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Rafael Casal

Rafael Casal
Born
Rafael Santiago Casal

(1985-08-08) August 8, 1985 (age 39)
Berkeley, California
EducationBerkeley High School
Occupations
  • Writer
  • poet
  • producer
  • showrunner
  • actor
  • musician
  • singer
Years active2008–present

Rafael Santiago Casal (born August 8, 1985) is an American writer, rapper, producer, director, actor, musician, and showrunner originally from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Early life

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Casal grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, California. He was expelled from Berkeley High School after two years but earned his diploma through an alternative independent study program. [1] Casal later designed and served as creative director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s First Wave Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Programme while earning a sociology degree at night.[2]

Casal identifies as Irish, from his mother's side, and Spanish and Cuban from his father's side.[3]

Career

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Poetry

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At 18, Casal appeared on 3 seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam while touring, performing, and teaching nationwide with YouthSpeaks. He is a two-time Brave New Voice Poetry Slam Festival champion.

Music

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Casal has released several mixtapes online,[4] including As Good As Your Word (2008), Monster (2009), and Mean Ones (2012). He also collaborated with best friend Daveed Diggs and Chinaka Hodge to release The Getback Mixtape, vol. 1 (2007) and The BAY BOY Mixtape (2010) as the Getback Productions Crew.

In 2018, Casal and Diggs released the Collin and Miles EPs to accompany their film Blindspotting.[5]

Theater

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Casal and Diggs co-founded the BARS workshop at the Public Theater in New York City. [6] The workshops serve as a platform for artists to explore and enhance their craft by merging contemporary verse with theatre.

Film and television

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In 2018, Casal and Daveed Diggs released their movie, Blindspotting. The duo wrote, produced, and starred in the film, which uses verse to tell the story of Oakland, California.[7]

In 2020, the movie was adapted as a comedy-drama series of the same name. Casal reprised his role as Miles and served as co-writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner.[8] The series premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2021, and began streaming on starz on June 13, 2021. Season 2 premiered at SXSW in March 2023 and began streaming on April 14, 2023.[9] In September 2023 Blindspotting was cancelled.[10]

Casal has also appeared in supporting roles in Bad Education, The Good Lord Bird and the second revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? In 2023 he appeared as X-5/Brad Wolfe in the second season[11] of the series Loki.

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
2010 Ricochet in Reverse Dylan Klebold YouTube Short
2014 The Away Team Cal Web series; also creator, producer, director
2018 Blindspotting Miles Also co-producer, co-writer
2018 Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack Elliot Season 2 Episode 7
2019 Stucco Throne - Crowning Arm Short
2019 Bad Education[12] Kyle Contreras
2019 Are You Afraid of the Dark? Mr. Top Hat Miniseries
2020 The Good Lord Bird General John Cook Miniseries
2021 Blindspotting Miles Also executive producer, director, and writer
2023 Loki Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe Season 2
2023 Wildcat O.E. Parker Appears in 9 minute Vignette “Parker’s back”

References

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  1. ^ "The Def Poetry of Rafael Casal". East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda. 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  2. ^ Danzig, Christopher (10 November 2010). "The Def Poetry of Rafael Casal". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
  3. ^ Betancourt, Manuel. "Rafael Casal on Creating a Complex Portrait of Oakland's Race & Class Dynamics in 'Blindspotting'". Remezcla. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  4. ^ "RAFAEL CASAL". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  5. ^ "Blindspotting: The Miles EP by Rafael Casal". Genius. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  6. ^ "Bars Workshop". NPR.
  7. ^ Dry, Jude (July 27, 2018). "'Blindspotting': How Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal Made the First Buddy Comedy About Gentrification and White Privilege". IndieWire. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
  8. ^ Otterson, Joe (September 10, 2020). "'Blindspotting' Series Starring Jasmine Cephas Jones Gets Greenlight at Starz". Variety. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  9. ^ "Starz Releases Lineup for 2023".
  10. ^ "Blindspotting cancelled by Starz".
  11. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2022-07-15). "'Loki': Rafael Casal Joins Season 2 Of Marvel Series For Disney+". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  12. ^ "Rafael Casal". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-29.