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Raymond Cruz

American actor (born 1964)

Summary

American actor (born 1964)

Field	Value
image	Raymond Cruz by Gage Skidmore.jpg
caption	Cruz in 2024
birth_date
birth_place	East Los Angeles, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor
years_active	1987–present
spouse	Simi Mehta

Raymond Cruz (born September 10, 1964) is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Detective Julio Sanchez in the series The Closer and its spinoff Major Crimes, as well as his recurring role as drug lord Tuco Salamanca in the crime drama Breaking Bad and its prequel series Better Call Saul.

Early life

Cruz was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California, and is of Mexican descent. He grew up in a neighborhood that regularly saw gang activity, and had relatives in such gangs as Maravilla and Barrio South Gate. He witnessed a shooting at age 12, noting the victim's "brains came out the back of his head". For his portrayal of Tuco Salamanca, he was able to relate to his experiences witnessing people who were high on methamphetamine.

Cruz has said that becoming interested in American literature early in life helped him avoid joining such gangs himself. His favorite novel is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Cruz attended three high schools after being expelled for writing editorials that satirized and questioned school policies. He attended East Los Angeles College, where he got "sidetracked" into theater.

Career

Cruz's film roles include sniper Ding Chavez in Clear and Present Danger, Hector in Out For Justice, Tom Berenger's second-in-command Joey Six in The Substitute, U.S. Marine Sergeant Rojas in The Rock, as Jesus in From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, USM Private Vincent DiStephano in Alien Resurrection, and Ramirez in Under Siege. He appeared as Chuey, a gang member from the Vatos Locos, in the gang film Blood In Blood Out.

In 2005, he played Chino in Havoc. He appeared in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, credited as "The Messenger," and in Training Day as a gang member named Sniper. He played a Los Angeles firefighter in Collateral Damage. He had guest roles in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Siege of AR-558", The X-Files episode "El Mundo Gira", and the second season of 24. He also made an appearance as the father of a murdered girl in CSI. He played Det. Julio Sanchez for the entire seven season run of The Closer and continued in that role for all six seasons of the spin-off Major Crimes.

Cruz performed the well-known role of Tuco Salamanca, a sadistic and psychotic meth dealer in Breaking Bad in 2008 and 2009, a role he reprised in 2015-16 during the first two seasons of the Breaking Bad prequel spin-off, Better Call Saul.

He had a recurring role as Paco on My Name Is Earl, and as Alejandro Perez on Nip/Tuck.

Personal life

Cruz is married to fellow actress Simi Mehta with whom he co-starred on The X-Files in the episode "El Mundo Gira".

