Giancarlo Esposito

Born in Denmark, Esposito has an Italian father and an African-American mother. Dad was a stagehand; Mom was a cabaret singer who performed with Josephine Baker. So it's no wonder Esposito started acting professionally as a child, but he also studied TV production in college so that he could have a fallback job as a cameraman if acting didn't pan out. Nonetheless, he got his first big break as a young adult in 'Taps' as cadet J.C. Pierce. He went on to play a variety of streetwise characters in films and TV shows before becoming a regular in Spike Lee films, including 'Do The Right Thing' (1989) and 'Malcolm X' (1992). For the last two decades, he's been a regular on cop shows, including lead roles on 'Bakersfield P.D.' and 'Homicide: Life on the Street.' His juiciest role was his recent long-running turn as fast-food restaurateur/druglord Gus Fring on AMC's 'Breaking Bad.' He's currently a regular on ABC's fairy tale series 'Once Upon a Time,' as the Magic Mirror.