Nestor Carbonell

Nestor Carbonell
Carbonell in May 2009
Born	Nestor Gastón Carbonell (1967-12-01) December 1, 1967 New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	B.A
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	Since 1991
Spouse(s)	Shannon Kenny (m. 2001)
Children	Rafael (b. 2002) Marco (b. 2005)

Nestor Gastón Carbonell^[1][2] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈnestor ɣasˈtoŋ karβoˈneʎ]; born December 1, 1967) is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the films The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. He is also known for his role on the sitcom Suddenly Susan and his performance as the character Batmanuel on the live-action sitcom The Tick. He played the role of Mayor Picazo in the movie For Greater Glory, plays Sheriff Alex Romero in Bates Motel and plays Raymond Navarro (CIA Director) in State of Affairs.

Early life

Carbonell was born in New York City. His family is Cuban of Catalan descent.^[3] He was raised Catholic.^[4] His family moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where he attended The British School Caracas. Later on, he moved back to the United States, where he attended Deerfield Academy (with future Lost co-star Matthew Fox). He earned a B.A. in English at Harvard University in the late 1980s.

His father is a business executive^[5] and is active in the Cuban community. Former professional baseball player Rafael Palmeiro is his cousin. His great-grandfather, José Manuel Cortina y Garcia, was a noted Cuban orator and diplomat.^[6]

Acting career

Carbonell had recurring roles on Resurrection Blvd., The Tick, Strong Medicine, Kim Possible (as the voice of Señor Senior, Jr.), and Cold Case. He also guest-starred on Scrubs ("My Moment of Un-Truth"), House ("Cursed"), Day Break, and Monk. He also played the role of Luis Rivera on the show Suddenly Susan for four seasons. He guest starred in Friends. For much of his early career he played characters with thick hispanic accents, he was so convincing that people really thought it was how he sounded. One of his first obstacles in Hollywood was convincing them that in reality he didn't have an accent and that he is capable of doing broader roles.^[7]

Carbonell was cast as Richard Alpert for seven episodes in the third season of Lost, and the mysteries surrounding his ageless character were heavily discussed among the fan community.^[8] While producing the final episodes of the third season, Carbonell was cast in a starring role as Frank Duque on the new CBS series Cane. The writers modified their original story plan for the third season in anticipation for Carbonell's potential unavailability. Despite Carbonell's willingness to return to Lost, CBS president Nina Tassler ruled out another Lost guest appearance.^[9] Cane was canceled during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, freeing Carbonell from his contract with CBS.^[10] Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse said that Carbonell would reprise his role as Richard Alpert towards the end of the show's fourth season,^[11] as a result of Cane‍ '​s cancellation.^[10] Carbonell made appearances in the episodes "Cabin Fever" and "There's No Place Like Home". Executive producer Carlton Cuse cited this as an unintended positive consequence of the strike.^[11] Carbonell appeared in nine episodes of Lost‍ '​s fifth season.^[12] He was part of the main cast of Lost for its final season.

In 2006 he appeared alongside Lost costar Matthew Fox as assassin Pasquale Acosta in the film Smokin' Aces. In 2008 he landed the role of Mayor Anthony Garcia in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.^[13] His wife, Shannon Kenny, was previously involved in a Batman project, voicing the character Inque in the Batman Beyond TV series. In 2010, Carbonell joined the series Psych for two episodes playing Declan Rand, a criminal profiler.^[14]

In 2011, Carbonell starred in the CW series Ringer as FBI agent Victor Machado. In 2012, he briefly appeared in The Dark Knight Rises, reprising his role as Mayor Anthony Garcia, in the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. Since 2013, he plays the sheriff in the Psycho prequel series, Bates Motel.

Personal life

Carbonell is married to actress Shannon Kenny. They originally met while both working as regulars on the 1995 television series Muscle. The couple have two children, Rafael (born 2002) and Marco (born 2005). He is a practicing Roman Catholic.^[4]

Carbonell's dark eyelashes have been the topic of discussion, but interviews with both Carbonell and the producers of Lost have made it clear they are not enhanced by any form of makeup.^[15] A short skit during the Lost panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 featured Carbonell allegedly applying eyeliner before throwing a Christian Bale-esque rant upon receiving the wrong color makeup from an assistant.^[16] In addition, in the Psych episode "Shawn 2.0", Shawn makes a comment about Nestor's character as having "impossibly dark eyelashes." Sawyer, in Lost season 5 episode 8, refers to him as "your buddy out there with the eyeliner".

He is fluent in Spanish, a skill put to use in the sixth season episode of Lost, "Ab Aeterno", in which numerous scenes contain dialogue mostly or solely in Spanish. He also did a Spanish-language Heineken commercial.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nestor Carbonell.

• Nestor Carbonell at the Internet Movie Database
• Q&A Sessions: The Dark Knight's Nestor Carbonell [nocheLatina.com]
• Nestor Carbonell Unlimited – Unofficial Fansite for Nestor Carbonell