Early life

Carbonell was born in New York City to Cuban parents Néstor T. Carbonell Cortina and Rosa Ramírez de Arellano Cárdenas. His parents are of Spanish descent (his grandparents were of Catalan, Basque, Navarran, and Andalusian origins). Carbonell's father worked for PepsiCo, which required the family to live for periods of time in London, Mexico City, the Bahamas, and Caracas. His father is also active in the Cuban community, authoring the book And The Russians Stayed: The Sovietization of Cuba. Carbonell has an older sister, Rosa Maria "Mia" Carbonell, a Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Forbes. Former professional baseball player Rafael Palmeiro is his cousin. His paternal great-grandfather, José Manuel Cortina, was a noted Cuban orator and diplomat.

Carbonell was educated at The British School while living in Caracas. His family later moved back to the U.S., and he attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts with future Lost co-star Matthew Fox. In 1990, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Harvard University (also the alma mater of his father and sister). Carbonell was raised a Roman Catholic.

Career

Carbonell's first acting role was a guest starring part as the character Alberto Cordova in an episode of As the World Turns. He then appeared on episodes of Law & Order, Melrose Place, A Different World, Reasonable Doubts, Good Advice, Brotherly Love, and The John Larroquette Show. In 1995, he starred in two roles, as Roberto and one half of the Couple in Bar, in Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's comedy-thriller play Getting Away with Murder. That same year, he appeared as a main cast member on the short-lived The WB sitcom Muscle. He subsequently portrayed the regular role of Luis Rivera on the Brooke Shields-led sitcom Suddenly Susan for four seasons (1996-2000).

For much of his early career, he played characters with thick Hispanic accents, and was so convincing that people thought it was how he actually 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. In 2000, Carbonell made his debut as a screenwriter with the comedy film Attention Shoppers, in which he also starred as Enrique Suarez, the lead role. He has since had recurring roles on Resurrection Blvd., The Tick, Kim Possible (as the voice of Señor Senior Jr.), Century City, Strong Medicine, and Cold Case. He also guest starred on Scrubs (in the episode "My Moment of Un-Truth"), House (in the episode "Cursed"), Monk (in the episode "Mr. Monk Gets Married"), and Day Break (in the episode "What If He Can Change the Day?").

In 2006, he appeared alongside his future Lost co-star Matthew Fox, as assassin Pasquale Acosta, in the film Smokin' Aces. Carbonell was cast as Richard Alpert on the third season of ABC's drama series Lost. The mysteries surrounding his ageless character were heavily discussed among the fan community throughout his arc in the season. While producing the final episodes of the third season, Carbonell was cast in a starring role as Frank Duque on the CBS series Cane. The writers of Lost modified their original story plan for the third season in anticipation for Carbonell's potential unavailability. Despite Carbonell's willingness to return to the ABC series, CBS president Nina Tassler ruled out another guest appearance. Cane was cancelled during the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, freeing Carbonell from his contract with CBS. In 2008, Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse stated that Carbonell would reprise his role as Richard Alpert towards the end of the series' fourth season, as a result of Cane's cancellation. Carbonell made appearances in the episodes "Cabin Fever" and "There's No Place Like Home". Cuse cited this as an unintended positive consequence of the strike. Carbonell appeared in nine episodes of the fifth season, and was upgraded to a main cast member of Lost for its sixth and final season.

In 2008, he landed the role of Mayor Anthony Garcia in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. His wife, Shannon Kenny, was previously involved in a Batman project, voicing the character Inque in the Batman Beyond television series. In 2010, Carbonell joined the series Psych for two episodes playing Declan Rand, a criminal profiler. In 2011, Carbonell starred in the CW series Ringer as FBI agent Victor Machado. Also in 2011, he was announced to guest star in FX comedy series Wilfred, a role which later turned into a recurring one. The following year, Carbonell 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 has played Sheriff Alex Romero in the A&E Psycho prequel series Bates Motel. In the first season, he starred in a recurring capacity, but was upgraded to a main cast member starting with the second season. In 2014, Carbonell guest starred on the CBS drama series' Person of Interest in the episode "Most Likely to...", and The Good Wife in the episode "The Deep Web". That same year, he began appearing as the recurring character Raymond Navarro in NBC's espionage thriller series State of Affairs.

Personal life

Carbonell has been married to Australian actress Shannon Kenny since January 3, 2000. They originally met while working together on the 1995 television series Muscle and went on to co-star in the 2000 film Attention Shoppers, which Carbonell wrote. The couple have two children, Rafael (born 2002) and Marco (born 2005). He is a practicing Roman Catholic.

