Carlo Dante Rota is a British-Canadian actor, best known to Canadian audiences for his role on Little Mosque on the Prairie and to international audiences as systems analystMorris O'Brian on the FOX series 24. He also has a co-starring role as Emilio Solano in Jane the Virgin.
Early life
Rota was born in London, England, to Italian parents, Rina, who worked in the restaurant business, and Dante Rota, a world-renowned chef. He grew up in Osterley with two sisters and one brother. Through his life he has lived in many places of the world, including Hong Kong, the Bahamas and the UK before his family settled in Toronto. Rota worked in the culinary industry for many years until he decided to abruptly switch careers to acting. According to his interview in the book Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita, he said of this decision:
Career
Almost immediately thereafter, Rota landed roles in the Canadian TV seriesStreet Legal and the critically acclaimed Canadian independent film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. Because of his experience prior to acting, he also hosted the Great Canadian Food Show for CBCtelevision in Canada, a series which was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award for Excellence in Culinary Journalism. He has appeared in numerous popular TV series including 24, Queer as Folk, Castle, La Femme Nikita, Relic Hunter, Adventure Inc, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, The Gospel of John, and Traders. Rota co-starred in the CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, playing Lebanese-Canadian construction contractor Yasir Hamoudi. In 2008, Rota portrayed Charles, who was a journalist for The Herald, in Saw V. On 24, Rota portrayed the recurring role of Morris O'Brian, the arrogant but brilliant computer scientist husband of Chloe O'Brian, appearing most extensively in season 6. Rota had a recurring role on the TV series La Femme Nikita as the smarmy, green-listed terrorist informant, Mick Schtoppel; later revealed to be Mr. Jones, a high-ranking member of Section. In the 1999 movie The Boondock Saints, Rota starred as crime boss Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta. He also played film director Tyler Jesseman in the 2000 Disney Channel Original MoviePhantom of the Megaplex. He has made guest appearances in many other television series, including Stargate Universe, playing Carl Strom, head of the International Oversight Advisory, the civilian oversight committee that heads up the Atlantis expedition and its funding, as a villain named "The Ghost" on White Collar, as well as roles on ', Human Target, Castle, The Mentalist, Bones, and Grimm. He also appeared on ' in the episode "Found" as Kalil Abramson, as well as on AMC's show, Breaking Bad. He was a guest on episode 11 of the second season of Top Chef Canada, the episode dedicated to Italian cuisine 1. He acts as Edmund Wooler, in World Without End on Reelz Channel. In 2013, he was announced as the new host of Recipe to Riches, a Canadian reality show. He provided the voice and motion-capture performance for Majid Sadiq, leader of The Engineers and the main antagonist in . In 2014, he recurred as Ivan on the hit ABCtelevision showScandal. In 2014, he began co-starring in Jane the Virgin as Emilio Solano. In 2017, he played in Ransom as Damian Delaine. He resumed that role for his second season in 2018. Also in 2018, Rota hosted and narrated the CBC series Back in Time For Dinner. He appeared in the 2019 film Cliffs of Freedom, directed by Van Ling.
Personal life
Rota married 24 co-star Nazneen Contractor on 1 April 2010 They have two children, a son and a daughter.
