Jonathan William Scott Hofstedt (born October 23, 1969) is an American actor. Known professionally as Jon Huertas, he is best known for his role as witch hunter Brad Alcerro in ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', Sergeant Antonio 'Poke' Espera in HBO's ''

Generation Kill ''Generation Kill'' is a 2004 book written by ''Rolling Stone'' journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ...

'',

Joe Negroni Joe Negroni (September 9, 1940 – September 5, 1978) was an American singer of Puerto Rican descent. He was a rock and roll pioneer and founding member of the rock and roll group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Early years Negroni's family m ...

in the film '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'', homicide detective Javier Esposito in ''

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

'' and Miguel Rivas in ''

This Is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American family drama television series that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents, and their three children, in several different time frames. It s ...

''.

Early life

Huertas was born in New York City, New York, to a Puerto Rican father and a Caucasian mother. He was raised by his grandparents. By 10 years of age, he began taking part in school plays, which was his first inspiration to pursue acting. Huertas graduated

John Handley High School John Handley High School is an endowed public high school located in the city of Winchester, Virginia. It is a part of Winchester Public Schools. It was founded by a grant from Judge John Handley, hence the school mascot, the Judges. Construct ...

in Winchester, VA, in 1987 at the age of 17. After spending a year attending college, he enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

in 1987 and served for 8 years as an aircraft nuclear/conventional weapons specialist. He participated in

Operation Just Cause Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Career

Huertas's acting career started in 1993 when he played an uncredited part in '' The Webbers''. In 1998, Huertas portrayed

in the romantic drama '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' alongside such stars as

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry (; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Mis ...

Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards: three t ...

, and

Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (born October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. Vereen gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received a T ...

. In 1999, he appeared in two films: the horror movie ''

Cold Hearts Cold Hearts is a 1999 American horror-thriller film written and directed by Robert A. Masciantonio. It stars Marisa Ryan, Robert Floyd, and Amy Jo Johnson. Cast * Marisa Ryan as Viktoria * Robert Floyd as Seth * Amy Jo Johnson as Alicia * C ...

'' and the action movie ''Stealth Fighter''. In the 2000s, he appeared in many films, but his biggest role was in television in 2008 as Sergeant Espera in

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

'' about the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. From 1998 to 1999, Huertas played the role of Antonio in the television series ''

Moesha ''Moesha'' () is an American television sitcom that aired on UPN from January 23, 1996, to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Denise Mitchell, an African-American teenager living with her upper middle class famil ...

''. From 1999 to 2000, he played Brad, a witch hunter, in ''

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

''. From 2009 to 2016, Huertas starred in the role of Detective Esposito in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's police procedural ''

''. In 2012, Huertas and his ''Castle'' co-star Stana Katic received the award for Performance in a Drama Episode at the 16th Annual

PRISM Award The Entertainment Industries Council is a United States non-profit organization founded in 1983 that promotes the depiction of accurate health and social issues in film, television, music, and comic books. The Council provides guidelines on the depi ...

s. Huertas was elected to serve a one-year term, beginning September 25, 2010, as an alternate member of the National Board of Directors and as a member of the Hollywood Division Board of Directors of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

. In June 2011, Huertas made his debut music video single called "Sex Is the Word". Huertas joined the cast of

in 2016 and has been a part of the series since its first season. In an interview wit
Tell-Tale TV
Huertas said he didn't know at first that his character Miguel on

would be aged, or that he'd wind up married to Mandy Moore's character, Rebecca. In October 2019, Huertas appeared on '' The Rookie''. He played as Alejandro Mejia/Cesar Ojeda in the episode "The Bet" and he reunites with former co-stars from ''

'' are

Nathan Fillion Nathan Fillion (; born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian-American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on '' Firefly'' and its film continuation '' Serenity'', and Richard Castle on '' Castle''. , he was starring as J ...

and

Seamus Dever Seamus Patrick Dever (born July 27, 1976) is an American actor known for his role as Detective Kevin Ryan in the ABC series ''Castle''. Early life Dever was born in Flint, Michigan, and moved at the age of six to Bullhead City, Arizona, ...

as part of ABC's Cast from the Past Week.

Personal life

Huertas married his long-term girlfriend, Nicole Bordges, in

Tulum, Mexico Tulum () is the largest community in the Tulum (municipality), municipality of Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is located on the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean coast of the state, near the site of the archeology, archaeological ruins of Tulum. Histor ...

, on May 4, 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Jon Huertas
at

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huertas, Jon Living people American male television actors United States Air Force personnel of the Gulf War United States Air Force airmen Puerto Rican male actors 1969 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors