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Raúl Castillo
Raúl Castillo, Jr. (born August 30, 1977) is an American stage and film actor and playwright, born in McAllen, Texas and educated at Boston University College of Fine Arts. He is known for his acting roles in Amexicano, Cold Weather, and his role as Richie Donado Ventura in the HBO series Looking. His notable written plays include Boarder Stories and Between Me, You, and the Lampshade. He is associated with the LAByrith Theater Company and the Atlantic Theater Company.

Early Childhood
Raul Castillo grew up in McAllen, Texas, a small town in south Texas that was 90 percent Mexican-American. His parents are oringially from Reynosa, Mexico, but moved to Texas before Castillo was born. Castillo states that growing up in a boarder town made him feel identified as American when he visited Mexico, but Mexican when he traveled around the United States. He explains he was "too American for Mexico, but too Mexican for the U.S." . Castillo grew up in a traditional and conservative household in Texas. In his early adolescence, Castillo found his love for theatrics while he participated as an alter boy at his hometown church. From there, he joined a punk rock band where he played bass. His older brother played guitar and is described as a hardworking musician. His dedication was seen by Castillo when he would sit and play scales for hours, which inspired Castillo to use the same technique for his own performance. Because he did not play sports, Castillo decided to join his high school's theater club. His first performance on stage was a high school production of I Remember Mama. Castillo found inspiration from several Hispanic artists in the media, including Miguel Piñero and an anthology of works from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Additionally, he memorized and performed John Leguizamo’s one-man shows “Spic-O-Rama,” “Freak,” and “Mambo Mouth” at school. He looked up to several actors such as Al Pacino and Anthony Quinn, and spent much of his time watching the film The Outsiders.

Education
After attending McAllen High School in McAllen, Texas, Castillo attended Boston University's School of the Fine Arts where he earned his BFA. At Boston University, Castillo studied playwriting, which came as a shock to his conservative parents. He went to school with Tanya Saracho, who was a huge influence on Castillo at an early age, introducing him to a many playwrights and encouraging his discovery of his own personal tastes. The university offered a student-run playwrights' festival which gave him a platform for his original work. Most of his early plays were heavy and serious, dealing with the sociopolitical and racial tensions on the border of Mexico and the United States.

Film
Raul Castillo made his feature film debut with an independent film entitled ‘Amexicano,’ which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2007. Castillo has been in several other major films such as  ‘Cold Weather,’ ‘Don’t Let Me Drown,’ ‘My Best Day,’ ‘The Girl’ and ‘Bless Me, Ultima.’.

Television
Castillo is most famous for his role as Richie in the HBO original series 'Looking'. Set in San Francisco, ‘Looking’ look as the unfiltered experiences of close friends searching for happiness and intimacy in an age of unparalleled choice. His role in Looking received attention due to his character Richie. Castillo, a straight man, was cast to play Richie, a homosexual Latino. Castillo states the importance of portraying this character as representing a marginalized community in mainstream media. As a result, Castillo and his character Richie gained a large social media following, using the hashtag #TeamRichie. His earliest television work were single episode appearances in major shows such as Nurse Jackie, Law & Order, All My Children, and Damages, and Gotham.

Theater
After graduating from Boston University, Raul Castillo got involved in the New York City theater scene. He soon joined the Labyrinth Theater Company, the Off Broadway troupe then run by John Ortiz and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Castillo performed alongside Sandra Oh of “Grey’s Anatomy” in the play 'Death and the Maiden'. Death and the Maiden deals with the lives of a couple, a woman who has dealt with some of the atrocities that have occurred under a dictatorship. Castillo describes his heavy role as a character dealing with the bureaucracy of government, trying to look into the crimes that were committed, specifically the deaths that were committed during the dictatorship. Death and the Maiden was originally produced on Broadway with Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gene Hackman, but Latino actors such as Raul Castillo felt undervalued that ethnic characters were not cast in a play by a Chilean playwright. Raul Castillo also starred as the lead in Cándido Tirado’s play 'Fish Men' about Rey Reyes, a survivor of the Guatemalan Civil War.

Playwriting
Raul Castillo wrote the dark comedy Between You, Me and the Lampshade, that explores a family’s life on the U.S.-Mexico border. Castillo authored the play ‘Knives and Other Sharp Objects,’ which premiered in 2009 at the Public Theater.

Awards and Honors
Raul Castillo won a special mention at the Ashland Independent Film Festival in 2012 for his role in My Best Day. He also won Best Performance - Comedy at the NAMIC Vision Awards for his performance in Looking. He has been nominated several times for his supporting role as Richie in Looking, including at the 2016 NAMIC Vision Awards and the 2015 and 2016 Imagen Foundation Awards. Raul Castillo earned an honorable mention at the AFI Fest in 2012 for his work in the Student Academy Award-winning short film ‘Narcocorrido’.

LGBTQ Status
Although his role as Richie Ventura in Looking has garnered Castillo popularity among gay viewers, he is straight. Castillo describes his role in Looking as important to the LGBTQ and Latino community. In an interview with Backstage Magazine, Castillo states “Especially being a straight guy, I wanted to honor this character. And even though it wasn’t representing the entire community—this was one story—I knew there would be a lot of expectations. I know, having done projects around the Latino community, that there were going to be a lot of people paying attention.” Castillo expressed that he had no problem portraying a gay man on television. In fact, he said he felt as if he somewhat identified with the character, as he was always a "black sheep" in some ways. However, Castillo said that he was originally very nervous that he would lose his job on the show, spefically when discussing the detailed sex scenes with his co-star Jonathan Groff. He explains that on the show he definitely had some learning to do, being one of the few straight cast memebers. Castillo told Out Magazine that he hopes the show draws a large gay and a large striaght audience. He hopes that his character on the show will both enlighten and educate striaght audiences, as well as shed light on some of the experiences of the gay Latino community. Further, he described the show as starting a overall "positive, cultural dialogue", not as having a specific political agenda. Castillo has a girlfriend, who lived with him in Hell's Kitchen until recently. She had no problem with him portraying a gay character and is a fan of the show.

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