Rafael L. Silva (born June 18, 1994) is a Brazilian-American actor. He is best known for his role as Carlos Reyes in '' 9-1-1: Lone Star''.

Biography

Silva was born in

Belo Horizonte, Brazil Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

. When he was little, he wanted to pursue a career in animal care, just like his grandfather and his uncles. However, his family moved to

Harrison, New Jersey Harrison is a town in the western part of Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark, New Jersey, and is located from New York City. As of the 202 ...

when he was thirteen years old. He started acting while in high school to overcome his fear. “I started acting when I was a junior in high school. I used to be very afraid to speak in public. I figured if you were going to be afraid of something, you might as well be in the eye of the hurricane. So I started acting because I was afraid of speaking in public...” After graduating from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

, he made appearances in '' Madam Secretary'' and ''Fluidity''.

Personal life

Silva is a

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

practitioner, having trained with

Royce Gracie Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist, a UFC Hall of Famer, and a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family, he is considered to be one of the most influential figures i ...

. He also dances and is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Silva is openly gay, during an interview with Folie magazine he stated he didn't

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

until he went to college.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Rafael 1994 births Actors of Brazilian descent Brazilian expatriates in the United States Brazilian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian male television actors Brazilian gay actors LGBT Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners Living people