fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Rafael Santiago Casal (born August 8, 1985) is an American writer, actor, producer, and showrunner originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Casal's first television appearance was performing on three seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam, and as a creator online with millions of YouTube/Facebook views for his music, poetry, web shorts, and political commentary.

Rafael Casal
Born	Rafael Santiago Casal (1985-08-08) August 8, 1985 (age 37) Berkeley, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor Poet Writer Rapper Producer Director Showrunner
Years active	2008–present

His theater-in-verse work has brought him around the country and the world both in the realm of activism and arts performance at hundreds of colleges and venues. Casal is the co-founder and artistic director of the BARS workshop at The Public Theater in New York.[1]

Early life

Casal grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, California. He was expelled from Berkeley High School after two years and earned his diploma through an alternative independent study program.[2] Casal is of Irish, Spanish, and Cuban descent.[3]

Career

Poetry

When he was 18, Casal appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. At the same time, he was touring, performing, and teaching nationwide with YouthSpeaks. He is a two time Brave New Voice Poetry Slam Festival champion. Casal spent three years serving as creative director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's First Wave Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Learning Community while earning his degree at night.[2]

Music

In July 2010, Casal released The BAY BOY Mixtape with Daveed Diggs under the Getback Productions crew the pair co-founded with Chinaka Hodge. Casal has also released several solo albums: Mean Ones (2012), As Good As Your Word (2008), and Monster (2009).[2] In 2018, Casal and Diggs released the Collin and Miles EPs to accompany their film, Blindspotting.[4]

Film and television

In 2018, Casal and Daveed Diggs released their premiere film, Blindspotting, which they had been writing for 10 years. The pair wrote, produced, and starred in the film that uses verse to tell the story of their hometown of Oakland, California.[5] Casal also appeared in supporting roles in Bad Education, The Good Lord Bird, and the second revival of Are You Afraid Of The Dark?. Recently, Casal had a hand in the Netflix documentary series, Amend: The Fight for America. Casal is set to make his film directorial debut in First Sight, a sci-fi romantic comedy about falling asleep to find the person of your dreams.[6]

In 2020, it was confirmed that the Casal and Diggs written film Blindspotting would be adapted as a comedy-drama series to the same name, with Casal set to star, direct, executive produce, and act as showrunner.[7] Blindspotting the TV series, follows Ashley, a character played by Jasmine Cephas Jones both in the film and show, as she navigates life's ups and downs after Miles is unexpectedly incarcerated. The series was picked up by Lionsgate Television, and is to be distributed by Starz. The series had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2021. The series became available for streaming June 13, 2021 on Starz and StarzPlay.^{[citation needed]} In October 2021, it was announced that Starz renewed the series for a second season.

Filmography

Film	Category	Role	Year	Notes
The Break Up	Short	Boy	2008	Writer
Ricochet in Reverse	Short	Dylan Klebold	2010
The Away Team	Web-Series	Cal	2014	Creator, Producer, Director
Mali Music: Beautiful	TV Movie		2014	Producer
Frozen Hearts	Short		2015	Producer
Blindspotting	Film	Miles	2018	Co-Producer, Co-Writer
Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack	TV Series	Elliot	2018	Season 2 Episode 7
Before the Fire	Film		Upcoming	Producer
Stucco	Short	Throne - Crowning Arm	Upcoming
Bad Education[8]	Film	Kyle Contreras	2019
First Sight [6]	Film		Upcoming	Director
Are You Afraid Of The Dark?	TV Mini-Series	Mr. Top Hat	2019
The Good Lord Bird	TV Mini-Series	General John Cook	2020
Blindspotting	TV Series	Miles	2021	Exec. Producer, Director, Writer, Showrunner
Loki	TV series		TBA

References

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