Rafael Casal
Rafael Casal | |
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Born | Rafael Santiago Casal August 8, 1985 Berkeley, California |
Education | Berkeley High School |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2008–present |
Rafael Santiago Casal (born August 8, 1985) is an American writer, rapper, producer, director, actor, and showrunner originally from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Early life
[edit]Casal grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, California.[1] He was expelled from Berkeley High School after two years and earned his diploma through an alternative independent study program.[2] He was an undergraduate at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Casal identifies as Irish, from his mother's side, and Spanish and Cuban from his father's side.[3]
Career
[edit]Poetry
[edit]At 18, Casal appeared on 3 seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam. At the same time, he was touring, performing, and teaching nationwide with YouthSpeaks. He is a two time Brave New Voice Poetry Slam Festival champion. Casal spent three years designing and serving as creative director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's First Wave[4] Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Learning Community while earning his degree at night.[2]
Music
[edit]In July 2010, Casal released The BAY BOY Mixtape with Daveed Diggs and Chinaka Hodge as the Getback Productions crew. Casal also released several mixtapes online: As Good As Your Word (2008), Monster (2009) and Mean Ones (2012).[2] In 2018, Casal and Diggs released the Collin and Miles EPs to accompany their film Blindspotting.[5]
Theater
[edit]Casal co-founded the BARS workshop at the Public Theater in NYC with Daveed Diggs,[6] as a "space for artists to investigate and develop their craft at the intersection of contemporary verse and theatre”.
Film and television
[edit]In 2018, Casal and best friend Daveed Diggs released their movie, Blindspotting. The pair wrote, produced, and starred in the film, which uses verse to tell the story of the town of Oakland, California.[7]
Casal has also appeared in supporting roles in Bad Education, The Good Lord Bird and the second revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? He made a brief appearance in the Netflix documentary series, Amend: The Fight for America.
In 2020, Blindspotting was adapted as a comedy-drama series of the same name, with Casal serving as co-writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner, as well as reprising his role as Miles Turner.[8] The series was picked up by Lionsgate Television and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2021. It began streaming on Starz and StarzPlay on June 13, 2021. [citation needed] In October 2021, Starz renewed the series for a second season. It premiered at SXSW in March 2023 and on Starz on April 14, 2023.[9] Blindspotting was cancelled in September 2023.
Casal starred as X-5/Brad Wolfe in the second season[10] of the series Loki which premiered in October 2023.
Filmography
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | The Break Up | Boy | Short; also writer |
2010 | Ricochet in Reverse | Dylan Klebold | Short |
2014 | The Away Team | Cal | Web series; also creator, producer, director |
2014 | Mali Music: Beautiful | Producer; TV Movie | |
2018 | Blindspotting | Miles | Also co-producer, co-writer |
2018 | Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack | Elliot | Season 2 Episode 7 |
2019 | Stucco | Throne - Crowning Arm | Short |
2019 | Bad Education[11] | Kyle Contreras | |
2019 | Are You Afraid of the Dark? | Mr. Top Hat | Miniseries |
2020 | The Good Lord Bird | General John Cook | Miniseries |
2021 | Blindspotting | Miles | Also executive producer, director, and writer |
2023 | Loki | Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe | Season 2 |
2023 | Wildcat | O.E. Parker |
References
[edit]- ^ Barnes, Brooks (11 July 2018). "Oakland in their bones, and in their films". NY Times. p. 6. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
- ^ a b c Danzig, Christopher (10 November 2010). "The Def Poetry of Rafael Casal". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- ^ Betancourt, Manuel. "Rafael Casal on Creating a Complex Portrait of Oakland's Race & Class Dynamics in 'Blindspotting'". Remezcla. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ "Rafael Casal: Making the most of his fearlessness". news.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ "Music from Blindspotting (2018)". Tunefind. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- ^ Diaz-Hurtado, Jessica (December 17, 2016). "'Bars Medley': Classic Literature Remixed Into Hip-Hop And Verse". NPR. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- ^ Dry, Jude (July 27, 2018). "'Blindspotting': How Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal Made the First Buddy Comedy About Gentrification and White Privilege". IndieWire. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- ^ Otterson, Joe (September 10, 2020). "'Blindspotting' Series Starring Jasmine Cephas Jones Gets Greenlight at Starz". Variety. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "SXSW Lineup Includes 'Dungeons & Dragons' On Opening Night, 'Evil Dead Rise', Eva Longoria's 'Flamin' Hot', A24's 'Problemista' & More". 11 January 2023.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2022-07-15). "'Loki': Rafael Casal Joins Season 2 Of Marvel Series For Disney+". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ "Rafael Casal". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- 21st-century American male actors
- American people of Cuban descent
- Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni
- Living people
- Male actors from the San Francisco Bay Area
- Male actors from Berkeley, California
- Male actors from Oakland, California
- Rappers from Oakland, California
- Musicians from Berkeley, California
- American spoken word poets
- American male poets
- 1985 births
- Hispanic and Latino American actors