Santiago Cabrera (; born 5 May 1978) is a Chilean actor who has worked mainly in the UK, USA and Chile. Cabrera is best known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the NBC superhero drama Heroes, Lancelot in the BBC drama series Merlin, and Aramis in the BBC series The Musketeers. He was also the lead in the CBS drama Salvation as Darius Tanz, played Captain Cristóbal Rios in the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard, and cartel leader Jorge Sanchez in The Cleaning Lady (American TV series)
Early life Cabrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where his father, a Chilean diplomat, was stationed at the time. He is the middle child of three. Moving along with his father's career, Santiago grew up mainly in England, but also in Romania, Toronto and Madrid. His family returned to Chile when he was fifteen years old. He was captain of his football team in high school, and only tried acting when his teachers encouraged him. He trained at the Drama Centre London from 2000 to 2003.
Career Concurrent with his final year at the centre, he made his television debut with small roles in the British television series Battlefield Britain, Judge John Deed, Spooks and As If. His first role after graduating from drama school was Montano in Shakespeare's Othello, at the Royal Theatre Northampton. He also appeared in the 2006 film Love and Other Disasters as the Argentinian Paolo Sarmiento, alongside Brittany Murphy and Matthew Rhys.
He has appeared on American television first in Empire, as Octavius. He appeared as Isaac Mendez in the NBC series Heroes; once the character's arc ended, he narrated some episodes of the BBC's spin-off documentary series Heroes Unmasked. He also played Lancelot in the BBC drama series Merlin and Aramis in The Musketeers. and played Aramis in the BBC series The Musketeers for three seasons.
On 20 January 2007 episode of the NBC Universal late-night programme Vivo Mun2, Cabrera discussed his semi-professional football career in London before he fully committed to acting. He also stated that C.D. Universidad Católica of Santiago is his favourite team, however, he remains a fan of London club Queens Park Rangers F.C., for which he was a mascot as a child.
On 7 September 2008, Cabrera participated in Soccer Aid, a British charity football match in support of UNICEF. He later repeated this venture in 2014, playing once again for the Rest of the World. In November 2008 he played for the Hollywood United team in a special charity match raising money for people affected by the devastation of Hurricane Ike.
Santiago has also played the role of Darius Tanz in the CBS/Netflix show Salvation.
On 4 March 2019, CBS announced Cabrera was cast in Star Trek: Picard, starring Patrick Stewart, which began shooting in April 2019. He played the supporting role of Captain Cristobal Rios in the limited series. Cabrera appeared in Disney's Godmothered in 2020.Production Has Begun on New Disney+ Movie "Godmothered"
On 9 September 2021, Cabrera announced he would return to Star Trek: Picard for the series' second season with a trailer posted to his Instagram. On 5 May 2022, Cabrera promoted the final episode of the second season of Picard on his Instagram. It was his last appearance on the series.
In 2024, he played Richard Deetz, husband of Lydia and father of Astrid Deetz, in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel to 1988's Beetlejuice.
Personal life Santiago Cabrera is married to Anna Marcea, they have one son and they currently reside in Los Angeles.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 2004 Haven Gene 2006Love and Other DisastersPaolo Sarmiento2008CheCamilo Cienfuegos2010Andres2012For Greater GloryFather Vega2017Transformers: The Last KnightSantos2017What Happened to MondayInfomercial processor2019EmaAníbal2020GodmotheredHugh 2024 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Richard
Television Year Title Role Notes 2003 Spooks Camilo Henriquez 2 episodes 2003 Judge John Deed Carlos Fedor Episode: "Conspiracy" 2005 Empire Octavius Miniseries (main role) 2006, 2007, 2009 Heroes Isaac Mendez Main role (season 1); guest star (season 4) 2008 Heroes Unmasked Narrator Series 3 2008–2011 Merlin Lancelot Series 1 (2008), episode 5: "Lancelot"Series 2 (2009), episode 4: "Lancelot and Guinevere"Series 3 (2010), episode 13: "The Coming of Arthur (Part 2)"Series 4 (2011), episode 1 "The Darkest Hour – Part 1", episode 2: "The Darkest Hour – Part 2", episode 9: "Lancelot Du Lac" 2011 Covert Affairs Zavier Extarte Episode: "The Wake-Up Bomb" 2011 Alcatraz Jimmy Dickens Episode: "Pilot" 2012 Hemingway & Gellhorn Robert Capa Television film 2012 Dexter Sal Price 2 episodes 2012 Falcón Judge Esteban Calderón 2 episodes 2012–2013 Anna Karenina Vronsky Miniseries 2014–2016 Aramis Main role 2015 Patagonia: Earth's Secret Paradise Narrator 2016 Diego Episode: "Under the Texan Sun" 2017, 2019 Big Little Lies Joseph Bachman 8 episodes 2017–2018 Salvation Darius Tanz Main role, 26 episodes 2020–2022 Star Trek: Picard Cristóbal "Chris" Rios / Emil / Enoch / Emmet / Iain / Mister Hospitality Main role 2020 Himself Episode: "Episode 17" 2022 Marco Recurring role (season 2), 4 episodes 2023 Neon Oscar Recurring role, 6 episodes 2024–2025 The Cleaning Lady Jorge Sanchez Main role (season 3–4) 2024 Land of Women Amat Main role
Video game Year Title Voice role Notes 2004 TOCA Race Driver 2 Cesar Maques
Theatre Year Title Role Notes 2008 Romeo and Juliet Romeo
References
External links