Raymond Cruz

Raymond Cruz
Cruz in 2024
Born	(1964-09-10) September 10, 1964 (age 60)
Nationality	American
Education	East Los Angeles College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1987–present
Spouse	Simi Mehta

Raymond Cruz (born September 10, 1964)^[1] is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Detective Julio Sanchez in the series The Closer and its spinoff Major Crimes,^[2] as well as his recurring role as drug lord Tuco Salamanca in the crime drama Breaking Bad and its prequel series Better Call Saul.

Early life

Cruz, who is of Mexican descent, grew up in East Los Angeles, California, in a neighborhood that regularly saw gang activity, and had relatives in such street gangs as Maravilla and Barrio South Gate.^[3] In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cruz stated he witnessed someone shot in front of him when he was 12 years old, noting that "his brains came out the back of his head."^[3] For his portrayal of Tuco Salamanca, he was able to relate to his experiences witnessing people who were high on meth.^[3]

Cruz has said that becoming interested in American literature early in life helped him avoid joining such gangs himself. His favorite novel is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.^[4][5][3] Cruz attended 3 high schools after being expelled writing editorials on the newspaper that caused him to be late to class as well as being considered inappropriate.^[6] He attended East Los Angeles College.^[7]

Career

Cruz's film roles include sniper Ding Chavez in Clear and Present Danger,^[8] Hector in Out For Justice,^[8] Tom Berenger's second-in-command Joey Six in The Substitute,^[8] U.S. Marine Sergeant Rojas in The Rock,^[8] as Jesus in From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money,^[8] USM Private Vincent DiStephano in Alien Resurrection,^[8] and Ramirez in Under Siege.^[8] He appeared as Chuey, a gang member from the Vatos Locos, in the gang film Blood In Blood Out.^[8]

In 2005, he played Chino in Havoc.^[8] He appeared in Gremlins 2: The New Batch,^[8] credited as "The Messenger," and in Training Day as a gang member named Sniper.^[8] He played a Los Angeles firefighter in Collateral Damage.^[8] He had guest roles in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Siege of AR-558", The X-Files episode "El Mundo Gira", and the second season of 24.^[8] He also made an appearance as the father of a murdered girl in CSI. He played Det Julio Sanchez for the entire seven season run of The Closer and continued in that role for all six seasons of the spin-off Major Crimes.^[8]

Cruz performed the relatively short-lived but well-known role of Tuco Salamanca, a sadistic and psychotic meth dealer in Breaking Bad in 2008 and 2009,^[8] a role he reprised in 2015-16 during the first two seasons of the Breaking Bad prequel spin-off, Better Call Saul.^[8]

He had a recurring role as Paco on My Name Is Earl, and as Alejandro Perez on Nip/Tuck.^[8]

