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ESAI (EE-seye)

Esai Morales:American television and movie actor
Common clues: Actor Morales; Lou's “La Bamba” co-star; He played Tony on "NYPD Blue"; Morales of “Bad Boys”; Morales of movies; Hollywood's Morales
Crossword puzzle frequency: 8 times a year
Video:
Kikey Castillo interviews actor Esai Morales


If you don't look like the ruling class, bring your inhaler ~ Esai Morales


Esai Manuel Morales (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue and Joseph Adama in the science fiction television series Caprica.




Morales has described himself as an "actorvist", primarily as one of the founders of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, taking inspiration from his mother, who was an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. He is also interested in environmental issues and was a founding board member of E.C.O. (Earth Communications Office).


In the February 28th, 2007 all-star benefit reading of "The Gift of Peace" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, he portrays a hopeful member of a struggling immigrant family, and plays alongside actors Ed Asner, Barbara Bain, Amy Brenneman, George Coe, Wendie Malick, and James Pickens, Jr.. The play is an open appeal and fundraiser for passage of U.S. House Resolution 808, which seeks to establish a Cabinet-level "Department of Peace" in the U.S. government, to be funded by a two percent diversion of the Pentagon's annual budget.


Morales is a vegetarian. He and girlfriend Elvimar Silva welcomed a little girl, Mariana Oiveira, on September 24, 2010.


Morales's first name is frequently used in crossword puzzles because its rare construction (it is a four-letter word in English that is seventy-five percent vowels, including the first and last letters) makes it a prize for crossword constructors. One crossword clue website estimated that between 1994 and 2016, ESAI had been used as a crossword answer over 100 times in American papers such as The New York Times, The LA Times, and The Washington Post.



This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Esai Morales".