Photo: Jean-Paul Assenard / © WireImage.com

Born in East Los Angeles, CA; educated at East Los Angeles College and California State University. Ruggedly handsome Latino actor who began his career as a rock singer and earned a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in Luis Valdez's musical drama, Zoot Suit. (He later reprised his role in Valdez's 1981 film version.) Olmos first became known to national audiences as the no-nonsense police chief in TV's "Miami Vice" (1984-89) and was memorable as the sinister, origami-practicing police detective in BLADE RUNNER (1982). He was nominated for a best actor Oscar® for his role as a charismatic, inspirational math and science teacher in the 1986 feature, STAND AND DELIVER. Other notable film and television credits include SAVING GRACE (1985), A MILLION TO JUAN (1994), MY FAMILY, MI FAMILIA (1995), CAUGHT (1996), SELENA, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF GARCIA LORCA and "12 Angry Men" (TV) (all 1997), THE WONDERFUL ICE CREAM SUIT (1998), GOSSIP (2000), JACK AND MARILYN (also producer & director) and "American Family" (TV series) (both 2002), LA CERCA (2005), SPLINTER (2006), and SOUTH OF THE BORDER and DIVINE FORCES (both scheduled for 2008 release). Olmos appears as Admiral William Adama on the TV series "Battlestar Galactica" (2005-08); he has also directed a couple of episodes of the series. Olmos, whose grandparents published a radical newspaper during the time of the Mexican revolution, is known for his commitment to political and humanitarian causes. He played a central role in organizing a relief fund for the victims of the Mexico City earthquake in 1985 and proved an articulate critic of governmental neglect during the Los Angeles riots of 1992. His convictions have carried over into his film work; in 1983 he co-founded YOY productions with director Robert M. Young and was associate producer on the Young-directed project, "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez", about a young Mexican on the run from an American posse. Olmos also starred in and wrote the music for the feature, and went on a tour of the Southwest with a copy of the film, personally renting it to theaters to ensure it reached the widest audience possible. He was executive producer of the 1994 TV feature "Lives in Hazard," and he produced AMERICANOS: LATINO LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES (2000). Olmos made his feature directorial debut with AMERICAN ME (1992), a well-intentioned but flawed look at the world of Latino gangs operating inside the California prison system.  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1988: STAND AND DELIVER 1 nomination