Personal life

Cruz is married to fellow actress Simi Mehta whom he co-starred with on The X-Files in the episode "El Mundo Gira".^[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Maid to Order	Sam
1988	Twice Dead	Gang Member
1989	I Know My First Name Is Steven	Punk
1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	The Messenger
	Cold Dog Soup	Gang Member
1991	Prison Stories: Women on the Inside	Montoya	Television film
	Dead Again	Store Clerk
	Out for Justice	Hector
	Fallen Angels	Diego	Television film
1992	Man Trouble	Balco
	Nails	Paco Sanchez	Television film
	Judgement	Cyclone
	Under Siege	Ramirez
1993	Blood In Blood Out	Chuey
	When the Party's Over	Mario
1994	Dead Badge	Tomas Gomez
	Clear and Present Danger	Ding Chavez
	Dragstrip Girl	Doogie	Television film
1995	Operation Dumbo Drop	Staff Sergeant Adams	Uncredited
1996	The Substitute	Joey "Six"
	The Rock	Sergeant Rojas	Uncredited
	Up Close & Personal	Fernando Buttanda
	Broken Arrow	USAF Lieutenant Colonel	Uncredited
1997	Last Stand at Saber River	Manuel	Television film
	Alien Resurrection	Private Vincent DiStephano
1998	Playing Patti
1999	From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money	Jesus
	The Last Marshal	T-Boy
2000	Blood Money	Gutierrez	Television film
2001	Training Day	Sniper
2002	Collateral Damage	Junior
2004	Just Hustle	Spanish Professor
	My Name is Modesty	Raphael Garcia
2005	Havoc	Chino
	Brothers in Arms	Reverend
2006	10 Tricks	Sal
2015	Cleveland Abduction	Ariel Castro	Television film
2019	The Curse of La Llorona	Rafael Olvera
2020	Wander	Luis Santiago
2021	Blue Miracle	Hector
2023	Medellin	El Diablo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Beauty and the Beast	Hal	Episode: "Down to a Sunless Sea"
	Cagney & Lacey	Alonzo	Episode: "Land of the Free"
	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Angel Perez	Episode: "Gangs"
	Vietnam War Story II	Diaz	Episode: "Separated"
	Knots Landing	Van Driver, Young Man	2 episodes
1989	A Nightmare on Drug Street	Felipe	Short Film
1990	Hunter	Tomas Delgado	Episode: "La Familia"
	Freddy's Nightmares	Johnny "Mac" McFarland	Episode: "Life Sentence"
	Matlock	Alien Worker	Episode: "The Cookie Monster"
	Lifestories		Episode: "Frank Brody"
	China Beach	Lopez	Episode: "One Small Step"
1993	Murder, She Wrote	José "Joseph" Galvan	Episode: "Double Jeopardy"
1995	The Marshal	Rossiter	Episode: "The Ballad of Lucas Burke"
	Walker, Texas Ranger	Sergeant Perez	Episode: "Case Closed"
1995–2000	NYPD Blue	Raoul / Rico	2 episodes
1995–2000	The Eddie Files	Johnny	16 episodes
1997	The X-Files	Eladio Buente	Episode: "El Mundo Gira"
	Cracker	MacCormick	Episode: "'Tis Pity She's a Whore"
	413 Hope St.	Rico	Episode: "Lost Boys and Gothic Girls"
1998	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Vargas	Episode: "The Siege of AR-558"
	The Practice	Miguel Moreno	Episode: "Truth and Consequences"
1999	Seven Days	Rodriguez	Episode: "Daddy's Girl"
2000	Strange World	Rinaldo Molina	Episode: "Man Plus"
	Seven Days	Teo Millar	Episode: "The Cuban Missile"
	Harsh Realm	Sergeant Escalante	2 episodes
2002	Robbery Homicide Division	Jesus "Termite" Rosales	Episode: "City of Strivers"
	Boomtown	Ruben	Episode: "Crash"
2002–2003	The Division	Roland / Ray Sanchez	3 episodes
2003–2011	CSI: Miami	Martin Medesto / Marcos Trejo	2 episodes
2003	24	Rouse	2 episodes
2003–2008	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Miguel Durado / Donald Balboa	2 episodes
2003–2006	Nip/Tuck	Alejandro Perez	2 episodes
2005–2012	The Closer	Detective Julio Sanchez	105 episodes
2007–2008	My Name Is Earl	Paco	5 episodes
2007	Day Break	Luis Torres	2 episodes
2008	Ylse	Jesse
2008–2009	Breaking Bad	Tuco Salamanca	4 episodes
2011	Los Americans	Memo	7 episodes
2012	White Collar	Enrico Morales	Episode: "Most Wanted"
2012–2018	Major Crimes	Julio Sanchez	105 episodes
2013	Lauren	Martinez	3 episodes; Web series
2015–2016	Better Call Saul	Tuco Salamanca	3 episodes
2016	The Eric Andre Show	Himself	Episode: "Raymond Cruz; Amber Rose"
2018	Get Shorty	Swayze	2 episodes
2019	Madam Secretary	President Mateo Sandino Sr.	Episode: Something Better
2023	Mayans M.C.	Smokey
2024	Grey's Anatomy	Daniel Jiménez (inmate)	The Marathon Continues

References

1. "Today in History". AP News. September 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2023. Actor Raymond Cruz is 57.^{[dead link‍]}
2. Bryant, Adam (August 12, 2012). "TNT Says Goodbye to The Closer, Hello to Major Crimes". TV Guide. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
3. Stern, Marlow (April 17, 2017). "Raymond Cruz's Journey From the Gang Violence of East L.A. to 'Better Call Saul's' Tuco Salamanca". The Daily Beast. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
4. Herzog, Kenny (February 10, 2015). "Raymond Cruz on Better Call Saul, Re-Capturing Tuco, and Breaking Bones". Esquire. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
5. Fontana, Christine (April 30, 2015). "Cruz Control". New Orleans Living Magazine.
6. Cruz, Raymond; Greenspon, Jaq (March 21, 2024). Beyond the Silver Screen: Exploring Raymond Cruz's Life, Roles, and Advocacy CCB'23. Comic Con Baltics. Note: see 3:00
7. Bentley, Rick (April 19, 2019). "Raymond Cruz Felt Real Connection to 'La Llorona'". The Brownsville Herald. p. B6.
8. "Raymond Cruz Credits". tvguide.com. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
9. Fontana, Christine (April 30, 2015). "Cruz Control". New Orleands Living. Retrieved August 24, 2018.

External links

• Raymond Cruz at IMDb