Santiago Cabrera


Santiago Cabrera is a Chilean actor who has worked mainly in the UK and United States. Cabrera is best known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the television series Heroes, Lancelot in the BBC drama series Merlin, and Aramis in the BBC series The Musketeers. He was also the lead in the TV show Salvation as Darius Tanz, and plays Captain Cristóbal "Chris" Rios in .

Early life

Cabrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where his father, a Chilean diplomat, was stationed at the time. He is the middle child of three. Moving along with his father's career, Santiago grew up mainly in England, but also in Romania, Toronto and Madrid. His family returned to Chile when he was fifteen years old. He was captain of his football team in high school, and only tried acting when his teachers encouraged him. During his three years of training at the Drama Centre London, Cabrera starred in productions of The Madras House, A Month in the Country, Napoli Milionaria, Britannicus, The Dutch Courtesan, The Strangeness of Others, Three Birds Alighting on a Field, and played the title character in The Last Days of Don Juan.

Career

Concurrent with his final year at the centre, he made his television debut with small roles in the British television series Battlefield Britain, Judge John Deed, Spooks and As If. His first role after graduating from drama school was Montano in Shakespeare's Othello, at the Northampton Theatre Royal. He also starred in the 2006 film Love and Other Disasters as the Argentinian Paolo Sarmiento, alongside Brittany Murphy and Matthew Rhys.
He has appeared on American television first in Empire, as Octavius. He appeared as Isaac Mendez in the NBC series Heroes; once the character's arc ended, he narrated some episodes of the BBC's spin-off documentary series Heroes Unmasked. He also played Lancelot in the BBC drama series Merlin and Aramis in The Musketeers.
In addition to his fluency in Spanish, English, French and Italian, Cabrera is skilled in tennis, hockey and scuba diving. On 20 January 2007 episode of the NBC Universal late-night programme Vivo Mun2, Cabrera discussed his semi-professional football career in London before he fully committed to acting. He also stated that C.D. Universidad Católica of Santiago is his favourite team, however, he remains a fan of London club Queens Park Rangers F.C., for which he was a mascot as a child. Although he considers Santiago his hometown, he splits his time between London and Los Angeles.
In 2007, Cabrera was cast as Aquaman in the unmade George Miller film Justice League: Mortal.
On 7 September 2008, Cabrera participated in Soccer Aid, a British charity football match in support of UNICEF. He later repeated this venture in 2014, playing once again for the Rest of the World.
Santiago has also played the role of Darius Tanz in the CBS/Netflix show Salvation.
On 4 March 2019, CBS announced Cabrera was cast in , starring Patrick Stewart, which started shooting in April 2019. Cabrera will appear in Disney's Godmothered.

Personal life

Cabrera is married to Anna Marcea, a theatre director. Their son, Kilian Emiliano, was born in April 2016.

Filmography

Film

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003SpooksCamilo HenriquezSeries 2, episode 9: "The Seventh Division", "A Very Corporate Coup"
2003Judge John DeedCarlos FedorSeries 3, episode 3: "Conspiracy"
2005EmpireOctaviusMiniseries
2006, 2007, 2009HeroesIsaac MendezMain cast in season 1
Season 4, episode 8: "Once Upon a Time in Texas"
2008Heroes UnmaskedNarratorSeries 3
2008–2011MerlinLancelotSeries 1, episode 5: "Lancelot"
Series 2, episode 4: "Lancelot and Guinevere"
Series 3, episode 13: "The Coming of Arthur "
Series 4, episode 1 "The Darkest Hour – Part 1", episode 2: "The Darkest Hour – Part 2", episode 9: "Lancelot Du Lac"
2011Covert AffairsXavierSeason 2, episode 11: The Wake-Up Bomb
2011AlcatrazJimmy-
2012Hemingway & GellhornRobert CapaTV film
2012DexterSal Price
2012FalcónJudge Esteban Calderón
2012–2013Anna KareninaVronskyMiniseries
2014–2016The MusketeersAramisMain cast
2015'Narrator
2016The Mindy ProjectDiegoTV series; Season 4, episode 21: "Under the Texan Sun"
2017, 2019Big Little LiesJoseph BachmanTV series
2017–2018SalvationDarius TanzMain cast, lead
2020–present'Cristóbal "Chris" Rios / Emil / Enoch / Emmet / Iain / Mister HospitalityMain cast
2020The Ready RoomHimselfEpisode: "Episode 17"

Theatre

Video game

Awards

Wins