certainly something I wasn't afraid of." He went on to say, "Whether you're talking about Miguel's sexuality or his time spent in jail or his petty crime or his drug addiction, each one of those things is a component that makes up the entirety of the man." 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. That year he starred in and produced the film La Mission, directed by his brother, Peter Bratt. His later films include The Woodsman, Thumbsucker, The Great Raid, Trucker, Snitch, Ride Along 2, The Infiltrator, and Doctor Strange.

Bratt has appeared in several television shows since 2000, including starring as William Banks in The Cleaner, Dr. Jake Reilly in Private Practice, and Jahil Rivera on Star. He appeared in such series as Frasier, Modern Family, 24: Live Another Day, DMZ, and Poker Face.

Bratt has been featured in several animated feature films, which include El Macho, the main antagonist of Despicable Me 2. He played Manny the cameraman in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and reprised his role in its sequel Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Also, in 2015, he voiced Superman in Justice League: Gods and Monsters. In the 2017 film Coco, Bratt voiced its main antagonist, Ernesto de la Cruz, who was a Mexican folk legend and the idol of the film's protagonist, Miguel. Bratt sings "Remember Me", a song in the film that is sung by many other characters throughout and won Best Original Song at the 2018 Academy Awards and the film won Best Animated Feature.

In 2025, Bratt joined the cast of the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor for its second season, portraying Senator Bail Organa, who had previously been played by Jimmy Smits in prior Star Wars productions.

Activism and philanthropy

Bratt has been active in the American Indian Movement and supports such causes as the American Indian College Fund.

He narrated We Shall Remain (2009), a PBS miniseries about Native Americans, and part of its American Experience.

Bratt has supported and served as a board member of the San Francisco Bay Area's Friendship House Association of American Indians and the Native American Health Center. Bratt also has supported area organizations such as the Tribal Athletics Program, and United Indian Nations.

In 2002, Bratt and Priscilla López received the Rita Moreno Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA).

In 2017, Bratt served as consulting producer for the film Dolores, which explores the life of Dolores Huerta, an American labor leader and civil rights activist. The film received critical acclaim and several awards.

In 2023, Bratt co-executive produced Wings of Dust, a documentary about water contamination in the Peruvian community of Espinar.

Personal life

From 1998 to 2001, Bratt dated actress Julia Roberts.

In 2002, he began dating actress and former Bond girl Talisa Soto; they married on April 13 in San Francisco. The two had met ten years earlier during a casting audition. During the filming of Piñero (2001) 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 2024, Bratt was awarded an honorary doctorate by San Francisco State University.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

References

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