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

He is fluent in Spanish, a skill he 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 starred in a Spanish-language Pepsi commercial alongside Eva Longoria, and in a Spanish-language Heineken commercial.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Attention Shoppers	Enrique Suarez	Also writer and executive producer
2001	Jack the Dog	Jack the Dog
2002	The Laramie Project	Moisés Kaufman
2003	Manhood	Jack the Dog
2005	The Lost City	Luis Fellove
2006	Smokin' Aces	Pasquale Acosta
2008	The Dark Knight	Mayor Anthony Garcia
2008	Killer Movie	Seaton Brookstone
2010	Noah's Ark: The New Beginning	Leeu (voice)
2012	For Greater Glory	Mayor Picazo
2012	The Dark Knight Rises	Mayor Anthony Garcia
2013	Dead Drop	Santiago
2016	Director's Cut	Perry
2016	Medicine Men	Silas St-John	In post-production
2016	Imperium	Tom Hernandez	In post-production
2016	Untitled Colin Warner project	Bruce Regenstreich	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	As the World Turns	Alberto Cordova	Episode: "1.8965"
1991	Law & Order	Stuart Carradine	Episode: "Out of Control"
1992	Melrose Place	Alex	Episode: "Lost & Found"
1992	A Different World	Malik Velasquez	2 episodes
1993	Reasonable Doubts	Tomasso Lopez	Episode: "The Ties That Bind (Part 1)"
1994	Good Advice	Marco	Episode: "Two Times Twenty"
1995	Muscle	Gianni	13 episodes
1996	Brotherly Love	Eduardo	Episode: "Remember"
1996	The John Larroquette Show	Felicio	Episode: "Intern Writer"
1996-2000	Suddenly Susan	Luis Rivera	93 episodes
1998	Veronica's Closet	Tony Tony	Episode: "Veronica's All Nighter"
1998	Encore! Encore!	Marly Morrow	Episode: "Mr. Joe's Wild Rose"
2000	Resurrection Blvd.	Peter Terrano	6 episodes
2000	Noriega: God's Favorite	Major Giroldi	Television film
2000	Happily Ever After	Sir Gooey (voice)	Episode: "Robinita Hood"
2001	These Old Broads	Gavin	Television film
2001-02	The Tick	Batmanuel	9 episodes
2002	Static Shock	Garcia (voice)	Episode: "Pop's Girlfriend"
2002	Ally McBeal	Miles Josephson	Episode: "What I'll Never Do for Love Again"
2002-07	Kim Possible	Señor Senior Jr. (voice)	12 episodes
2003	The Division	Byron Johnson	Episode: "Cold Comfort"
2004	Monk	Dalton Padron	Episode: "Mr. Monk Gets Married"
2004	Scrubs	Dr. Ronny Ramirez	Episode: "My Moment of un-Truth"
2004	Century City	Tom Montero	9 episodes
2004-06	Strong Medicine	Jonas Ray	11 episodes
2005	Justice League Unlimited	El Diablo (voice)	Episode: "The Once and Future Thing"
2005	House	Jeffrey Reilich	Episode: "Cursed"
2006	Brandy & Mr. Whiskers	Tito (voice)	Episode: "Rain Delay"
2006	Commander in Chief	Dr. Kyle Brock	Episode: "The Elephant in the Room"
2006	Cold Case	Mike Valens	3 episodes
2006	Day Break	Eddie Reyes	Episode: "What If He Can Change the Day?"
2007	Eloise: The Animated Series	Additional voices	Episode: "Eloise Goes to Hollywood"
2007	American Dragon: Jake Long	Cupid (voice)	Episode: "The Love Cruise"
2007	Andy Barker, P.I.	Dr. Cey	Episode: "The Big No Sleep"
2007	Queens Supreme	Benedetto	Episode: "Supreme Heat"
2007	Cane	Frank Duque	13 episodes
2007-10	Lost	Richard Alpert	36 episodes
2010-12	The Penguins of Madagascar	Savio (voice)	3 episodes
2010	Psych	Declan Rand	2 episodes
2011-12	Ringer	Victor Machado	22 episodes
2011-14	Wilfred	Arturo Ramos	3 episodes
2013-present	Bates Motel	Sheriff Alex Romero	37 episodes; also directed 2 episodes
2014	Person of Interest	Matthew Reed	Episode: "Most Likely to..."
2014	The Good Wife	Daniel Irwin	Episode: "The Deep Web"
2014-15	State of Affairs	Ray Navarro	7 episodes
2015	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Eagle-Eye (voice)	2 episodes
2015	Ray Donovan	Sheldon Blackwood	Episode: "Handshake Deal"

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Location
1995	Getting Away with Murder	Roberto / Couple in Bar	Old Globe Theatre, San Diego

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1996	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Comedy Series	Suddenly Susan	Nominated
1998		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Won
1999				Won
2003	Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival	Star on the Horizon	Himself	Won
2009	ALMA Awards	Best Actor on Television - Drama	Lost	Nominated
2010	Golden Nymph Awards	Outstanding Actor - Drama Series		Nominated
	Imagen Awards	Best Actor - Television		Nominated
2013		Best Supporting Actor - Television	Bates Motel	Nominated
2014				Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]