Giancarlo Esposito

Giancarlo Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to an Italian carpenter/stagehand father from Naples, Italy, and an African American opera singer mother from Alabama. His parents, who were working in Europe at the time of his birth, had settled in Manhattan by the time he was six years old.

Giancarlo attended Elizabeth Seton College in New York and earned a two-year degree in radio and television communications.

He began his acting career at the age of 10 on Broadway in 1968, playing a child in the short-lived musical Maggie Flynn, which was set during the New York draft riots of 1863.

His feature film debut came as a background character in Running (1979). His career really kicked off in the ‘80s when he appeared in films such as Trading Places (1983) and Maximum Overdrive (1986).

Giancarlo landed his breakout role as Julian “Big Brother Almighty” Eaves in Spike Lee’s film School Daze (1988), which explored the color relations at Black colleges. Over the next four years, Giancarlo and Lee would collaborate on the films Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo’ Better Blues (1990), and Malcom X (1992).

In the '90s he appeared in critically acclaimed indie films such as Night on Earth (1991), Fresh (1994), and Smoke (1995). He also appeared in mainstream films, including The Usual Suspects (1995) with Kevin Spacey and Benicio Del Toro, and Waiting to Exhale (1995) with Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett.

Over his career, Giancarlo has become one of the industry's busiest actors, appearing in both television shows and films.

In 2009 he appeared as — arguably his most well-known role — Gus Fring on season two of the hit AMC drama series, Breaking Bad. He played the character for 26 episodes, ending in the series’ fourth season. For his performance, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2012.

He would reprise his role as Gus in the prequel series Better Call Saul. He played the character from season three in 2017, to season six in 2022. He received two more Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and one Critics Choice Award in 2023.

In 2019, Giancarlo worked on Godfather of Harlem with Forest Whitaker, playing the character of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. until 2023. That same year he also starred as Stan Edgar in the Amazon superhero satire series, The Boys across the series’ four seasons, most recently in 2024.

Still in 2019, he joined the Star Wars universe on the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian with Pedro Pascal, playing Moff Gideon. He appeared in the final two episodes of the first season, and received another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama series. In season two, he appeared in five of the eight episodes and received his fifth Emmy nomination, this time for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama series.

Most recently he appeared in Captain America: Brave New World (2025) as the villain, Sidewinder.

In addition to his on-camera work, Giancarlo has done voice-over roles as well. His voice has appeared on animated series such as Harley Quinn, voicing Lex Luthor, and the English dub of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners where he voices the villain Faraday. He has also appeared in video games such as Far Cry 6 and Destiny.

Giancarlo married Joy McManigal in 1995, with whom he has four daughters. They were divorced in 2015.

Filmography:

Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Please Don’t Feed the Children (2024)
MaXXXine (2024)
Megalopolis (2024)
Abigail (2024)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
Euphoria (2022)
Beauty (2022)
Unpregnant (2020)
Stargirl (2020)
Coda (2019)
Line of Duty (2019)
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
MFKZ (2017)
Okja (2017)
Stuck (2017)
The Show (2017)
Brother Nature (2016)
Money Monster (2016)
The Jungle Book (2016)
The Pills: Sempre meglio che lavorare (2016)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Poker Night (2014)
Son of Batman (2014)
They Die by Dawn (2013)
Alex Cross (2012)
Certainty (2011)
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Gospel Hill (2008)
Chelsea on the Rocks (2008)
Feel the Noise (2007)
The Box (2007)
Racing Daylight (2007)
Rain (2006)
Sherrybaby (2006)
Last Holiday (2006)
Derailed (2005)
Back to You in the Days (2005)
I Will Avenge You, Iago! (2005)
Hate Crime (2005)
A Killer Within (2004)
Noise (2004)
Blind Horizon (2003)
Ash Tuesday (2003)
Ali (2001)
Piñero (2001)
Monkeybone (2001)
Josephine (2000)
Stardust (1998)
Where’s Marlowe? (1998)
Phoenix (1998)
Twilight (1998)
The People (1997)
Big City Blues (1997)
Trouble on the Corner (1997)
Nothing to Lose (1997)
Loose Women (1997)
The Maze (1997)
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
Klash (1995)
The Keeper (1995)
Reckless (1995)
Blue in the Face (1995)
Smoke (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Benders (1994)
Fresh (1994)
Amos & Andrew (1993)
Malcolm X (1992)
Bob Roberts (1992)
Night on Earth (1991)
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)
Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
King of New York (1990)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
School Daze (1988)
Sweet Lorraine (1987)
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985)
The Cotton Club (1984)
The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983)
Trading Places (1983)
Taps (1981)
The Changeling (1980)
Tutti a squola (1979)
Running (1979)