Television gave the biracial actor a rare opportunity to play a character who shares his dual heritage as Sergeant Paul Gigante on the clever cop comedy, "Bakersfield P.D." (Fox, 1993-94). He visited this terrain again with his 1998-1999 stint on "Homicide: Life on the Street", playing Mike Giardello, an FBI agent assigned to the Baltimore homicide unit run by his father (Yaphet Kotto) and particularly impressed with a stirring turn in a 1999 hostage crisis episode pairing him with his "Bakersfield P.D." co-star Ron Eldard. In 2000, Esposito got a role on the short-lived Wall Street drama "The Street" on FOX. He played Will Smith's father, Casius Clay Sr. in the film "Ali" in 2001 and also appeared in another biopic "Pinero" in the same year. 2002 marked a return to series television with a role in the FOX ensemble drama "Girl's Club,” about three female lawyers who live together in San Francisco.
Appearances in episodes of “Lucky” (FX, 2002-2003) and “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” (2004-2005) were followed by a supporting role in the low-budget political thriller, “Blind Horizon” (2004). He returned to the small screen to be in the sci-fi horror made-for-TV movie “Chupacabra: Dark Seas” (2005). Then in “Derailed” (2005), Esposito had another small role in this dramatic thriller about a Chicago advertising exec (Clive Owen) who misses his regular commuter train and becomes involved with a charming and seductive woman (Jennifer Aniston), then sees his life fall apart when blackmailed into committing dangerous and violent acts by a deranged criminal (Vincent Cassel). Esposito was next seen in the Queen Latifah comedy vehicle, “Last Holiday” (2006), playing a sleazy, out-of-touch senator staying at a European resort where he encounters a formerly shy salesperson (Latifah) on an emboldening dream vacation after learning she's terminally ill, whose infectious new attitude transforms the lives of staff and guests alike.