Early life and career

Díaz was born in New Jersey, to Cuban parents, and grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan. In 1994, he landed his first speaking role as Spike in Boaz Yakin's Fresh. From there he began working on Party Girl as Leo, Parker Posey's roommate. His next role was a drag queen (La Miranda) in Nigel Finch's Stonewall. In 1996, Díaz worked in Jim McKay's Girls' Town as Dylan, after which he appeared in I'm Not Rappaport.

Díaz played Paco de la Vega al Camino Cordoba Jose Cuervo Sanchez Rodriguez Jr., a high school gang member in High School High. He later appeared in Freeway as Flaco, another gang member. While in Los Angeles, he did guest spots on ER and Party of Five.

After finishing work on the West Coast, Díaz traveled back east to play a stoner named Eric in Brian Sloan's film I Think I Do. A similar role followed as Scarface in the film Half Baked. One of his co-stars was Dave Chappelle, who later cast him in several episodes of Chappelle's Show. In 1999, he landed a non-speaking role in 200 Cigarettes, and went on to act in both Ethan Hawke's directorial debut Chelsea Walls and the movie Just One Time, where as secondary characters one critic thought that he and Jennifer Esposito provided what little "comic spark" existed in the film.

Díaz played Guillermo García Gómez, a drug dealer/trafficker, in seasons 2-6 of Showtime's series Weeds. In 2009, he starred on the NBC series Mercy, where his portrayal of the gay nurse Angel received negative criticism in online forums for being too flamboyant. In 2010, he appeared in the thriller film Exquisite Corpse.

After having portrayed several Mexican thugs (cholos), Díaz was cast in 2010 as a Latino gangster named Poh Boy in Cop Out. When asked about being typecast, he said: "I, but not really anymore. Now I'm just grateful that I'm working. I try to make everything different."

In 2010, Díaz did a nude photoshoot for Pinups Magazine. The photoshoot featured full frontal nudity from Díaz.

In 2011, Díaz appeared alongside Britney Spears in a music video for the single "I Wanna Go", and took part in a scene referencing his character Scarface from Half Baked.

In 2012, Díaz began his role as Huck in the ABC drama TV series Scandal.

Díaz was one of the many celebrities that acted in Beyonce and Jayz's Run video in 2014

Personal life

Díaz is openly gay. In 2011, he told Out magazine that his rough upbringing in New York City ultimately made him a better actor. He said: "I went to school in the Bronx. I learned to constantly try to cover up the fact that I was gay. That façade of being somebody I'm really not just to protect myself definitely helped with acting."

Díaz has said on multiple occasions that he is a fan of Madonna. He has been to all of her tours apart from The Virgin Tour and The Who's That Girl Tour. He also has her face tattooed on his right arm.

In popular culture

In 2006, he joined the cast of a series of improv-based commercials for Sierra Mist titled Mist Takes. A Spanish version of the advertisements began airing and the bilingual Díaz also starred in those with other Latino comedians.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1994	Fresh	Spike
1995	Party Girl	Leo
1995	Stonewall	La Miranda
1996	Freeway	Flacco
1996	Girls Town	Dylan
1996	High School High	Paco Rodriguez
1996	I'm Not Rappaport	J.C.
1997	Gold Coast	Barry	TV film
1997	I Think I Do	Eric
1997	Nowhere	Cowboy
1998	The Effects of Magic	Winston
1998	Half Baked	Scarface
1998	Just One Time	Victor	Short film; 8 minutes
1999	200 Cigarettes	Dave
1999	In Too Deep	Miguel Batista
1999	Just One Time	Victor	Remake of 1998 short film
1999	Pop Tarts	Adrian	Short film; 11 minutes
2001	Chelsea Walls	Kid
2002	Fidel	Universo Sánchez	TV film
2002	A Log Story	Niko Gorgina
2002	Sexy	Voice 3	Animated short; Voice actor
2002	West of Here	Thomas
2003	A Mi Amor Mi Dulce	Chocolate de la Oca Montez	Short film; 23 minutes
2003	DoUlike2watch.com
2003	Undefeated	Mommy
2003	Undermind	Ray
2003	Wasabi Tuna	Romeo
2004	Terminal, TheThe Terminal	Bobby Alima
2004	Tony n' Tina's Wedding	Raphael
2005	My Suicidal Sweetheart	Hector
2005	Dirty Love	Tom Houdini, Magician
2005	Husk	Chris	Short; Remade as Husk (2011)
2005	Sangre/Blood	Ricky	Short film; 17 minutes
2005	Shooting Vegetarians	Nei
2006	13 Graves	Manny Rodriguez	TV film
2006	Down the P.C.H.	Doc
2006	Harvest	Eugene Pitkin	Short film; 17 minutes
2006	Seeking Solace	Guy	Short film
2006	Utopian, TheThe Utopian	Carlos Alvarez	Short film
2006	The Virgin of Juarez	Felix
2007	No Destination	A.J.	Short film; 18 minutes
2008	The Candy Shop	Halo
2008	Evilution	Killah-B
2009	Across the Hall	The Cook
2009	Butcher, TheThe Butcher	Owen Geiger
2009	No Exit	Michael	Short film; 15 minutes
2010	Cop Out	Poh Boy
2010	Exquisite Corpse	Henry
2010	Peep World	Jesus
2011	Without Men	Campo Elias
2012	2nd Serve	Carlos
2012	She Who Laughs Last	Clown	Short film; 6 minutes
2012	Students Like Us	Adult Mike
2013	Bilet na Vegas (Билет на Vegas)	Detective García

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Law & Order	Juan Domingo	2 episodes
1995	ER	Jorge	Episode: "Days Like This"
1995	Party of Five	Ari	Episode: "Analogies"
1999	Law & Order	Bobby Sabo	2 episodes
1999	The Sopranos	Salesperson	Episode: "Meadowlands"
2000	Touched by an Angel	Rick Higuerra	Episode: "The Invitation"
2002	Third Watch	Rafael "Rafe" Connors	Episode: "The Long Guns"
2003-2006	Chappelle's Show	Himself	Guest star; 5 episodes
2004	The Shield	Garza	Episode: "Blood and Water"
2004	Without a Trace	Carlos Gonzalez	Episode: "Life Rules"
2007	Mist-Takes	Himself	Sierra Mist commercials
2007	Cane	Petey	3 episodes
2007	The Closer	Spider	Episode: "Four to Eight"
2007-2012	Weeds	Guillermo	Guest star; 26 episodes
2008	Criminal Minds	Playboy	Episode: "Brothers in Arms"
2009-2010	Mercy	Nurse Ángel García	Series regular
2009	Poor Paul	Aaron	4 episodes
2009	Royal Pains	Benny	Episode: "Strategic Planning"
2010-2011	No Ordinary Family	Detective Frank Cordero	Guest star; 6 episodes
2011	Harry's Law	Miguel Martínez	Episode: "The Fragile Beast"
2011	Love Bites	Luis	3 episodes
2011	Poor Paul	Aaron	4 episodes
2011	Tosh.0	"Brian Atene"
2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Omar Peña	Episode: "Justice Denied"
2012-Present	Scandal	Huck	Series regular
2016	Girls	Hector Medina	Episode: "Homeward Bound"

Other media

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix	Domingo Sanchez	Video game; Voice actor
2011	"I Wanna Go"	Guillermo	Music video (Britney Spears)
2014	"Run"	Himself	Music video (Jay-Z and Beyoncé)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]