Benjamin Bratt Biography

BENJAMIN BRATT

Date of Birth: December 16, 1963

The middle of five children from a multi-cultural background (Peruvian Indian, German and English), Benjamin Bratt grew up in California.

After his parents divorced when he was four, Bratt lived with his mother until he was a teenager. At that point, he decided to live with his father, a steelworker, in San Francisco. It was his father who suggested that he try out for a high school play during his senior year. Bratt went for his first audition and came out with one of the lead roles in a musical version of Destry Rides Again and the knowledge that he wanted to become an actor. He studied acting at the University of California at Santa Barbara. After graduation, he earned a spot at San Francisco's prestigious American Conservatory Theater school, but his days as a struggling drama student were numbered. He was broke, but soon enough, he had his own series.

That show was Juarez, which turned into a failed ABC pilot about a young Mexican-American lawman. It ended up airing as a TV movie in 1988. After that disappointment, Bratt landed a starring role on NBC's short-lived Nasty Boys, a flashy crime drama about drug-fighting ninja cops that led to a friendship with the show's executive producer, Dick Wolf, who also helms Law and Order. When that series died, Bratt, who was living in Los Angeles, turned to film, quickly getting a handful of small parts. His first role was as John Travolta's nemesis in a little-seen film called Chains of Gold. His other film credits include well-received turns in The River Wild, Bound by Honor, and Clear and Present Danger.

Bratt had no plans to return to TV, even though Wolf would call with the occasional offer. Bratt politely but persistently refused until Wolf asked him to costar in Law & Order. He accepted. "One of the things that I was excited about was the opportunity to portray a character you almost never see on network television but that exists in the millions in this country, and that's a bicultural person. I wanted to play someone that finally was reflective of myself, someone of diverse ethnic background,"e; he has said.

Bratt has continued working steadily in recent years, lending his voice to such films as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), and Despicable Me 2 (2013). He also appeared in the comedy Ride Along 2, starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, the comedy Special Correspondents (2016) starring Eric Bana and Ricky Gervais, the biographical drama The Infiltrator (2016) starring Bryan Cranston, and the superhero adventure Marvel's Doctor Strange (2016). He most recently lent his voice for a role in the animated film, Coco (2017).

He stayed on the show until 1998 after deciding he wanted to move back home to be closer to his family and his then-girlfriend, Julia Roberts. They split in 2001, and Bratt married actress Talisa Soto in April 2002. They have a daughter, named Sophia Rosalinda Bratt, who was born in December 2002.

Filmography:

Coco (2017)
Marvel's Doctor Strange (2016)
The Infiltrator (2016)
Special Correspondents (2016)
Ride Along 2(2016)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) (voice)
La mission (2009)
Trucker (2008)
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
The Great Raid (2005)
The Woodsman (2005)
Thumbsucker (2005)
Catwoman (2004)
Abandon (2002)
Piñero (2002)
After the Storm (2001)
The Last Producer (2000)
Miss Congeniality (2000)
Red Planet (2000)
The Next Best Thing (2000)
Follow Me Home (1997)
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
The River Wild (1994)
Demolition Man (1993)
Bound by Honor (1993)
Bright Angel (1991)
One Good Cop (1991)