Raúl Esparza

Acting

Raúl Esparza

Born 1970-10-24 · Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.

Raúl Eduardo Esparza (born October 24, 1970) is an American actor. Considered one of Broadway's most prominent leading men since the 2000s, he is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Bobby in the 2006 Broadway revival of Company and for his television role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he had a recurring role in Season 14 and was promoted to a series regular in Seasons 15 to 19.

Acting credits

Ferdinand poster
7.2

Ferdinand, a little bull, prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree just smelling the flowers versus jumping around, snorting, and butting heads with other bulls. As Ferdinand grows big and strong, his temperament remains mellow. But one day five men come to choose the "biggest, fastest, roughest bull" for the bullfights in Madrid— and Ferdinand is mistakenly chosen.

Ferdinand

2017

Find Me Guilty poster
6.5

Based on the true story of Jack DiNorscio, a mobster who defended himself in court for what would be the longest mafia trial in U.S. history.

Find Me Guilty

2006

My Soul to Take poster
5.5

On the day the Riverton Ripper vanished without a trace, seven children were born. Today, they're all turning 16... and turning up dead.

My Soul to Take

2010

Custody poster
6.9

When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law school graduate, is assigned to represent her case before Judge Martha Schulman, a veteran of the Family Court System.

Custody

2016

Getting the Old Scent Again: Reimagining Red Dragon poster
10.0

An in depth feature length piece on the creative efforts to approach the Hannibal television series' third season "reboot" of the Red Dragon arc.

Getting the Old Scent Again: Reimagining Red Dragon

2015

Elián poster
6.5

The story of Elián Gonzalez, a five-year-old Cuban boy plucked from the Florida Straits, and how the fight for his future changed the course of U.S.-Cuba relations. Featuring personal testimony, interviews, and a news archive, this documentary recounts Elián’s remarkable rescue on Thanksgiving Day in 1999, after his mother and 10 others fleeing Cuba perished at sea, and the custody battle between the boy’s Cuban father and his Miami-based relatives.

Elián

2017

The Paley Center Salutes Law & Order: SVU poster
9.7

Go back to the beginning of television's longest-running primetime drama with behind-the-scenes footage, memorable scenes and exclusive interviews with the actors, creators and crew members.

The Paley Center Salutes Law & Order: SVU

2020

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway poster
7.2

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway is an American documentary film, directed by Dori Berinstein, a Broadway Producer, Writer and Filmmaker. Berinstein filmed each principal musical on Broadway for her project during the 2003-2004 season, for about 600 hours of initial film footage. She focused the film on four musicals, through the difficulties of pre-production, their openings, attendant publicity around the shows, and their reviews, through the 2004 Tony Award competition. The four musicals documented for the film were: Wicked, Taboo, Caroline or Change, Avenue Q.

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway

2007

Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway's Best poster
2.0

Enjoy a revue of milestone Broadway shows and songs from 1973 to 2023 hosted by two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster. Features performances by André De Shields, Chita Rivera, Vanessa Williams and more from Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.

Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway's Best

2023

One Singular Sensation! Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch poster
NR

Stars from Broadway and television join the New York Philharmonic to ring in the New Year with a joyous celebration of the music of Marvin Hamlisch. Featured performers include Beth Behrs, Joshua Bell, Lilla Crawford, Raul Esparza, Michael Feinstein, Maria Friedman, Josh Groban, Megan Hilty, Brian d'Arcy James, Kelli O'Hara, and of course series host Audra McDonald. Conducted by Paul Gemignani.

One Singular Sensation! Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch

2012

Glimpse poster
5.0

Three people are up for the same job. Their lives are turning inside out under the pressure. And someone is watching the whole thing. More than one person, in fact. And someone else is watching them watch. A sorrowful and comedic examination of our fall into the surveillance culture.

Glimpse

2022

Trouble in the Heights poster
8.0

Near the shadow of the George Washington Bridge, a young Dominican teenager is hunted by a drug kingpin as his older brother must fight for both their survival over the course of a day in their Washington Heights neighborhood of New York.

Trouble in the Heights

2011

Company: A Musical Comedy poster
7.6

Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan, an exploration of love and commitment is seen through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious friends.

Company: A Musical Comedy

2008

Bring Me to Light poster
NR

Sutton Foster takes over City Center—filling it with her indomitable spirit for a concert with her friends that celebrates their connections to the historic theater and reflects on the challenges facing all of us. Bring Me to Light reunites Foster with fellow Encores! cast members Raúl Esparza and Joaquina Kalukango, City Center alum Kelli O’Hara, and Wren Rivera—Foster’s student at Ball University. Together, they enliven City Center with the hope of what lies ahead through performances of music theater favorites from Anyone Can Whistle, Camelot, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Violet, The Wild Party, and more. Accompanied by Music Director Michael Rafter (piano) and Matt Hinkley (guitar), Bring Me to Light is directed by Leigh Silverman, with Jeanine Tesori serving as Creative Producer.

Bring Me to Light

2021

Chess (Actor's Fund of America Concert) poster
NR

The Benny Anderson-Tim Rice-Björn Ulvaeus musical Chess, which began life as a two-LP recording in 1984, was presented at the New Amsterdam Theatre, marking the third benefit concert for the Actors’ Fund. Chess debuted on the London stage with a cast led by Elaine Paige, Tommy Körberg and Murray Head, while the Broadway company featured Judy Kuhn, Philip Casnoff and the late David Carroll. The score includes such tunes as “Nobody’s Side,” “One Night in Bangkok,” “Anthem,” “I Know Him So Well,” “Pity the Child” and “You and I.” The original Broadway cast recording was released on RCA Victor. The Actors' Fund of America, a nonprofit organization founded in 1882, provides for the social welfare of all entertainment professionals. Its headquarters and The Aurora Residence are located in New York City, and its nursing home and assisted living care facility are in Englewood, New Jersey.

Chess (Actor's Fund of America Concert)

2003

Merrily We Roll Along poster
7.0

The story of three friends moving back in time, starting when their relationship finally falls completely apart and moving back to where they started, making stops along the way looking for the moment things changed. Part of the 2002 Sondheim Festival at the Kennedy Center and recorded by WAPAVA.

Merrily We Roll Along

2002