On September 8, 2025, Cruz was arrested after allegedly spraying a woman with his water hose outside his house. He was released on his own recognizance and had a court date scheduled for October 1, but the charges were dropped.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Maid to Order	Sam
1988	Twice Dead	Gang Member
1989	I Know My First Name Is Steven	Punk
1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	The Messenger
Cold Dog Soup	Gang Member
1991	Prison Stories: Women on the Inside	Montoya	Television film
Dead Again	Store Clerk
Out for Justice	Hector
Fallen Angels	Diego	Television film
1992	Man Trouble	Balco
Nails	Paco Sanchez	Television film
Judgement	Cyclone
Under Siege	Ramirez
1993	Blood In Blood Out	Chuey
When the Party's Over	Mario
1994	Dead Badge	Tomas Gomez
Clear and Present Danger	Ding Chavez
Dragstrip Girl	Doogie	Television film
1995	Operation Dumbo Drop	Staff Sergeant Adams	Uncredited
1996	The Substitute	Joey "Six"
The Rock	Sergeant Rojas	Uncredited
Up Close & Personal	Fernando Buttanda
Broken Arrow	USAF Lieutenant Colonel	Uncredited
1997	Last Stand at Saber River	Manuel	Television film
Alien Resurrection	Private Vincent DiStephano
1998	Playing Patti
1999	From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money	Jesus
The Last Marshal	T-Boy
2000	Blood Money	Gutierrez	Television film
2001	Training Day	Sniper
2002	Collateral Damage	Junior
2004	Just Hustle	Spanish Professor
My Name Is Modesty	Raphael Garcia
2005	Havoc	Chino
Brothers in Arms	Reverend
2006	10 Tricks	Sal
2015	Cleveland Abduction	Ariel Castro	Television film
2019	The Curse of La Llorona	Rafael Olvera
2020	Wander	Luis Santiago
2021	Blue Miracle	Hector
2023	Medellin	El Diablo
2025	Love, Danielle	Stan DeManuel
Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires	TBA (voice)	Direct-to-Video
TBA		Rafael Olvera	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Beauty and the Beast	Hal	Episode: "Down to a Sunless Sea"
Cagney & Lacey	Alonzo	Episode: "Land of the Free"
CBS Schoolbreak Special	Angel Perez	Episode: "Gangs"
Vietnam War Story	Diaz	Episode: "Separated"
Knots Landing	Van Driver, Young Man	2 episodes
1989	A Nightmare on Drug Street	Felipe	Short Film
1990	Hunter	Tomas Delgado	Episode: "La Familia"
Freddy's Nightmares	Johnny "Mac" McFarland	Episode: "Life Sentence"
Matlock	Alien Worker	Episode: "The Cookie Monster"
Lifestories		Episode: "Frank Brody"
China Beach	Lopez	Episode: "One Small Step"
1993	Murder, She Wrote	José "Joseph" Galvan	Episode: "Double Jeopardy"
1995	The Marshal	Rossiter	Episode: "The Ballad of Lucas Burke"
Walker, Texas Ranger	Sergeant Perez	Episode: "Case Closed"
1995–2000	NYPD Blue	Raoul / Rico	2 episodes
1995–2000	The Eddie Files	Johnny	16 episodes
1997	The X-Files	Eladio Buente	Episode: "El Mundo Gira"
Cracker	MacCormick	Episode: "'Tis Pity She's a Whore"
413 Hope St.	Rico	Episode: "Lost Boys and Gothic Girls"
1998	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Vargas	Episode: "The Siege of AR-558"
The Practice	Miguel Moreno	Episode: "Truth and Consequences"
1999	Seven Days	Rodriguez	Episode: "Daddy's Girl"
2000	Strange World	Rinaldo Molina	Episode: "Man Plus"
Seven Days	Teo Millar	Episode: "The Cuban Missile"
Harsh Realm	Sergeant Escalante	2 episodes
2002	Robbery Homicide Division	Jesus "Termite" Rosales	Episode: "City of Strivers"
Boomtown	Ruben	Episode: "Crash"
2002–2003	The Division	Roland / Ray Sanchez	3 episodes
2003–2011	CSI: Miami	Martin Medesto / Marcos Trejo	2 episodes
2003	24	Rouse	2 episodes
2003–2008	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Miguel Durado / Donald Balboa	2 episodes
2003–2006	Nip/Tuck	Alejandro Perez	2 episodes
2005–2012	The Closer	Detective Julio Sanchez	105 episodes
2007–2008	My Name Is Earl	Paco	5 episodes
2007	Day Break	Luis Torres	2 episodes
2008	Ylse	Jesse
2008–2009	Breaking Bad	Tuco Salamanca	4 episodes
2011	Los Americans	Memo	7 episodes
2012	White Collar	Enrico Morales	Episode: "Most Wanted"
2012–2018	Major Crimes	Julio Sanchez	105 episodes
2013	Lauren	Martinez	3 episodes; Web series
2015–2016	Better Call Saul	Tuco Salamanca	3 episodes
2016	The Eric Andre Show	Himself	Episode: "Raymond Cruz; Amber Rose"
2018	Get Shorty	Swayze	2 episodes
2019	Madam Secretary	President Mateo Sandino Sr.	Episode: "Something Better"
2023	Mayans M.C.	Smokey
2024	Grey's Anatomy	Daniel Jiménez (inmate)	Episode: "The Marathon Continues"

References

(September 10, 2021). "Today in History". [[AP News]].
Bryant, Adam. (August 12, 2012). "TNT Says Goodbye to The Closer, Hello to Major Crimes".
(March 21, 2024). "Beyond the Silver Screen: Exploring Raymond Cruz's Life, Roles, and Advocacy CCB'23".
Stern, Marlow. (April 17, 2017). "Raymond Cruz's Journey From the Gang Violence of East L.A. to 'Better Call Saul's' Tuco Salamanca". [[The Daily Beast]].
Herzog, Kenny. (February 10, 2015). "Raymond Cruz on Better Call Saul, Re-Capturing Tuco, and Breaking Bones".
Fontana, Christine. (April 30, 2015). "Cruz Control".
Bentley, Rick. (April 18, 2019). "Raymond Cruz Felt Real Connection to 'La Llorona'". [[Lincoln Journal Star]].
"Raymond Cruz Credits". [[TV Guide]].
(September 8, 2025). "'Breaking Bad' Star Raymond Cruz Arrested For Spraying a Neighbor with Hose".
Pelisek, Christine. (September 8, 2025). "'Breaking Bad' Actor Raymond Cruz Arrested After He Allegedly Sprayed Water at Woman".
Huff, Lauren. (September 8, 2025). "'Breaking Bad' star arrested after allegedly hosing woman, agent blasts 'outrageous' accusation".
Buchanan, Christopher. (October 1, 2025). "'Breaking Bad' actor will not be charged in parking dispute, prosecutors say". Los Angeles Tines.
RoyalRubble. (July 26, 2025). "Aztec Batman: Clash Of Empires Trailer Released".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1964-births living-people 20th-century-american-male-actors 21st-century-american-male-actors american-male-actors-of-mexican-descent american-male-film-actors american-male-television-actors hispanic-and-latino-american-male-actors male-actors-from-los-angeles

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