Edward James Olmos

A magnetic Latino actor and activist, Olmos was raised in the tough 'hood of East Los Angeles and avoided falling in with gangs by pursuing his passions: first baseball and later rock and roll. In the mid-'60s he gigged with bands at night and studied at community college by day. By the '70s, he had added acting to his eclectic résumé. His breakthrough role came in 1978 as the mythical narrator of the historical play Zoot Suit, which earned him a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, as well as a Tony nod when the show moved to Broadway. (He reprised the role in the subsequent 1981 film.) After a handful of projects, Olmos came to prominence and won an Emmy and a Golden Globe as the police lieutenant on the immensely popular TV series Miami Vice. Once the show folded, Olmos jumped to features and although he turned in many memorable performances — his Oscar-nominated portrayal of real-life inspirational teacher in Stand and Deliver, a gang member in the prison drama American Me, which he also directed and produced — the small screen remained his medium. He did fine work in a slew of TV-movies and miniseries, including the lauded 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica as a hardened military leader trying to lead the remnants of the human race to safety. When Battlestar became a regular series in 2004, Olmos found himself essaying his hippest, most high-profile part since Miami Vice. Off screen, he has been married twice, including to The Sopranos' Lorraine Bracco, and devotes much of his time to humanitarian causes.