Playing the arch-nemesis to one of the most beloved action heroes in film franchise history can be a thankless job, especially when the champion soaks up all the glory.
But don’t tell that to veteran actor Esai Morales, who returns as Gabriel, the antagonist to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in this summer’s upcoming “Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning,” opening May 23.
The truth is, Morales appreciates the challenge presented to him by his villainous character. For without Gabriel, there would be no Ethan Hunt to root for.
“The better you play the bad guy, the better you make the good guy look,” said Morales in a recent interview with The Epoch Times.
And Morales should know, having first appeared as Gabriel in 2023’s spy action film “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One.”
“We all have a role,” Morales said mischievously. “You don’t want a bad guy who’s a pushover, then what have you done as a hero? You see how that works?”
Over a 40-year career, the Brooklyn born actor of Puerto Rican ancestry has stayed a chameleon, leaping from the villains into lighter parts and projects, crafting characters in big screen hits, including “La Bamba” and “Bad Boys” and small screen powerhouses, such as “NYPD Blue” and “Ozark.”
There’s no secret to an actor’s longevity in show business, Morales emphasized. He draws a comparison of a working actor’s life to a shop owner friend’s reality. The store would be “empty for hours, and then one person would come in, and for 15 minutes it was packed beyond belief,” he said. “And then it was empty again.”
Acting work, like the store’s customers, “comes in waves,” Morales said, and “it’s all about frequency.” It takes riding those “waves” to sustain as successfully as he has since graduating from New York’s High School of Performing Arts.
It goes back to a dream he had as a kid.
“At about 12 or 13, I saw this film, ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ with Al Pacino in it. He was so mesmerizing,” Morales recalled. “I elbowed my friend and I said: ‘That’s what I’m gonna do. This is what I want to do.’”
To make that vision come true, Morales said it has not just been about talent. “It’s opportunity meets preparation meets luck,” he said.
It’s luck that brought Morales the “Mission: Impossible” role. He said that while in Puerto Rico, “shooting a very small labor of love indie”—which he had agreed to do in part because it allowed him to spend time with his mother, who had retreated there during an illness before she died in 2019—he got the fortuitous phone call.
He recalled one of his favorite quotes to explain the situation: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” When another “brilliant actor” had a contractual conflict and had to give up the role due to delays in the “Mission” production, he said, “that opened an opportunity” for him to jump in.
“I think my work in ‘Ozark’ may have had something to do with it,” Morales said, reflecting on the “talent” part of it.
“I think they wanted to get somebody who was kind of antithetical to our hero. And who could bring the gravitas, who can bring a sense of danger,” he said.
“It was also destiny to some degree that I was able to be at the right place at the right time, and the filmmakers thought of me.”
In an actor’s world, however, security is never guaranteed, regardless of your last great gig. In one day, out the next; hot, then cold. Morales is always thinking about his “Plan B.”
“The great thing about being an actor is that in preparing for your roles, you get the chance to dabble in other things, you get a chance to see what it’s like, you do your research, and you try other things,” he said.
He’s learned that he’s “a great connector of people,” which has him thinking about taking up acting coaching.
“I coach my friends for free. And a lot of them say, ‘Dude, I paid $500 for what you just gave me an hour,’” Morales said.
“I’m good at what I know, which is creating characters and bringing veracity and responding truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”
Outside of show business, Morales also sees a place for himself in the information world. He wants to create an online space for people to come to, and to be a resource of knowledge and truth.
“I’m talking to people about promoting my own line of products or other people’s products that I live by,” Morales said.
“I’m a certain age—62—that is not supposed to be running around and playing tennis as long and as hard as I play. I wear out people half my age, and that’s valuable,“ he said. ”I want to help create a store of sorts.
“This is what works for me, what works for you, a clearinghouse of information I can share.”
No matter what lies ahead for Morales, whether on the big screen, small screen, or out in the coaching, business, and information world, he’s certain of his future.
“My plan is to grow, to love, to achieve, to be surprised, to leave myself a little open for the unexpected, to have a bit of a plan—which is to do as much as I humanly can, to bring as much love and joy to the people around me, and to make a living while I do that.”
