Néstor Carbonell
Néstor Gastón Carbonell[1][2] (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈnestoɾ ɣasˈtoŋ kaɾβoˈneʎ]; born December 1, 1967) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He came to prominence for his role as Luis Rivera in the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. He is known for his roles as Richard Alpert in the ABC drama series Lost, Sheriff Alex Romero in the A&E drama series Bates Motel, and Yanko Flores in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show. Carbonell also starred as Mayor Anthony Garcia in Christopher Nolan's superhero films The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
Néstor Carbonell
- Actor
- director
- screenwriter
1989–present
2
- Rafael Palmeiro (cousin)
- Orlando Palmeiro (cousin)
- José Manuel Cortina (great-grandfather)
- Manuel Puig (Uncle)
Early life[edit]
Carbonell was born in New York City to Cuban parents Néstor Tulio Carbonell Cortina and Rosa Ramírez de Arellano Cárdenas. His parents are of Spanish descent (his grandparents were of Catalan, Basque, Navarran, and Andalusian origins).[3][4] Carbonell was raised a Roman Catholic.[5]
Carbonell's father worked for PepsiCo,[6][7] which required the family to live for periods of time in London, Mexico City, the Bahamas, and Caracas.[8] His father is also active in the Cuban community, authoring the book And The Russians Stayed: The Sovietization of Cuba.[9] Carbonell has an older sister, Rosa Maria "Mia" Carbonell, a Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Forbes. Former professional baseball player Rafael Palmeiro is his cousin. His paternal great-grandfather, José Manuel Cortina, was a noted Cuban orator and diplomat.[10]
Carbonell was educated at The British School while living in Caracas. His family later moved back to the U.S., and he attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts with future Lost co-star Matthew Fox.[11]
In 1990, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Harvard University (also the alma mater of his father and sister).[12]
Personal life[edit]
Carbonell has been married to Australian actress Shannon Kenny since January 3, 2001.[11] They met while working together on the 1995 television series Muscle and went on to co-star in the 2000 film Attention Shoppers, which Carbonell wrote.[32] The couple have two sons, Rafael (born 2002) and Marco (born 2005).[11] He is a practicing Roman Catholic.[5]
Carbonell's dark eyelashes have been a staple topic of discussion in interviews, and both Carbonell and the producers of Lost made it clear they are not enhanced by any form of makeup.[33] A short skit during the Lost panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International featured Carbonell allegedly applying eyeliner before throwing a Christian Bale-esque rant upon receiving the wrong color makeup from an assistant.[34] In a season 5 episode of Lost, James "Sawyer" Ford refers to Carbonell's character as "your buddy out there with the eyeliner."[33] In addition, in the Psych episode "Shawn 2.0", Shawn Spencer makes a comment about him having "impossibly dark eyelashes."[35]
He is fluent in Spanish, a skill he put to use in the sixth-season episode of Lost, "Ab Aeterno", in which numerous scenes contain dialogue mostly or solely in Spanish.[36] He also starred in a Spanish-language Heineken commercial.[37]