Rafael_Casal
Rafael Casal
American rapper
Rafael Santiago Casal (born August 8, 1985) is an American writer, rapper, actor, producer, director, and showrunner originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an online creator of music, poetry, web shorts, and political commentary.
Rafael Casal | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rafael Santiago Casal (1985-08-08) August 8, 1985 (age 38) Berkeley, California |
| Education | Berkeley High School |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2008–present |
Casal grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, California.[1] He was expelled from Berkeley High School after two years and earned his diploma through an alternative independent study program.[2] He attended undergraduate at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Casal identifies as Irish, from his mother's side, and Spanish and Cuban from his father's side.[3]
Poetry
When he was 18, Casal appeared on 3 seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam. At the same time, he was touring, performing, and teaching nationwide with YouthSpeaks. He is a two time Brave New Voice Poetry Slam Festival champion. Casal spent three years designing and serving as creative director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's First Wave[4] Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Learning Community while earning his degree at night.[2]
Music
In July 2010, Casal released The BAY BOY Mixtape with Daveed Diggs under the Getback Productions crew the pair co-founded with Chinaka Hodge. Casal has also released several solo mixtapes online: As Good As Your Word (2008), Monster (2009) and Mean Ones (2012).[2] In 2018, Casal and Diggs released the Collin and Miles EPs to accompany their film Blindspotting.[5]
Theater
Casal co-founded the BARS workshop at the Public Theater in NYC with Daveed Diggs,[6] as a "space for artists to investigate and develop their craft at the intersection of contemporary verse and theatre." The program is in its 5th season.
Film and television
In 2018, Casal and best friend Daveed Diggs released their movie, Blindspotting. The pair wrote, produced, and starred in the film, which uses verse to tell the story of the town of Oakland, California.[7] Casal has also appeared in supporting roles in Bad Education, The Good Lord Bird, and the second revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? Recently, Casal made a brief appearance in the Netflix documentary series, Amend: The Fight for America.
In 2020, it was confirmed that Blindspotting would be adapted as a comedy-drama series of the same name, with Casal serving as co-writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner, as well as reprising his role as Miles.[8] The series was picked up by Lionsgate Television and had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2021. It became available for streaming on June 13, 2021 on Starz and StarzPlay.[citation needed] In October 2021, it was announced that Starz had renewed the series for a second season. It premiered at SXSW in March 2023 and aired on Starz on April 14, 2023.[9] Blindspotting was cancelled by Starz in September 2023.
Casal starred as X-5/Brad Wolfe in the second season[10] of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Loki which premiered in October 2023.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The Break Up | Boy | Short; also writer |
| 2010 | Ricochet in Reverse | Dylan Klebold | Short |
| 2014 | The Away Team | Cal | Web series; also creator, producer, director |
| 2014 | Mali Music: Beautiful | Producer; TV Movie | |
| 2018 | Blindspotting | Miles | Also co-producer, co-writer |
| 2018 | Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack | Elliot | Season 2 Episode 7 |
| 2019 | Stucco | Throne - Crowning Arm | Short |
| 2019 | Bad Education[11] | Kyle Contreras | |
| 2019 | Are You Afraid of the Dark? | Mr. Top Hat | Miniseries |
| 2020 | The Good Lord Bird | General John Cook | Miniseries |
| 2021 | Blindspotting | Miles | Also executive producer, director, and writer |
| 2023 | Loki | Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe | Season 2 |
| TBA | Wildcat | O.E. Parker | Post-production |
- Barnes, Brooks (11 July 2018). "Oakland in their bones, and in their films". NY Times. p. 6. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
- Danzig, Christopher (10 November 2010). "The Def Poetry of Rafael Casal". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- Betancourt, Manuel. "Rafael Casal on Creating a Complex Portrait of Oakland's Race & Class Dynamics in 'Blindspotting'". Remezcla. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- "Rafael Casal: Making the most of his fearlessness". news.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- "Music from Blindspotting (2018)". Tunefind. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- Diaz-Hurtado, Jessica (December 17, 2016). "'Bars Medley': Classic Literature Remixed Into Hip-Hop And Verse". NPR. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
- Dry, Jude (July 27, 2018). "'Blindspotting': How Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal Made the First Buddy Comedy About Gentrification and White Privilege". IndieWire. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
- Otterson, Joe (September 10, 2020). "'Blindspotting' Series Starring Jasmine Cephas Jones Gets Greenlight at Starz". Variety. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- Andreeva, Nellie (2022-07-15). "'Loki': Rafael Casal Joins Season 2 Of Marvel Series For Disney+". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- "Rafael Casal". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-29.