The majority of Hollywood actors are only successful at creating one or maybe two characters that are truly memorable over their entire careers, and that’s if they’re really lucky. However, Giancarlo Esposito is definitely the exception to that rule. He’s often been called a “chameleon”, which he actually likes hearing since it means that the roles he has been choosing are never the same as his previous ones.
His career has spanned 47 years and he got his start at the age of seven when he began recording radio commercials. And, since then, he has played some major television and motion picture roles that have placed him squarely on a number of prominent spots on the racial spectrum as well as on either side of the law. Esposito is now 54 and spent part of his formative years growing up in the Bronx as the multi-ethnic child of an Italian carpenter and an African-American opera singer. The two met and were married while his mother was on a European operatic tour.
Esposito actually considered the priesthood prior to getting bitten by the acting bug. And, fans everywhere are glad that he chose acting in the end as his many achievements have endeared him to many watchers of both the small screen and the big screen as well. So, here are our choices for his five most memorable roles:
1. Gus Fring
Esposito’s best-known role of all-time has got to be Gustavo “Gus” Fring from both “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul”. The character is a Southwestern U.S. methamphetamine distributor. He utilizes a number of legit businesses as fronts for his widespread and very successful drug operation. They include Lavanderia Brillante, an industrial laundry facility, as well as Los Pollos Hermanos, which is a successful fast food chain and fried chicken restaurants. Fring is as ruthless as he is conniving and personally enjoys killing off his rivals in the drug business.
For his portrayal of Gus, Giancarlo Esposito was the proud winner of the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and he was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2013, Esposito was named by TV Guide as number three in the annual list of “The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time” and Rolling Stone ranked him in 2016 as number seven among their “40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time”. It’s fun being bad!
2. Buggin’ Out
Esposito is quite well-known for his many roles in the films of Spike Lee. “Do the Right Thing” is one of them and, in that 1989 theatrical release, Danny Aiello played Salvatore “Sal” Fragione, the Italian owner of a Brooklyn pizzeria and Esposito played one of the neighborhood locals, Buggin’ Out, who sincerely believes that any pizzeria located in the middle of a black neighborhood needs to be showcasing black actors. However, Sal naturally doesn’t agree and tensions rise in the neighborhood.
3. Left Hand Lacey
Hew was also in the 1990 Spike Lee release with Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes, “Mo’ Better Blues”. In the film, he plays piano player Left Hand Lacey. The film was fairly well-received by the majority of the usual Hollywood critics.
4. Jimmy Jiles
In the motion picture “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man”, he played opposite Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson as the character, Jimmy Jiles. The film was a cult classic that was released in 1991 although it was not so well received by the critics. All-in-all, it was quite entertaining though.
5. Sidney Glass
One of Esposito’s other major TV roles was as Sidney Glass on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time”. His début was in the first season’s second episode. The Glass character was the Magic Mirror’s Storybrooke counterpart and it made Esposito even more well-known.
Honorable mention to his role in the show Revolution.
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