Raul Esparza Biography, Age, Height, Nationality, Wife/Spouse, Theatres, Television, Law & Order: SV

Posted by Lorie Orum on Saturday, May 18, 2024

Raul Esparza

Raúl Eduardo Esparza(born on October 24, 1970), is an American singer, voice artist stage and Television Actor.  Known best for his role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

He is also famous for his role of Riff Raff on Broadway in the revival of The Rocky Horror Show and the role of Caractacus Potts in the Broadway musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Raul Esparza Biography

Age & Nationality

He is 48 years of age as of 2019, his current residential for the meantime not known.

Raúl Esparza was born as Raúl Eduardo Esparza on 24 October 1970, in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. His nationality is American and he is of Cuban ethnicity. Esparza’s parents are Cuban American, raising him in Miami, Florida. His father was from an engineering background while his mother served as a banker later switching to being an interior designer or a travel agent.

Education History

He attends the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, Florida graduating in 1988. Esparza built an interest in acting since his early age and wanted to pursue his career in acting like a child. after school graduation, he attends the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and graduates with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama.

Personal Life

Wife/Spouse

In 1993, he married his high school sweetheart, Michele Marie Perez but divorced in 2008.  The divorce followed two years after he announced his sexual orientation as bisexual and that he engages in the same-sex relationship, in the New York Times profile in 2006. That could be a possible reason or a contributing factor to the split.

Rumors, and Controversy

Currently, there are no rumors regarding his personal and professional life. It seems he is doing the best job without harming others and has been a straight person in his life, for which he has not been in any controversy yet.

Height, Weight, Body Size

Raul has a height of 5 feet 8 inches but the body weight is unknown. He has hazel green eyes and dark brown hair.

Raul Esparza Career

Theatre

Broadway theatre

Esparza first drew attention with his performance in the 2000 Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show. The Show leads to him winning the Theatre World Award. Additional Broadway credits include Cabaret (2001), Taboo (2003), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (2005) and Sondheim’s Company (2006).

He also receives a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in the musical Taboo.

His performance in Company earned him a second Tony nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as his second Drama Desk award.

2007-2008

November 2007, he appeared in Harold Pinter‘s play The Homecoming and is nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
In 2008, he plays Charlie Fox in the return of David Mamet‘s Speed-the-Plow co-starring Jeremy Piven and Elisabeth Moss on Broadway.
His performance in Speed-the-Plow earns him a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play. This made him the second performer (after Boyd Gaines) to be nominated in all four acting categories a performer is suitable for at the Tonys, although he has yet to win one.

Esparza appears in a limited-engagement revival of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.

Esparza appears in the musical Leap of Faith in the part of the “Reverend” Jonas Nightingale.
He is included in the workshop in 2008, the out-of-town tryout at the Ahmanson Theatre (Los Angeles) in 2010, and the Broadway production in 2012. He received a 2012 Drama Desk Award nomination for Excellent Actor in a Musical.

Other theatres

In 1999, Esparza characterized Che in the national tour of Evita, opposite Natalie Toro. The tour was expected to open on Broadway but failed to do so. In 2001, he appeared Off-Broadway in tick, tick… BOOM! by Jonathan Larson, earning a Drama Desk Award nomination as an Excellent Actor in a Musical. He appeared in two Stephen Sondheim musicals, Sunday in the Park with George and Merrily We Roll Along at the 2002 Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration.
He also appeared as The Arbiter in the Actors Fund of America concert of Sir Tim Rice’s Chess in September 2003.

From 2009

Esparza starred in a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater (New York) with Anne Hathaway, from June 25 through July 12. He starred as Hapgood in the City Center Encores! a staged concert production of Anyone Can Whistle from April 8 to 11, 2010, opposite Sutton Foster as Fay and Donna Murphy as the Mayoress.

2018-2019

In February 2018, he plays Freddie Trumper (the American) in the Kennedy Center’s return of Sir Tim Rice’s Chess. From October to December 2018, Esparza played the title role in the Classic Stage Company’s Off-Broadway production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
He was nominated for the 2019 Drama Desk Award for Best Actor for the role.

Raul Esparza Television

In 2007, Esparza had a recurring role on the TV show Pushing Daisies. He plays as a traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio, a role originally given to Paul Reubens. In 2009, he recorded the audiobook Under the Dome by Stephen King.

He has done the previous narration for The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, and The Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark.

January 2010, Esparza performed opposite Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Valarie Pettiford at the 92Y’s Lyrics and Lyricist event.
Honoring Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra, “Babalu: The American Songbook Goes Latin”. In 2010, Esparza appeared as Abel Plenkov in Wes Craven’s My Soul to Take.

From 2013 to 2015, Esparza appeared in the recurring role of Dr. Frederick Chilton in Hannibal. He appeared in the 2016 film Custody, written and directed by James Lapine, as an Administration for Children’s Services agent.

Raul Esparza Law & Order: SVU

In 2012, Esparza became a recurring actor on the long-running NBC drama seriesLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit. Plays as Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba, starting in the third episode of the show’s 14th season, “Twenty-Five Acts“.

Raul Esparza Net Worth

He has a net worth of $9 million. He has garnered it mainly through his acting career and the sum of awards he won.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7u7PRZ6WerF%2Bau3DDyKSgaKqRqrlusdKpmKuykWKvqrvGq5ipoKlirqixjKGcop%2BYqXqvrdOipqeZnJ7BunnWop2eZaOlvLa%2FxGaroZ2Rqb%2Bmv4ytnKWdpp7AqrvNZqOar12kv6Wx0Waqr61do7K1edaoqa2gXw%3D%3D