Benjamin Bratt is an American film and television actor who became famous for his role as New York Police Detective Reynaldo Curtis in the NBC drama series Law & Order. In 1999, Bratt was among the "50 most beautiful people in the world" according to People magazine.
Biography
Benjamin Bratt was born December 16, 1963 in San Francisco, California. His mother, Aldi, moved to the United States from Lima, Peru when she was 14 years old. She came from the Peruvian Quechua ethnic group, worked as a nurse, and actively advocated for the rights of Native Americans. Peter Bratt, his father, had English, German, and Austrian roots. He was a worker and worked in the production of sheet metal.
Benjamin was the third of five children in the family and grandson of Broadway actor George Cleveland Bratt. In 1968, when the boy was about five years old, his parents decided to divorce.
In 1969, Bratt's mother, a Native American activist, took part in the capture of Alcatraz Island. She took with her a five-year-old Benjamin, his brother and sisters. This early experience had a great influence on him.
While attending high school in San Francisco, he was a member of the prestigious Lowell Forensic Society team, which competed in the ability to deliver discussion speeches and participate in debates. Later, while already studying at the University of California, Bratt joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. And in 1986, he also received a bachelor's degree.
University of California Building Photo: Masur / Wikimedia Commons
After graduation, he was accepted into the MFA's curriculum at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. But the offer of the first acting job forced him to leave, without having received a degree.
Career
Benjamin Bratt’s career began in 1987 with the filming of the series “Juarez”. But his pilot project was unsuccessful. After that, it was decided to shoot the film of the same name, in which the actor played a young lawyer of Mexican-American origin.
Immediately after Juarez, Bratt got the lead roles in two drama series Knightwatch and Nasty Boys. The next few years he starred in feature films, and also participated in television projects. Among them are Golden Chain (1991), Destroyer (1993), Blood Pay for Blood (1993), Texas (1994) and many others.
In 1994, the actor played an Indian Ranger in the thriller Curtis Hanson's Wild River. This work brought Brett recognition of film critics. In the same year, he received an invitation from Dick Wolfe, with whom he made friends on the set of the Nasty Boys movie. The producer invited him to take the lead in the sixth season of the series Law and Order. The role of Detective Ray Curtis in this American television series was highly praised by critics and made the actor popular. But in 1999, Bratt decided to leave the show in order to be able to spend more time with his family.
He helped his brother in the filming of films. In 1996, Benjamin appeared in Peter Bratt Jr.'s painting "Take Me Home". Salma Hayek also starred in the film. In 2000, Benjamin Bratt, along with Madonna, took part in the work on the last film by British filmmaker John Schlesinger, "Best Friend."
Singer and actress Madonna Photo: David Kirouac / Wikimedia Commons
In the same year, he became part of the cast of "Traffic" and starred in the comedy action movie with Sandra Bullock "Miss Congeniality."
In 2004, he played one of the key characters in the sci-fi movie Catwoman, which also starred Holly Berry and Sharon Stone. However, the picture failed at the box office. The following year, the actor was invited to play the role of Major Jim Tisnevsky in the series "The Last Frontier".
Between 2008 and 2009, Bratt starred in the dramatic serial film "The Cleaner." The actor also reappeared in several episodes of Law and Order and took part in the filming of his brother Peter’s independent mission picture.
In 2011, Bratt was invited to the role of Dr. Jack Riley in the series "Private Practice". In the same image, he appeared in the next two seasons of the show. In subsequent years, with the participation of the actor, such works as “The Snitch” (2013), “Mission to Miami” (2016), “Scam undercover” (2016), “The Secret of Coco” (2017) and others.
Benjamin Bratt at the San Francisco Parade Photo: Peter Angritt / Wikimedia Commons
In addition to roles in film and television, Benjamin Bratt is involved in the dubbing of animated computer films. In 2009, cameraman Manny from the animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs spoke in the voice of the actor. In 2013, he again voiced the same character in the continuation of the animation work, called "Cloudy with a Chance of Precipitation: Revenge of GMOs." In the same year, he got the voice role of the villain El Macho in the cartoon "Despicable Me 2".
