Early life

Zayas was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and reared in The Bronx, New York.

Career

Zayas joined the United States Air Force at age 19. He was a police officer with the New York City Police Department for almost 15 years. His career as a police officer allowed him to develop as a character actor, leading to a series of acting jobs on television and film mainly playing law enforcement officers. His experience in law enforcement helped him play characters on the other side of the law, like Enrique Morales on HBO's long-running prison-drama Oz. Zayas was a main cast member of Dexter for all of its eight seasons.

Zayas has been a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company since 1992, a New York City-based traveling actors group. He branched out into television and film projects, and has diversified with guest roles in such popular television series such as New York Undercover, Person of Interest, and NYPD Blue. At LAByrinth, he met his future wife, actress Liza Colón.

Zayas played a corrupt police officer in 16 Blocks (2006) and an NYPD officer in Michael Clayton (2007). He is featured in the 2010 independent film Shadowboxing, which appeared on the film festival circuit. He appears in Sylvester Stallone's feature film The Expendables and The Brothers Strause's film Skyline. In 2012, Zayas played Ernie Trask, a hotel super, in the twelfth episode of season 1 of Person of Interest.

Zayas appeared in an episode of Fox's drama The Following, playing the part of Tyson, Ryan Hardy's (retired) FBI best friend.

Zayas portrays mob boss Don Salvatore Maroni in the Batman prequel, Gotham, which premiered on Fox on September 22, 2014. Shortly thereafter, he appeared in Annie (2014) as Lou, a gregarious bodega owner who helps Cameron Diaz's Hannigan learn to love herself.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Lena's Dreams	Jorge
1998	O.K. Garage	Omar
1998	Scar City	Cop #1
1998	Return to Paradise	Construction Foreman
1998	Rounders	Osborne
1998	Bleach	Lt. Ballard	Short film
1999	Bringing Out the Dead	Cop in Elevator
1999	Kingdom Come	N/A
2000	The Yards	Officer Jerry Rifkin
2001	Sam the Man	Billy the Cop
2001	Wit	Code Team Blue Head	Television movie
2002	Washington Heights	David
2002	A Gentleman's Game	Alfred D'Angelo
2003	Anne B. Real	Cynthia's dad
2003	Undefeated	Paulie	Television movie
2004	Mimmo & Paulie	Paulie	Short film
2004	Jailbait	Guard
2004	Brooklyn Bound	Popo
2005	The Interpreter	Charlie Russell
2005	Sangre/Blood	Nestor	Short film
2005	Angel	Angel's father	Television movie
2005	The Feast of the Goat	Antonio de la Maza
2006	16 Blocks	Det. Robert Torres
2006	The Path to 9/11	Lou Napoli
2006	Bristol Boys	Detective Benson
2007	Michael Clayton	Detective Dalberto
2009	Burning Mussolini	Hector
2009	Wake	Detective Grayson
2009	Flying By	Tony
2010	13	Detective Larry Mullane
2010	Shadowboxing	Bill
2010	The Expendables	General Garza
2010	Skyline	Oliver
2013	Samuel Bleak	Ruben Ramirez
2014	Ride	Ramon
2014	Annie	Lou
2015	The Wannabe

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Law & Order	McGinty	Episode: "Savages"
1996	New York Undercover	Paco Martinez	Episode: "The Enforcers"
1996	Law & Order	Raoul Cervantes	Episode: "Causa Mortis"
1997	Feds	N/A	Episode: "Somebody's Lyin'"
1998	Trinity	Uniform Cop #1	Episode: "...To Forgive, Divine"
1998	Law & Order	Carlos	Episode: "Flight"
1999	Third Watch	Motorman	Episode: "Welcome to Camelot"
2000	NYPD Blue	Joaquin Enriquez	Episode: "These Shoots Are Made for Joaquin"
2000	The Beat	Rei Morales	12 episodes
2000	All My Children	N/A	Episode: "13 December 2000"
2000-2003	Oz	Enrique Morales	26 episodes
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Detective Milton	Episode: "Protection"
2002	UC: Undercover	Jorge Gonzales	Episode: "Manhunt"
2002	Guiding Light	Prison Guard	Episode: "22 October 2002"
2003	Law & Order	John Mireles	Episode: "Smoke"
2003	Angels in America	Super	Episode: "Part 2 Perestroika"
2006-2013	Dexter	Angel Batista	96 episodes Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2006	Numb3rs	Carlos Costavo	Episode: "Brutus"
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Fire Marshall	Episode: "On Fire"
2007	Without a Trace	Gabriel Molina	Episode: "Crash and Burn"
2007	Shark	Alvarez	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"
2007	The Closer	Brian	Episode: "Grave Doubts"
2007	Burn Notice	Javier	Episode: "Pilot"
2008	Law & Order	Detective Justin Cabrera	Episode: "Submission"
2009	CSI: Miami	Ben Porterson	Episode: "Wolfe in Sheep's Clothing"
2009	In Plain Sight	Harrison Locke	Episode: "Rubble with a Cause"
2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Stanley Maas	2 episodes
2012	Person of Interest	Ernie Trask	Episode: "Super"
2012	Grimm	Salvadore Butrell	Episode: "Leave It to Beavers"
2013	Deception	Frank	Episode: "Pilot"
2013	The Following	Tyson Hernandez	Episode: "Guilt"
2013	The Blacklist	Manny Soto	Episode: "Frederick Barnes (No. 47)"
2014	Saint George	Junior	6 episodes
2014-2015	Gotham	Sal Maroni	8 episodes
2015	Elementary	Juan Murillo ("El Gato")	Episode: The Past Is Parent

[ Source: Wikipedia ]