Christian Camargo
Christian Camargo is an American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Brian Moser in the Showtime drama Dexter and its sequel series Dexter: Resurrection, and army officer John Cambridge in the Academy Award-winning film The Hurt Locker. Camargo's other roles include Michael Corrigan in the Netflix drama House of Cards, Count Dracula in the third season of Penny Dreadful, Eleazar in the films The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 and 2, and Tamacti Jun in See.
Other than screen work, Camargo is a stage actor who has starred in plays and musicals such as including Romeo & Juliet and Coriolanus, and his involvement with acclaimed individuals such as David Leveaux and Jason Momoa. His theatre work has earned him critical acclaim, including an Obie Award. Camargo has also directed films, those being Days and Nights and The Last Manhunt, and is working on an upcoming TV series called Camelot.
Early life
Camargo's birth name is Christian Minnick. He is the son of actress Victoria Wyndham and Wendell Minnick, and his aunt is Broadway actress Felice Camargo. He grew up on a small horse farm in Katonah, New York, and learned early auto restoration, where he earned his enthusiasm for vehicles. His first car was a 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham.Camargo attended the Harvey School and graduated from the upper school in 1989, which is where he discovered his passion for theatre.
He is of Mexican descent through his maternal grandfather, actor Ralph Camargo. He is a 1992 graduate of Hobart College. He was the program director of WEOS, the college's public radio station.
Camargo is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a member of the Drama Division's Group 25. He went on to perform in the 1996 Broadway production of David Hare's Skylight with Michael Gambon. From there, Camargo went to England to join the inaugural company of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the Southbank, where he met his future wife, English actress Juliet Rylance.
Name change
Camargo's grandfather, Ralph Camargo, was a Mexican-American actor who talked his daughters into changing their names to something Anglicized because he felt he had lost roles due to being Latino. Christian decided to change his name from his father's family name of Minnick to his maternal grandfather's surname of Camargo because of pride in his Mexican-American heritage and a desire to bring back a name that he felt was connected to his profession. Christian cited Ralph as an important figure in his life, saying "My parents had a difficult divorce. My dad had to take a backseat for a few years, and my grandfather came in. He was also my inspiration for becoming an actor. I really respected him."Career
Camargo made his theatrical debut in 1999, starring in films such as Plunkett & Macleane and Harlem Aria, co-starring in the latter with Damon Wayans and Gabriel Casseus. He continued playing small roles in films, starring as Officer Pavel Loktev in K-19: The Widowmaker and playing Detective Scott in The Cry.Camargo is perhaps best known for his role as Brian Moser, a.k.a. Rudy Cooper, the long-lost brother of the titular character, in Dexter, starring as a regular cast member in Season 1. Brian is the enigmatic Ice Truck Killer, his main goal being to reunite with his brother by starting a series of murders to attract Dexter's attention while getting closer to him by dating his foster sister, Debra Morgan, under his "Rudy Cooper" alias. Originally, Jeremy Renner was considered for the role but declined due to scheduling conflicts. Camargo reprised the role as a guest star in Season 2, Season 6, and eventually in Dexter: Resurrection. Brian Moser's character received critical acclaim and is considered to be one of Dexter
Camargo's New York theater work includes the Public Theater's Kit Marlowe, Steve Martin's Underpants at Classic Stage Company, and the title role of Theater For A New Audience's Coriolanus. He made his broadway debut in 1996 as Edward Sergeant in Skylight, which coincidentally had Camargo's Dexter co-star Michael C. Hall as his understudy. In 2008, Camargo played opposite Dianne Wiest, John Lithgow and Katie Holmes in Arthur Miller's All My Sons on Broadway. In early 2009, he played the title role in the Theatre for a New Audience's production of Hamlet. He won an Obie and Drama League nomination for his performance. The show ran until April 12, 2009.
Camargo portrayed Orlando in The Bridge Project's presentation of Shakespeare's As You Like It in Brooklyn, New York. In February 2010, he played Ariel in the company's rendition of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Both plays were directed by British director Sam Mendes. On September 30, 2010, he was cast as Eleazar Denali in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Parts 1 and 2, playing alongside Mía Maestro, who played Eleazar's wife, Carmen.
Camargo wrote and directed Days and Nights, a modern retelling of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, produced by his wife, actress Juliet Rylance, together with Barbara Romer, founder of the New Globe Theater. The film was scheduled for a 2014 release. He portrayed Mercutio in the 2013 Broadway revival of Romeo and Juliet, directed by David Leveaux and starring Orlando Bloom as Romeo and Condola Rashād as Juliet. He guest starred as antagonist Wade Crocker on the third season of Syfy's Haven and appeared on the third season of Elementary as Chris Santos.
Camargo portrayed the title character of the Theatre for a New Audience off-Broadway production of Pericles, directed by Trevor Nunn, from February to April 2016. In May of that year he guest starred as Dracula on the third season of Showtime's Penny Dreadful.
In March and April 2017, Camargo portrayed a mid-career Robert Evans in Simon McBurney's stage adaptation of The Kid Stays in the Picture, staged in London's Royal Court Theatre. In the same year, he also starred in the Netflix miniseries, Wormwood.
He also appeared as brutal military leader Tamacti Jun in the American TV show See. In an interview, Camargo stated his love for playing villains, saying "It is so much fun. It's so much fun to play that. I love playing bad characters. You might know that I have a bit of a penchant for that. I love complicated, dark individuals, but yeah, so that was fun." In a separate interview, he talked about breaking out of being typecast as a leading young man and finding enjoyment in playing villains such as psychopaths. In 2022, he played the main antagonist Mr. Aunspach in the horror film Student Body, a pedophilic, creepy math teacher who becomes vengeful after being fired for harassment, dressing up as the school's mascot and starting a murder spree. He also played in Witch Hunt as witch hunter Detective Hawthorne.
Camargo directed The Last Manhunt. Camargo originally joined the project as an actor, cast in the role of Sheriff Wilson. However, shortly before production began, Jason Momoa—Camargo's See co-star who co-wrote the screenplay and was originally slated to direct—stepped back due to scheduling conflicts. To prevent the project from being canceled, Camargo assumed directing responsibilities in addition to his role as the sheriff. Camargo aimed for diversity and representation of Native American communities, stating "I really like making movies that people either love or hate, no in-between. If you like it, if you don't like the movie — doesn't matter. The Native community likes it. They feel heard, and the conversation has sort of corrected a little bit of history. So to me, anything is just gravy.".
In 2025, Camargo entered a development deal, partnering with Dimension Studio and Two Chairs Production for Camargo's planned television series, Camelot.
Personal life
In November 2008, Camargo married British actress Juliet Rylance at the New York City Hall. He divorced Juliet after nine years of marriage around 2016–2017. He has a son born in November 2019 with his girlfriend, Sylvia van der Klooster, and has a dog named Garth. Camargo currently resides in the desert near Joshua Tree, California.Camargo is a car enthusiast. When asked what career he would pursue if he wasn't an actor, Camargo said he would do auto restoration. He also founded a vintage car shop and photo studio in 2000 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Fast Ashleys. His personal cars include a Chevy pickup, a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass drag racer, and a 1989 Toyota Land Cruiser. Camargo was the creator and executive producer of the short-lived MTV reality show, Fast Inc., which promoted Fast Ashleys. He sold off the shop sometimes in the 2000s.
In 2014, Camargo was inducted into the hall of fame of his old school, the Harvey School, receiving the Outstanding Alumni Award.