Early life

Seda was born in Manhattan to parents of Puerto Rican heritage and raised in Clifton, New Jersey.

After graduating from high school, Seda began to work out in a gym, after two friends convinced him that he should take up boxing. He boxed in several gyms in New Jersey and soon was a runner up in the New Jersey Golden Gloves competition. As an amateur boxer, Seda had a record of 21 wins and one loss.

Career

Seda's film debut was in 1992, in the boxing film Gladiator in which he played the role of "Romano," a Cuban boxer. He has since worked in various films and TV series. In 1995, Seda was nominated Best Male Lead at the Spirit Awards for his role the 1994 movie I Like It Like That opposite Rita Moreno and Lauren Vélez. In 1996, he was nominated for the Palme d'Or (Best Actor Award) for his role as "Blue" in the film The Sunchaser, opposite actor Woody Harrelson at the Cannes Film Festival.

Seda became widely known to the Hispanic film audience when he portrayed Chris Pérez alongside Jennifer Lopez in Selena, a 1997 film based on the true story of the Tejano singer, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, who was murdered on her way to mainstream stardom. Seda played Selena's husband. Also in 1997, Seda landed the role of Detective Paul Falsone on NBC's: Homicide: Life on the Street. The writers took advantage of his boxing background, writing a shirtless practice bout into an episode which established his character's attractiveness to fellow detective Laura Ballard. He also boxed opposite Jimmy Smits in the 2000 film Price of Glory.

His first leading role on the large screen was as the protagonist in 2002's King Rikki, a re-imagining of Shakespeare's Richard III in East L.A. Seda has appeared in more than two dozen movies, including Bad Boys II (2003) as "Roberto," as well as numerous television appearances. Aside from Homicide, he has had notable roles as Dino Ortolani in Oz, Matty Caffey in Third Watch, Paul Falsone in a Homicide crossover with Law & Order, House, and CSI: Miami. He is featured as one of the three leads in the HBO World War II mini-series The Pacific released on March 14, 2010, playing the part of Marine John Basilone. Seda appeared as a guest star in an episode of Burn Notice. In 2007, Seda also made a cameo in Ludacris' song Runaway Love, as an abusive, alcoholic stepfather.

Seda appeared in the second season of Treme as Nelson Hidalgo, a politically connected land developer from Dallas who helps out with the relief efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans. He appeared in the 2011 film Larry Crowne, which starred, and was co-written and directed by, Tom Hanks. Hanks served as an executive producer on The Pacific, in which Seda starred. In 2013 he starred alongside Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone, Christian Slater and Jason Mamoa in the Walter Hill action thriller Bullet to the Head.

In 2012, Seda began starring on Chicago Fire in a recurring role as Detective Antonio Dawson. Since 2014 he portrays Dawson in the spin-off Chicago P.D. as part of the main cast. His daughter Haley made a guest appearance on Chicago P.D. as a key witness in a bombing.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role
1992	Gladiator	Romano
	Zebrahead	Vinnie
1993	Carlito's Way	Dominican
	New York Cop	Mario
1994	I Like It Like That	Chino Linares
1995	'12 Monkeys	Jose
	Boys on the Side	Pete
1996	Dear God	Handsome
	Sunchaser	Brandon 'Blue' Monroe
	Primal Fear	Alex
1997	The Price Of Kissing	Billy
	Selena	Chris Pérez
2000	Price of Glory	Sonny Ortega
	Little Pieces	Kyle
2001	Double Bang	Sally 'Fish' Pescatore
	Love the Hard Way	Charlie
2002	Undisputed	Jesus 'Chuy' Campos
	King Rikki	Rikki Ortega
2003	Bad Boys II	Roberto
2007	One Long Night	Richard
2011	Larry Crowne	Officer Diamond
2012	Bullet to the Head	Louis Blanchard

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Daybreak	Payne
1994	NYPD Blue	Sal Medina	1 Episode
1995	Under Fire	Unknown
	New York Undercover	Bobby Lunas	1 episode
1996	Mistrial	Eddie Rios
1997	Law & Order	Det. Paul Falsone	1 episode
1997-99	Homicide: Life on the Street	Det. Paul Falsone	46 Episodes
1999-2000	Third Watch	Matty Caffey	7 episodes
2000	Thin Air	Luis DeLeon
	Homicide: The Movie	Det. Paul Falsone
	Good Guys/Bad Guys	Unknown
2001-02	UC: Undercover	Jake Shaw	11 episodes
2003	Hack	Nick Duarte	1 Episode
	Oz	Dino Ortolani	3 episodes
2004	The Jury	Victor Torres	1 episode
	Las Vegas	Junior Gomez	1 episode
2004-05	Kevin Hill	Damian 'Dame' Ruiz	22 episodes
2006	Ghost Whisperer	John Gregory	2 episodes
2006-07	Close to Home	Ray Blackwell	20 episodes
2008	CSI: Miami	Hector Salazar	1 episode
2009	House	Donny	1 episode
	One Hot Summer	Ariel Silva
2010	Hawaii Five-0	Sergeant Cage	1 episode
	The Closer	Detective Frank Verico	1 episode
	Burn Notice	Cole	1 episode
	The Pacific	Sgt. John Basilone	Miniseries
	Numb3rs	Lonnie Moses	1 Episode
	Cutthroat	Frankie
	Legally Mad	Joe Matty
2011-13	Treme	Nelson Hidalgo	25 Episodes
2012-present	Chicago Fire	Det. Antonio Dawson	14 Episodes
2014-present	Chicago P.D.	Det. Antonio Dawson	Main character

[ Source: Wikipedia ]