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Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (Italian: [dʒaŋˈkarlo dʒuˈzɛppe alesˈsandro eˈspɔːzito]; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2009–2011), a role he reprised in the spin-off Better Call Saul (2017–2022). For this role, Esposito won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series twice and earned three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
His other television roles include federal agent Mike Giardello in the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street (1998–1999), Sidney Glass / Magic Mirror in the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time (2011–2017), Tom Neville in the NBC series Revolution (2012–2014), Dr. Edward Ruskins in the Netflix series Dear White People (2017–2021), Stan Edgar in the Amazon series The Boys (2019–present) and The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022), and Moff Gideon in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019–2023), the lattermost of which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He also portrayed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in the MGM+ series Godfather of Harlem (2019–2023), acted in the HBO drama series Westworld (2016), and starred in the Netflix television series Kaleidoscope (2023), The Gentlemen (2024), and The Residence (2025). In 2025, he also had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face.
He is also known for his collaboration with Spike Lee acting in several of his films, such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Malcolm X (1992). His other major films include Taps (1981), King of New York (1990), Bob Roberts (1992), Fresh (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), Ali (2001), Monkeybone (2001), Last Holiday (2006), Rabbit Hole (2010), Okja (2017), Megalopolis (2024), MaXXXine (2024), and Captain America: Brave New World (2025). He voiced Akela in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book (2016).
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is the son of Giovanni "John" C. Esposito (1931–2002), an Italian stagehand and carpenter from Naples, and Elizabeth "Leesa" Foster (1926–2017), an African-American opera and nightclub singer from Alabama.
Esposito lived in Rome, Italy, until he was five, when his family moved to the United States, settling in Manhattan, New York City. He attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and earned a two-year degree in radio and television communications.
Esposito made his Broadway debut in 1968, playing a child opposite Shirley Jones in the short-lived musical Maggie Flynn (1968), set during the New York Draft Riots of 1863. He was also a member of the youthful cast of the Stephen Sondheim–Harold Prince collaboration Merrily We Roll Along, which closed with 16 performances and 56 previews in 1981.
During the 1980s, Esposito appeared in films such as Maximum Overdrive, King of New York, and Trading Places. He also performed in TV shows such as Miami Vice and Spenser: For Hire. He played J. C. Pierce, a cadet in the 1981 movie Taps.
In 1988, he landed his breakout role as the leader ("Dean Big Brother Almighty") of the black fraternity "Gamma Phi Gamma" in director Spike Lee's film School Daze, exploring color relations at black colleges. Over the next four years, Esposito and Lee collaborated on three other movies: Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, and Malcolm X. During the 1990s, Esposito appeared in the acclaimed indie films Night on Earth, Fresh and Smoke, as well as its sequel Blue in the Face. He also appeared in the mainstream films Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man with Mickey Rourke, Reckless with Mia Farrow, and Waiting to Exhale starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett. In 1996, Esposito was featured in a music video "California" by French superstar Mylène Farmer, directed by Abel Ferrara.
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Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (Italian: [dʒaŋˈkarlo dʒuˈzɛppe alesˈsandro eˈspɔːzito]; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2009–2011), a role he reprised in the spin-off Better Call Saul (2017–2022). For this role, Esposito won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series twice and earned three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
His other television roles include federal agent Mike Giardello in the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street (1998–1999), Sidney Glass / Magic Mirror in the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time (2011–2017), Tom Neville in the NBC series Revolution (2012–2014), Dr. Edward Ruskins in the Netflix series Dear White People (2017–2021), Stan Edgar in the Amazon series The Boys (2019–present) and The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022), and Moff Gideon in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019–2023), the lattermost of which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He also portrayed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in the MGM+ series Godfather of Harlem (2019–2023), acted in the HBO drama series Westworld (2016), and starred in the Netflix television series Kaleidoscope (2023), The Gentlemen (2024), and The Residence (2025). In 2025, he also had a guest role in the second season of the crime mystery series Poker Face.
He is also known for his collaboration with Spike Lee acting in several of his films, such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), and Malcolm X (1992). His other major films include Taps (1981), King of New York (1990), Bob Roberts (1992), Fresh (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), Ali (2001), Monkeybone (2001), Last Holiday (2006), Rabbit Hole (2010), Okja (2017), Megalopolis (2024), MaXXXine (2024), and Captain America: Brave New World (2025). He voiced Akela in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book (2016).
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is the son of Giovanni "John" C. Esposito (1931–2002), an Italian stagehand and carpenter from Naples, and Elizabeth "Leesa" Foster (1926–2017), an African-American opera and nightclub singer from Alabama.
Esposito lived in Rome, Italy, until he was five, when his family moved to the United States, settling in Manhattan, New York City. He attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and earned a two-year degree in radio and television communications.
Esposito made his Broadway debut in 1968, playing a child opposite Shirley Jones in the short-lived musical Maggie Flynn (1968), set during the New York Draft Riots of 1863. He was also a member of the youthful cast of the Stephen Sondheim–Harold Prince collaboration Merrily We Roll Along, which closed with 16 performances and 56 previews in 1981.
During the 1980s, Esposito appeared in films such as Maximum Overdrive, King of New York, and Trading Places. He also performed in TV shows such as Miami Vice and Spenser: For Hire. He played J. C. Pierce, a cadet in the 1981 movie Taps.
In 1988, he landed his breakout role as the leader ("Dean Big Brother Almighty") of the black fraternity "Gamma Phi Gamma" in director Spike Lee's film School Daze, exploring color relations at black colleges. Over the next four years, Esposito and Lee collaborated on three other movies: Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, and Malcolm X. During the 1990s, Esposito appeared in the acclaimed indie films Night on Earth, Fresh and Smoke, as well as its sequel Blue in the Face. He also appeared in the mainstream films Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man with Mickey Rourke, Reckless with Mia Farrow, and Waiting to Exhale starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett. In 1996, Esposito was featured in a music video "California" by French superstar Mylène Farmer, directed by Abel Ferrara.
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