Raul Eduardo Esparza was born on October 24, 1970 in Wilmington, Delaware, to Cuban American parents. He was raised in Miami, Florida. Rail attended the Benel Jesuit School and graduated in 1988. After school he studied in New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama. During the university time he was involved in many theatre productions. He began his acting career as a stage actor. Raul portrayed Che along with Natalie Toro in the national tour of “Evita” in the 1999. Esparza has achieved huge level of fame by his performance in the 2000 Broadway revival of “The Rocky Horror Show”, which won him the Theatre World Award. In 2001, he appeared Off-Broadway in play by Jonathan Larson titled “tick, tick... BOOM!”, garnering a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Actor in a Musical. The next year he appeared in two musicals “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Merrily We Roll Along”. He has received Tony nominations for his role as Philip Salon in the musical “Taboo” in 2004. He also was involved in the musical comedy “Company” in 2006, which earned him a second Tony nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as his second Drama Desk award.


He played the role of Riff Raff on Broadway in the revival of The Rocky Horror Show and the role of Caractacus Potts in the Broadway musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He also played role of Charlie Fox in the revival of David Mamet's “Speed-the-Plow” co-starring Jeremy Piven and Elisabeth Moss on Broadway in the 2008. His others Broadway credits include “Cabaret”, “Leap of Faith” and “The Homecoming”. Esparza starred in Shakespeare's play “Twelfth Night” at the Delacorte Theater in New York City along with Anne Hathaway in the 2009. Esparza appeared on Broadway in a limited-engagement revival Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, which began previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on February of 2011. As voice artist he narrated the audiobook for Stephen King's Under the Dome, as well as several others, and sings in concerts all over the country. Raul’s television projects include roles on “Medium”, “Hannibal”, “Pushing Daisies”, and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”. Esparza married to his high school girlfriend Michele, in the1993. They were married for over 15 years but had divorced in the 2008. The main reason of divorce was the fact that Raul stated in New York Times profile that he is bisexual and that he is having same-sex relationships. After his divorce with ex wife Michele Esparza, Raul was known for dating and having affairs with a few men. But everything was cleared up when he confessed that he was gay. Currently Raul Esparza is rumored to be dating the basketball player Nick Mayo. There are pictures of him and his boyfriend at public locales so it really does seem that the both are going out. His net worth is about 400 thousand dollars.

Last Modified: Aug 10, 2021


Related Biographies