Acting career
Raúl Castillohas an extensive off-Broadway theater career.Right after college, Castillo performed in Austin, Texas in a 2000 production of “Santos & Santos”, loosely based on Jamiel Chagra and his brothers. It was during that production that Castillo solidified his confidence in being a professional actor.
Raúl Castillo joined the LAByrinth Theater Company as a writer shortly after moving to New York.His on-stage acting debut was with the LAByrinth Theater Company’s production of José Rivera’s play School of the Americas at New York’s Public Theater in 2006. There he met actress and later co-star Sandra Oh while she was performing in the Public Theater’s production of Satellites.
Raúl Castillo first appeared in the 2005 short film Immaculate Perception. Raúl Castillo acted in several other short films until his feature film debut role as Ignacio in the 2007 independent film, Amexicano. The film was screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and won the Jury Award for producer/director Matthew Bonifacio in the category of Narrative Film at the 2007 Sonoma Valley Film Festival.
The film was released theatrically in 2008.Raúl Castillo continued to appear in short films and independent films, such as My Best Day, and Bless Me, Ultima. His role in the 2011 independent film Cold Weather garnered favorable reviews and praise from critic Roger Ebert. In 2019, Raúl Castillo starred in the independent film El Chicano, drawing praise from The Hollywood Reporter, which noted that his “charismatic performance in the lead role carries much of the film’s weight”.
Television
During his acting career, Castillo has appeared in various TV roles, including shows such as Nurse Jackie, Blue Bloods, and Law & Order. He was cast in the lead role of the action-comedy web series The Traineeand also appeared in the web series East WillyB in a recurring role as Edgar. Castillo went through several auditions for both the part of Agustín and Richie, initially being passed on, before being offered the recurring role on the show.
To research his role as Richie, Castillo watched Looking executive producer Andrew Haigh’s 2011 film Weekend. His performance as Richie Donado was universally hailed as a break out role in the series.In 2015, Castillo appeared as Eduardo Flamingo, the emotionless, unfeeling villain on Fox Broadcasting Company’s drama series Gotham.
