Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor, producer, and activist. Bratt gained exposure through his supporting roles in the box office hits, Bright Angel, Demolition Man, Clear and Present Danger and The River Wild. From 1995, he extended his global recognition with his role of NYPD Detective Rey Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order.
In 2000, Bratt played supporting roles in Miss Congeniality and Traffic, the former earned him a Blockbuster Entertainment award for Favourite Supporting Actor. In 2001, Bratt starred in Piñero, for which he received an ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor. He has also starred in The Great Raid, La Mission, and The Lesser Blessed. Other notable live-action films of Bratt's include Catwoman, The Woodsman, Thumbsucker, Trucker, Snitch, The Infiltrator, and Ride Along 2. Bratt produced the film Dolores which follows the life of Dolores Huerta, the civil rights activist. The film received critical acclaim and received several awards.
Bratt has voiced roles in animated feature films, including Manny in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, its sequel, El Macho in Despicable Me 2, Lor-Zod / Hernan Guerra / Superman in ', and Ernesto de la Cruz in Coco. On television, Bratt portrayed Dr. Jake Reilly on ABC's Private Practice, Steve Navarro on ', Jahil Rivera on Star and is set to star in the upcoming HBO series based on the DC comic series DMZ.
Bratt extended his global recognition with his role of Jonathan Pangborn in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Doctor Strange in 2016. Bratt has received one Screen Actors Guild Award out of three nominations, four ALMA Awards, one Primetime Emmy Award nomination, and one Blockbuster Entertainment Award. He is an activist in the American Indian Movement.
Early life
Bratt was born in San Francisco, California, the third of five children born to Eldy, a nurse and activist, and Peter Bratt Sr., a sheet metal worker. His mother was born in Lima, Peru, a member of the indigenous Quechua ethnic group. She moved to the United States at age 14. His father has German and English ancestry. His parents married December 30, 1960 in San Francisco, but divorced in September 1967. Bratt's paternal grandfather, George Cleveland Bratt, was a Broadway actor who married Bratt's paternal grandmother, Wiltrude Hildner in Detroit, Michigan.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. Although he was admitted into the M.F.A. program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, he left before receiving his degree to star in the 1987 television film Juarez. As a child, Bratt went with his mother and siblings to participate in the 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz.
Career
Early work
He started his professional acting career at the Utah Shakespearean Festival where he starred in the television film Juarez which received much critical acclaim and this helped Bratt land a supporting role in another television film, Police Story: Gladiator School. Also, he experienced his first film role with his role of Esteban in Lovers, Partners & Spies which did not sell. Bratt then worked heavily on television with his roles in the short-lived series of Knightwatch and Nasty Boys. 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 Shadowhunter, in 1993, he appeared in two Hollywood films portraying a gang leader called Paco Aguilar and Officer Alfredo Garcia from the year 2032 in Bound by Honor and Demolition Man respectively. These films gained Bratt Hollywood's attention and projected him to the mainstream. The following year, Bratt played supporting roles in the popular films of The River Wild, Clear and Present Danger and James A. Michener's Texas. He then transferred back to television and was cast as Detective Reynaldo Curtis in the popular series Law & Order which earned him worldwide recognition. Bratt appeared in 95 episodes over 5 seasons, 14 years and 2 stints on the NBC show. For his role, in 1999 he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Also, 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. 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, in the episode that aired on December 11, 2009. He left the show that same year to continue his film career.Later work
In 2000, Bratt co-starred with Madonna and Rupert Everett in The Next Best Thing. The following year, he played opposite Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy Miss Congeniality and had a small role as part of a stellar ensemble cast of Traffic, which also included Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 2004, the actor co-starred in Catwoman with Halle Berry and Sharon Stone. Bratt often portrays Hispanic characters, especially in his later work, once 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 ALMA Award for Outstanding Actor for playing the Puerto Rican actor and poet Miguel Piñero.As a producer, he has produced the 2009 film La Mission which his brother, Peter Bratt, directed. Peter Bratt also directed Follow Me Home which Benjamin Bratt starred in and also produced. In 2017, Bratt served as a Consulting Producer for the Documentary Film Dolores directed by Peter Bratt, this was to further support the American Indian Movement. The film received critical acclaim and received many awards. In 2009, he 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. 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.
Bratt has appeared in several television shows since 2000, including starring as Jahil Rivera on Star and William Banks in The Cleaner. Also, he played Dr. Jake Reilly in 36 episodes of Private Practice. Other notable television shows of his include Frasier, ' and E-Ring. Bratt has also appeared in ' and as Rey Curtis from Law & Order. His later popular films include The Woodsman, Snitch, Trucker, Thumbsucker, The Great Raid, Ride Along 2 and The Infiltrator.
Bratt has featured in five animated feature films which include El Macho, the main antagonist, in Despicable Me 2. He played Manny the cameraman in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and reprised his role in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Also, in 2015, he voiced Superman in In the 2017 film Coco, Bratt voiced Ernesto de la Cruz, the main antagonist who was a Mexican folk legend and main character Miguel's idol. Bratt also sings "Remember Me," a popular song in the film that is sung by many other characters throughout. "Remember Me" won Best Original Song at the 2018 Academy Awards as Coco won Best Animated Feature too.
In 2016, Bratt extended his global recognition with his role of Jonathan Pangborn, a former sorcerer using his powers to regain the full use of his body, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He appeared in Doctor Strange. Bratt will star opposite Nicolas Cage in the upcoming 2019 action-thriller film A Score to Settle directed by Shawn Ku with a release date for August 2. He is known as a hard-working and a dedicated actor who said "I've always approached acting from a very workmanlike perspective."
Activism and philanthropy
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 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. 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.Personal life
In 1998, Bratt 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.In 2002, he received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.
Also in 2002, he began dating and then married his girlfriend, actress Talisa Soto, on April 13 in San Francisco. The two had met ten years earlier during the casting audition of Blood in Blood Out, and afterward they saw each other on and off. It was not until the filming of Piñero 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.
His brother, Peter Bratt, wrote and directed the film Follow Me Home, featuring Benjamin as Abel. Additionally, Peter wrote and directed the independent film La Mission, starring Benjamin as Che Rivera, an inhabitant of the Mission District.