Early life

Collins was born in Los Angeles, California. He is the grandson of actor Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez. He has sometimes been credited as Clifton Gonzalez-Gonzalez to honor his grandfather. He is of German and Mexican descent.

Career

He first broke through the mainstream in 1997 with a performance as gang thug César Sánchez in the film One Eight Seven. In 1998, he was in Ray Bradbury's cult film The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit. He next portrayed a gay hitman named Francisco "Frankie Flowers" Flores for the Mexican drug cartels in Steven Soderbergh's 2000 ensemble drama Traffic. For his portrayal of a USMC prisoner in the 2001 film The Last Castle Collins was nominated for the 2002 American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Award for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture. In 2002, he played the role of Buddy in the film Confessions of an American Girl. In 2005, Collins won rave reviews for his subtle portrayal of killer Perry Smith in the fact-based film Capote, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2006. He starred in the 2005 film Dirty alongside Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. Collins starred on FX Networks' series Thief and received an Emmy nomination. Collins also played a supporting role on FX Networks' series The Shield, as undercover ICE agent Hernan. He also has a small role in 2006's Babel, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.

In 2007, Collins took the lead role in the indie feature The Perfect Game, playing former baseball player Cesar Faz, who coaches a local Mexican youth league team, leading them all the way to the Little League World Series.

In 2008, Collins directed two music videos for the country music group, Zac Brown Band: "Chicken Fried" and "Whatever It Is".

Collins starred in the comedy Sunshine Cleaning with Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin. He played Winston, the owner of a cleaning supply shop who builds meticulously detailed model airplanes with only one arm. Collins played the part with one arm thrust tied behind his back. In 2009's Star Trek, Collins plays Ayel, a Romulan, second in command to the villain Nero.

In 2009, Clifton joined Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker and Elijah Wood in the psychological thriller "The Experiment".

Collins starred in Extract, a 2009 film by director Mike Judge. Collins Jr. co-produced the film National Lampoon's TV: The Movie in which he played Officer Sanchez alongside Jacob Vargas in TJ COPS. He also voiced the fictional video game character Cesar Vialpando in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In 2009, he played Romeo in the film The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.

In 2010, Collins joined the castform of NBC's drama The Event as Thomas.

In 2015, HBO's science fiction drama Westworld added Collins as Lawrence, a charming but lethal outlaw, with a knack for maneuvering and negotiating the various criminal elements.

Writing

He wrote his first book, Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars with Gustavo "Goose" Alvarez in 2015.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Grand Canyon	Carlos' friend No. 2
1993	Fortress	Nino Gomez
1993	Menace II Society	Vato No. 2
1993	Poetic Justice	Mailroom supervisor
1994	The Stoned Age	Tack
1995	One Tough Bastard	Jarhead No. 2
1995	Dead Presidents	Betancourt
1996	Sgt. Bilko	Soldier No. 2
1997	One Eight Seven	Cesar Sanchez
1997	The Bad Pack	Townsman 1
1998	The Replacement Killers	Loco
1998	The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit	Martinez
1999	My Sweet Killer	Unknown
1999	Light It Up	Robert 'Rivers' Tresmont
2000	Road Dogz	Raymo Serrano
2000	Price of Glory	Jimmy Ortega
2000	Tigerland	Pvt. Miter
2000	Traffic	Francisco Flores	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001	The Last Castle	Cpl. Ramon Aguilar
2002	The Rules of Attraction	Rupert
2002	American Girl	Buddy
2003	I Witness	Claudio Castillo
2003	Undefeated	Loco	Television movie
2004	Mindhunters	Vince Sherman
2005	Life of the Party	Kipp
2005	Capote	Perry Smith	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2005	Dirty	Officer Armando Sancho
2006	TV: The Movie	Unknown
2006	Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders	Kenneth Bianchi
2006	Babel	Officer at Border Crossing
2006	Little Chenier	T-Boy Trahan	Phoenix Film Festival Award for Best Cast
2008	Under Still Waters	Jacob
2009	Sunshine Cleaning	Winston
2009	Horsemen	Stingray
2009	The Perfect Game	Cesar Faz
2009	Crank: High Voltage	El Huron
2009	Star Trek	Ayel	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
2009	Brothers	Major Cavazos
2009	Extract	Step
2009	The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day	Romeo
2010	The Experiment	Nix
2010	Scott Pilgrim vs. The World	Vegan Police	Uncredited cameo
2011	The FP	CC Jam
2011	Freeloaders	Vic
2012	Hellbenders	Lawrence
2013	Pacific Rim	Ops Tendo Choi
2013	Parker	Ross
2014	Transcendence	Martin
2015	Man Down	Charles
2016	Triple 9	Jorge Rodriguez
2016	Weightless		Post-production
2016	Stung	Sydney	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Freddy's Nightmares	Mickey	Episode: "Interior Loft"
1990	The Flash	Javier O'Hara	Episode 5: "Double Vision", credited as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez
1991	Jake and the Fatman	Roberto	Episode: "Street of Dreams"
1995	Madman of the People	Jorge	Episode: "Notes from the Underground"
1996	Walker, Texas Ranger	Fito	2 episodes
1997	Crisis Center	Nando Taylor	6 episodes
1997	ER	Mr. Brown	Episode: "Tribes"
1997	NYPD Blue	Jimmy Cortez	Episode: "I Love Lucy"
2000-2001	Resurrection Blvd.	James Garcia	3 episodes
2002	The Twilight Zone	Andy Perez	Episode: "Last Lap"
2003	Alias	Javiar Parez	3 episodes
2006	Thief	Jack "Bump" Hill	6 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
2007	The Shield	Hernan	2 episodes
2007	Masters of Science Fiction	Frendon Blythe	Episode: "Little Brother"
2008	Fear Itself	Richard 'Family Man' Brautigan	Episode: "Family Man"
2010	Southland	Detective Ray Suarez	Episode: "The Runner"
2010-2011	The Event	Thomas	13 episodes
2011	CSI: NY	Raymond Harris	2 episodes
2011	Pound Puppies	Scar / Weasel	Voice Episode: "Rebel Without a Collar"
2013	Red Widow	James Ramos	8 episodes
2013	The Blacklist	Hector Lorca	Episode: "The Stewmaker"
2015	Ballers	Maximo Gomez	3 episodes
2016	Westworld	Lawrence	10 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2004	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Cesar Vialpando

[ Source: Wikipedia ]