Born:
February 24, 1947 in East Los Angeles, California.
Key roles:
- Sci-Fi:
- Outside Sci-Fi:
- Best known for playing Lt. Martin Castillo (1984-89) in the hit police drama Miami Vice
Quote:
"Drama with any audio/visual event, on the movie screen or television, is about the unspoken word. The character grows not with what they say, but how they say it."
Background:
Growing up in a culturally diverse neighborhood, Olmos set his sights first on baseball, then on the rock band he joined when he was 15, Pacific Ocean -- though he admits he was a better dancer than he was a singer. His rock gigs brought him valuable stage experience, but as he moved into stage acting he never left behind his Mexican-American roots.
Big Break:
A string of bit parts in small stage productions led to the role of the narrator, El Pachuco, in
Zoot Suit, an play about Mexican-American rioting in the 1940s that became one of the first Mexican-American productions on Broadway when it debuted in 1979. Olmos was nominated for a Tony Award and later reprised the role in the film adaptation of the play (also called
Zoot Suit).
Coming to Sci-Fi:
Olmos's small role in
Blade Runner seems closely tied to his non-sci-fi work, since he's playing a police enforcer who also happens to be a man of few words. But there are two peculiarities to Gaff, his character in that film: he's an origamist, given three quick bits of business in which he leaves a little origami or other figure behind; and, as with many laconic figures, he seems to have more insight into events than characters with lots of dialog. It's Gaff who gives the twisty final line in the movie. His experience playing gruff authority figures who inspire their underlings made him an obvious choice for Adama.
Near Misses:
According to his
IMDb profile, Olmos was considered for the part of the Klingon adversary, Kruge, in
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but lost out to Christopher Lloyd because Lloyd was taller.
Family:
Olmos was married to the Lorraine Bracco from 1994 to 2002; his children from his previous marriage to Kaija Keel include Bodie Olmos (who plays the pilot "Hot Dog" on
Battlestar Galactica).
New Projects:
Olmos has expanded into directing. Not only has he taken on two episodes of
Battlestar, he has also directed the film
American Me (1992), about the L.A. gang life and what happens afterwards. He's also producing; his most notable project as a producer is
Walkout (2006), about the Mexican-American activist Paula Crisostomo).
