Benjamin Bratt

Benjamin Bratt is an American film and television actor who will star in 24: Live Another Day as Steve Harris, the CIA agent tasked with apprehending Jack Bauer in London.

Bratt was born in San Francisco, California to Eldy, a nurse, and Peter Bratt, Sr., a sheet metal worker. He is indigenous Peruvian on his mother's side and of German, English, and Austrian descent on his father's side. His mother was a Native American activist, who took Bratt and his four siblings to the 1970 Alcatraz protest. Bratt attended Lowell High School in San Francisco, and earned a B.F.A. at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Partway through a M.F.A. program at the American Conservatory Theater, he left to star in the television pilot Juarez, his first acting role.

Bratt's breakout role came in 1993 with the Peter Lenkov-penned Demolition Man, starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, as well as Bob Gunton. Following this, Bratt worked steadily through the 1990s, starring in films such as Clear and Present Danger (with Joaquim de Almeida, Patrick Bauchau, Raymond Cruz, Reed Diamond, Jaime Gomez, Kamala Lopez-Dawson, and Harris Yulin), The River Wild (with Glenn Morshower), Follow Me Home (with Jesse Borrego and John Allen Nelson), Red Planet, Miss Congeniality, and Traffic (with Michael O'Neill, Mike Siegel, and Rena Sofer).

Bratt is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Rey Curtis in Law and Order, starring in the series from 1995 to 1999 and reprising the role in 2009. Bratt also played the character in three episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street. Michael Chernuchin was a regular writer on the series. Actors who appeared in Law and Order during Bratt's tenure include Jim Abele, Kirk Acevedo, Bernard Addison, Philip Anthony-Rodriguez, Karina Arroyave, Reiko Aylesworth, Penny Balfour, Andre Canty, Timothy Carhart, Jude Ciccolella, John G. Connolly, Robert Dolan, John Eddins, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Gaston, Zach Grenier, Maximiliano Hernandez, Frank John Hughes, Michael Hyatt, Michael Irby, Zeljko Ivanek, Michael Jannetta, Joseph Kamal, Nina Landey, Scott Lawrence, Domenick Lombardozzi, Kate Mara, James McCauley, Leighton Meester, Randle Mell, Kim Raver, Al Sapienza, Keith Szarabajka, Tamara Tunie, Andy Umberger, Stephen Wastell, Tico Wells, and Jose Zuniga.

Since Law and Order, Bratt has headlined a number of television series. From 2005 to 2006, he starred as Jim Tisnewski in the Pentagon drama E-Ring, opposite Dennis Hopper as Colonel Eli McNulty. Sarah Clarke appeared as his character's wife in the unaired pilot. The series featured guest spots by dozens of 24 actors, including Maurice Compte, Alan Dale, Bob Gunton, Henri Lubatti, Hrach Titizian, Ned Vaughn, and Annie Wersching. From 2008 to 2009, Bratt starred as William Banks in The Cleaner, also featuring Sarah Clarke, Michael Cudlitz, Mia Kirshner, Kari Matchett, Dean Norris, Amy Price-Francis, and Paul Schulze, among others. From 2011 to 2013, Bratt starred in the Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice. His recent film roles include Catwoman (2004, with Michael Massee and Peter Wingfield), The Great Raid (2005, with Clayne Crawford, Max Martini, and Logan Marshall-Green), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), Snitch (2013, with Rafi Gavron), and Despicable Me 2 (2013).

From 1998 to 2001, Bratt dated actress Julia Roberts, who was previously engaged to Kiefer Sutherland. On April 13, 2002, Bratt married actress and model Talisa Soto, whom he had met during the casting process for 1993's Blood In Blood Out, starring Michael Bofshever, Raymond Cruz, and David Labiosa. They have a daughter, Sophia Rosalinda (b. 2002) and a son, Mateo Bravery (b. 2005).