Cruz is perhaps best-known for his portrayal of the frighteningly lethal "Tuco Salamanca" in AMC's critically acclaimed show Breaking Bad; a character he later reprised for the first two episodes of the spin-off Better Call Saul. The role garnered him a 'Best Performance in a Television Series' nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Cruz recently wrapped his sixth and final season of TNT's Major Crimes as "Julio Sanchez," a detective within the Los Angeles Police Department's Major Crimes Division; a role which originated on TNT's The Closer and which offered Cruz a nomination of 'Best Supporting Actor' from the Imagen Foundation Awards. Other TV work includes Cleveland Abduction; the TV Movie in which he starred as kidnapper 'Ariel Castro,' a role he felt personally connected to having known the victims of his crime personally. Other TV work includes CSI: Miami, Lauren, White Collar and Los Americans among others. Cruz has appeared in numerous films including the highly touted Collateral Damage, Training Day and Alien: Resurrection.

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Trivia

Often plays the roles of soldiers.
Mexican-American actor based in Los Angeles who grew up in the tough East Los Angeles hood.
Hobby and passion is riding and building motorcycles. His pride and joy is a 1972 Moto Guzzi El Dorado police bike that he worked on for two years.
He had the nickname, "Sniper", in Training Day (2001) and he was a Army SF sniper in Clear and Present Danger (1994).

When I was a kid, they bused us down to a screening of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) in an old theater and it was just a great experience. I became fascinated by the fact that you could translate written material into performance. That's what compelled me to pursue this. I went to college and studied writing and I got involved in theater. It's always been my passion. I love the challenge of translating the written word into performance.
Live theatre provides a rush you can't get in film or television. But it is the TV and film work that offers the leisure to go off and do a play.