Jacob Vargas (born August 18, 1971) is a Mexican-American actor. He began his acting career when he was discovered breakdancing in a schoolyard at age 12. His introduction to acting came with a bit part as a breakdancer on the hit TV show Diff'rent Strokes (1978). His first movie role was in the TV ... movie The Children of Times Square (1986). He started to appear in more films including Last Resort (1986), Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), The Principal (1987), Little Nikita (1988), American Me (1992), and Gas Food Lodging (1992). In 1995, he won the very first ALMA Award (for Emerging Artist of the Year) for his work in both Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca (1993) and Gregory Nava's My Family (1995). He next starred in films including Crimson Tide (1995), Get Shorty (1995), Selena (1997), Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), and the cult favorite Next Friday (2000) as Ice Cube's nemesis, Joker. His next role was Tijuana cop Manolo, 'Benicio del Toro"s partner in Steven Soderbergh's Academy Award- winning film Traffic (2000), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award and another ALMA Award. In 2001, he executive produced and starred in the independent film Road Dogz (2002). He wrote, directed and acted in EDNY (2003). He also co-produced and starred in the stage play "Latinologues", which ran on Broadway in 2005 and is available on DVD. He voiced for Pepito in Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001). Next, he played Sammi the chef in John Moore's Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Marine sniper Juan Cortez in Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes' war drama Jarhead (2005), a straight-arrow DEA agent in the action drama The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2006), a politically charged busboy Miguel in Emilio Estevez's historical drama Bobby (2006), and a psychologically tortured drone pilot Rudy Ramirez in Alex Rivera's sci-fi political love story Sleep Dealer (2008). He had roles in The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007), Are We Done Yet? (2007), Death Race (2008), Cesar Chavez (2014, Heaven is For Real (2014), The Tell-Tale Heart (2016), Plan B, (2021), and Kimi (2022). His major TV roles are as Bob on Surfside Girls, Tony Medina on Mr. Iglesias, Horacio on Mosaic, Domingo Colon on Marvel's Luke Cage, Allesandro Montez on Sons of Anarchy and later on Mayans M.C., Guillermo on Moonlight, Ernesto Tiant on Greetings from Tucson, and Dr. Roberto Martinez on Max Steel. He had recurring roles on Colony, Blue, and Six Feet Under. He has also guest starred on a number of shows including National Treasure: Edge of History, The Mentalist, Burn Notice, Psych, Numb3rs, Medium, CSI: NY, Cold Case, The Pretender, JAG, ER, Full House, and Hunter. He has voiced for characters on animated series including Solar Opposites, Young Justice, and a recurring role on Tarantula.
| Organization | Category | Movie |
|---|
Max Steel
as Dr. Roberto Martinez (voice)
Episodes: 22
First Aired: Feb 25, 2000
Greetings From Tucson
as Ernesto Tiant
Episodes: 22
First Aired: Sep 20, 2002
Mr. Iglesias
as Tony Medina
Episodes: 21
First Aired: Jun 21, 2019
Sons of Anarchy
as Allesandro Montez
Episodes: 15
First Aired: Sep 03, 2008
Surfside Girls
as Bob
Episodes: 7
First Aired: Aug 18, 2022
Marvel's Luke Cage
as Domingo Colon
Episodes: 6
First Aired: Sep 30, 2016
Mosaic
as Horacio
Episodes: 6
First Aired: Jan 22, 2018
Moonlight
as Guillermo
Episodes: 5
First Aired: Sep 28, 2007
Blue
as Roy
Episodes: 4
First Aired: Jun 11, 2012
National Treasure: Edge of History
as Rafael
Episodes: 4
First Aired: Dec 14, 2022
Colony
as Carlos
Episodes: 3
First Aired: Jan 14, 2016
Mayans M.C.
as Allesandro Montez
Episodes: 3
First Aired: Sep 04, 2018
Six Feet Under
as Manuel 'Paco' Bolin
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Jun 03, 2001
The Pretender
as Javi Padillo
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1996
Cold Case
as Angelo Rivera (2009)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 28, 2003
CSI: NY
as Luis Torres
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 22, 2004
Burn Notice
as Omar Hernandez
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jun 28, 2007
Hunter
as Emilio Morales
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 18, 1984
ER
as Diablo
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 19, 1994
Medium
as Eduardo Garcia
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 03, 2005
Complications
as Ramon
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jun 18, 2015
The Mentalist
as Chief Rick Anaya
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 23, 2008
Young Justice
as Sebastian Cardona / Cisco Ramon (voice)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Nov 26, 2010
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams
as Mario
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 17, 2017
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
as Prince Luis (voice)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Mar 12, 1995
The Proud Family
as Punch Alto (voice)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 2001
JAG
as Corporal Cortez
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 23, 1995
Hand of God
as Julio Farkas (uncredited)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Aug 28, 2014
GAME ON: A Comedy Crossover Event
as Tony Ochoa
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Aug 10, 2020
Psych
as Juan Lava
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jul 07, 2006
Malibu Shores
Episodes: 10
First Aired: Mar 09, 1996
Numb3rs
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 23, 2005
Clueless
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 20, 1996
Full House
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 22, 1987
Kingpin
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Feb 02, 2003
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