David Zayas

David Zayas
Zayas at the International Press Academy’s 12th Annual Satellite Awards, December 2007
Years active	1995 - current
Spouse	Liza Colón-Zayas

David Zayas
Police career
Department	New York City Police Department (NYPD)
Service years	1990 - 1996

David Zayas (born 31 December 1969) is a Puerto Rican-American theatrical, film, and television actor. He is most known for his roles as Angel Batista on Showtime's series Dexter and as Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama Oz.

Life and career

Born in Puerto Rico, but raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Zayas joined the United States Air Force early in life, where he gained skills that would lead him to become a New York Police officer after he was discharged from service. Zayas' career as a police officer in turn allowed him to develop as a character actor, leading to a series of acting jobs on television and film mainly playing law enforcement officers. However, working in law enforcement also provided Zayas with the ability to play characters on the other side of the law, like Enrique Morales, one of the most memorable inmates of HBO's long-running prison-drama OZ. In a total number of 28 episodes from 2002-2003, Zayas's character became one of the most ruthless inmates featured in that series.

Zayas is also a talented musician, having performed as a percussionist with artists including Jason Mraz. A member of the LAByrinth Theatre Company since 1992, a New York City-based traveling actors group, Zayas has branched out into television and film projects, which has diversified his résumé with guest roles in such popular television series such as New York Undercover and NYPD. It was at LAByrinth where he met his future wife, actress Liza Colón-Zayas. They presently reside in Los Angeles where Zayas plays homicide detective Angel Batista in the Showtime drama Dexter.

David is also featured in the 2010 indie hit Shadowboxing, which has been gaining some steam on the film festival circuit. He also appeared in the film The Expendables, written, directed and starring Sylvester Stallone, which also co-stars Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others.

External links

• Official website
• "One on one with David Zayas", HoboTrashcan.com.