Raymond Cruz
Raymond Cruz is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Detective Julio Sanchez in the series The Closer and its spinoff Major Crimes, as well as his recurring role as drug lord Tuco Salamanca in the crime drama Breaking Bad and its prequel series Better Call Saul.
Early life
Cruz was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California, and is of Mexican descent. He grew up in a neighborhood that regularly saw gang activity, and had relatives in such gangs as Maravilla and Barrio South Gate. He witnessed a shooting at age 12, noting the victim's "brains came out the back of his head". For his portrayal of Tuco Salamanca, he was able to relate to his experiences witnessing people who were high on methamphetamine.Cruz has said that becoming interested in American literature early in life helped him avoid joining such gangs himself. His favorite novel is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Cruz attended three high schools after being expelled for writing editorials that satirized and questioned school policies. He attended East Los Angeles College, where he got "sidetracked" into theater.
Career
Cruz's film roles include sniper Ding Chavez in Clear and Present Danger, Hector in Out For Justice, Tom Berenger's second-in-command Joey Six in The Substitute, U.S. Marine Sergeant Rojas in The Rock, as Jesus in From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, USM Private Vincent DiStephano in Alien Resurrection, and Ramirez in Under Siege. He appeared as Chuey, a gang member from the Vatos Locos, in the gang film Blood In Blood Out.In 2005, he played Chino in Havoc. He appeared in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, credited as "The Messenger," and in Training Day as a gang member named Sniper. He played a Los Angeles firefighter in Collateral Damage. He had guest roles in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Siege of AR-558", The X-Files episode "El Mundo Gira", and the second season of 24. He also made an appearance as the father of a murdered girl in CSI. He played Det. Julio Sanchez for the entire seven season run of The Closer and continued in that role for all six seasons of the spin-off Major Crimes.
Cruz performed the well-known role of Tuco Salamanca, a sadistic and psychotic meth dealer in Breaking Bad in 2008 and 2009, a role he reprised in 2015-16 during the first two seasons of the Breaking Bad prequel spin-off, Better Call Saul.
He had a recurring role as Paco on My Name Is Earl, and as Alejandro Perez on Nip/Tuck.
Personal life
Cruz is married to fellow actress Simi Mehta with whom he co-starred on The X-Files in the episode "El Mundo Gira".On September 8, 2025, Cruz was arrested after allegedly spraying a woman with his water hose outside his house. He was released on his own recognizance and had a court date scheduled for October 1, but the charges were dropped.