Esai Manuel Morales (born October 1st, 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.

Is co-founder, with Sonia Braga and Jimmy Smits, of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.
Spoke only Spanish until age 5.
Studied at Manhattan’s High School for the Performing Arts.
He first became interested in an acting career at age 12 when he saw Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon (1975).
Esai’s Puerto Rican parents divorced when he was a baby.
As a child, Esai was so concerned about his mother’s smoking that he hid her cigarettes.
He originally auditioned for the role of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba (1987), and Lou Diamond Phillips originally auditioned for the role of Bob.
His first name frequently appears in crossword puzzles, since it is rare to find an English four-letter word that is 75% vowels.