Name	Giancarlo Esposito
Height	5' 8"
Naionality	Denmark
Date of Birth	26 April 1958
Place of Birth	Copenhagen, Denmark
Famous for

A graduate of Professional Children’s School, Giancarlo Esposito landed his first Broadway role when he was eight in the production of “Maggie Flynn,” along side Shirley Jones, and continued to perform in several other NYC stage productions like “Miss Moffatt” (1977), which starred Bette Davis, director John Malkovich’s “Balm in Gilead,” as Ernesto, and “Zooman and the Sign,” in which he won a Theatre World and an Obie. His film career started in the late 1970s with a bit part as a Puerto Rican teen in Running (1979), starring Michael Douglas.

Esposito played Cadet Captain J.C. Pierce in the ensemble drama Taps (1981), made his television film debut in CBS’s The Gentleman Bandit (1981), got his first regular role in the CBS daytime drama “Guiding Light” (1982-1983), as well as appearing in John Landis’ Trading Places (1983) with Dan Aykroyd, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983) with Kevin Bacon and Maria Tucci, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club (1984) with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) with Rosanna Arquette and Madonna. He delivered notable guest turn as Adonis Jackson on three episodes of NBC’s “Miami Vice” (1984-1985).

The following years, Esposito went on to have small roles in TV shows like the PBS miniseries “Roanoak” (1986) and “Spenser: For Hire” (1987) and movies like the Stephen King drama Maximum Overdrive (1986) and Sweet Lorraine (1987), until receiving his breakout role as Julian, the conflicted, light-skinned college student, in director-writer Spike Lee’s School Daze (1988). Lee and Esposito rejoined the following year for the excellent drama Do the Right Thing, where Esposito impressively played fire-starting neighborhood activist Buggin’ Out. After Abel Ferrara’s cult hit King of New York (1990), he had a supporting role opposite Denzel Washington in Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues (1990), portrayed Yo Yo in Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth (1991), costarred as messy journalist Bugs Raplin in Tim Robbins’ Bob Roberts (1992) and acted in the biographical Malcolm X (1992), which marked his fourth feature with Spike Lee.

The biracial actor had leading roles in Boaz Yakin’s drama Fresh (1994), earning an Independent Spirit nomination for his role as a drug merchant, and Joe Joe Brewster’s The Keeper (1995, as a corrections officer), and feature roles in such movies as Reckless (1995), Kla$h (1995), Smoke (1995) and its 1996’s installment Blue in the Face, as well as Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects (1995), which brought Esposito a National Board of Review for Best Acting by an Ensemble. A brief return to the small screen during 1993-1994 for a costarring regular in the Fox quirky sitcom “Bakersfield P.D,” playing Detective Paul Gigante, led to a series of guest appearances in shows like “New York Undercover” (1995), “Chicago Hope,” “Nash Bridges,” “NYPD Blue” and “Living Single” (all 1996). However, Esposito did not make an impact on audience until after playing Mike Giardello, an FBI agent assigned to the Baltimore homicide unit run by his dad in “Homicide: Life on the Street.” During his tenure on the show from 1998-1999, he was nominated for an Image for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Meanwhile, on the big screen, he could be seen in such ventures as Nothing to Lose (1997, opposite Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins), Robert Benton’s Twilight (1998, starred Paul Newman, James Garner and Gene Hackman) and Big City Blues (1999, with Burt Reynolds).

Esposito recreated his role of Officer Mike Giardello for the television film Homicide: The Movie in 2000 and starred as Tom Divack on the short-lived Wall Street drama “The $treet” (Fox, 2000-2001). He offered memorable turns in two movies released in 2001: Piñero, playing the title role’s friend and collaborator Miguel Algarín, and Ali, as the father of Muhammed Ali, before returning to series TV with a role on the FOX ensemble drama “Girl’s Club” in 2002. He continued to appear in episodes of “The Division,” “Lucky” and “Street Time” (all 2003), “Law & Order” (2004) as well as “Soul Food” (both 2004), and played the supporting role of J.C. Reynolds in the low-budget political thriller Blind Horizon (2003) and Hank in the drama/thriller Noise (2004). From 2005 to 2006, the actor dotted his resume with performances in such movies as Hate Crime (2005), Derailed (2005, with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston), the Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday (2006), SherryBaby (2006, as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s parole officer) and the musical parody Rain (2006, starred Brooklyn Sudano in the title role). 2006 also saw him play Miami businessman Robert Fuentes on the UPN television series “South Beach.”

As for his upcoming projects, the veteran supporting player will share the screen with Omarion Grandberr in the drama film Reggaeton (2007), premiered in Belgium on July 25. He also has supporting turns in the Neo-noir The Box (2007), as Det. Dwayne Burkhalter, and the drama Racing Daylight (2007), starring David Strathairn and Melissa Leo.