Rafael L. Silva is famously known for playing the role of Carlos Reyes in the series, ‘9-1-1: Lone Star.’ He is also one-half of the fan favorite onscreen couple, “Tarlos,” with the other half being T.K. Strand, who is portrayed by Ronen Rubinstein.
Rafael was born on June 18, 1994 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Growing up, he wanted to work with farm animals like his grandfather and uncles. At the age of 13, his family moved to the US, and the culture shock resulted in him becoming introverted and fearful of speaking in public.
He started to pursue acting when he was in high school to overcome his fear of public speaking.
“I started acting when I was a junior in high school. I used to be very afraid to speak in public. I figured if you were going to be afraid of something, you might as well be in the eye of the hurricane. So I started acting because I was afraid of speaking in public…,” the 28-year-old Brazilian-American actor shared in an interview with Styles Rant.
Thereafter, he attended Pace University in downtown Manhattan, New York City, and he graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting for Film, Television, Voice-Overs & Commercial.
Aside from acting, he is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner who trained with retired Brazilian professional mixed martial artist Royce Gracie. He also dances, and is fluent in multiple languages, including English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Moreover, Rafael is openly gay like his breakout role as Carlos in ‘9-1-1: Lone Star.’ In an interview with Gay Times, the actor opened up about his sentiments on being an openly gay actor portraying a gay character who is widely loved by viewers.
“This love and the representation that comes with being able to be fully out in the industry, playing an LGBTQIA+ character and being loved for your work and who you are, is one of those things that you can’t really claim to be yours,” he stated.
Rafael further expressed,
“I can’t claim to have done all of this because I haven’t. It’s been a very long road to achieve this sort of acceptance, not only on screen but off screen. All of the work happened off screen. It was from forever to up until this point. I feel extremely lucky.”
Now, let’s move on to some of this hottie’s pics that had the internet thirsting for more…
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, stylesrant.com, gaytimes.co.uk
My favorite most of all (actually, now I have 2 favorites) include ‘Abandoned’ and the Finale episode.
I had no idea he’s gay in real life. Hell yeah!!