Rick Gonzalez
Gonzalez at the 2017 Heroes and Villains Fan Fest
Born	(1979-06-30)June 30, 1979 (age 46) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Sherry Aon
Children	1

Ricardo Gonzalez (born June 30, 1979) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Timo Cruz in the motion pictureCoach Carter, as Spanish inOld School, as Ben Gonzalez on theCW supernatural drama television seriesReaper, and as Naps InRoll Bounce. From 2016–2020, he portrayed thesuperherovigilante characterRene Ramirez / Wild Dog on the CW superhero drama seriesArrow. In 2021, he starred in the TV series adaptation ofThe Lost Symbol. In 2022, he joined the cast ofLaw & Order: Organized Crime as Detective Bobby Reyes.

Gonzalez was born in New York, ofDominican andPuerto Rican descent.^[1] His parents met in Washington, DC, where they married. They moved and settled down in theBushwick section ofBrooklyn where they raised Gonzalez.^[2] His parents were later divorced. He attended elementary and junior high school while living in Brooklyn. Ever since he was a young child, Gonzalez would put on improvised "shows" for his family and participate in all of his school's plays. His teachers were instrumental in convincing Gonzalez to apply and try out forLaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, on whichFame was based, inManhattan. He did as suggested and was accepted. In 1997, he graduated and began to pursue a career in acting.^[3]

Gonzalez started his acting career in New York, where he landed a small role in the made fortelevision movieThicker Than Blood (1998) as Sanchez. In 1999, he made his feature movie debut as Ricky in the movieMambo Cafe, which was released in the year 2000. He followed that by participating in the filmPrince of Central Park (2000) before heading forLos Angeles, California.^{[3][dead link]}

InHollywood, he landed a small part as a gangbanger in the 2001 filmCrocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. He followed that with the roles of Rudy Bonilla inThe Rookie, starringDennis Quaid and as the sex-crazed Primo in the 2003 movieBiker Boyz. In 2005, he played the role of Timo Cruz in the movieCoach Carter. Gonzalez also appeared inTwista's video "Hope", which is the lead single off theCoach Carter movie soundtrack. He played the male lead inMashonda's "Back of Tha Club" video; and has also starred in the video to theObie Trice song "Snitch", where he plays a member of a group who successfully pull off a bank robbery, and then snitches on them. Gonzalez was also inRed Cafe's video for "All Night Long" which was also in theCoach Carter movie soundtrack.

Gonzalez has appeared in the 2003 comedyOld School (alongsideLuke Wilson,Vince Vaughn andWill Ferrell) as "Spanish",Laurel Canyon (2003) as Wyett,Subway Cafe (2004) as Vincent Young,War of the Worlds (2005) as Vincent,Roll Bounce (2005) as Naps,Pulse (2006) as Stone,First Snow (2006) as Andy Lopez,Illegal Tender (2007) as Wilson DeLeon Jr.,What We Do Is Secret (2007) asPat Smear. He also appears inApartment 143 as Paul Ortega.

HisTV guest appearances have been inLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000),Touched by an Angel (2001) as Ramone,ER (2001) as Jorge Escalona,Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2002) as Tomas,The Shield (2002),CSI: Miami (2006),Castle (2010),Lie to Me (2010), andBones (2011). Most recently, he co-starred in the CW television seriesReaper as Ben Gonzalez. Gonzalez had a blog about the 2008 MLB Post Season and was nicknamed the "October Gonzo". He co-starred inLady Gaga's 2011 music video for her single "Judas" where he portraysJesus. In 2013, Gonzalez appeared in theNCIS episode "Oil & Water", as Lenny Machaca. In 2022, Gonzalez joined the cast ofLaw & Order: Organized Crime as Detective Bobby Reyes.

On May 24, 2011, Gonzalez released his mixtape album hosted by DJ G-Spot titled "The Invisible Man" citing "I called it the invisible man because of my frustration trying to get my music career going for at least 7 years and feeling ignored by the industry. So I felt invisible to them (music industry)."^{[This quote needs a citation]} He also appeared on the song "Bully Rap" off ofSean Price's last albumMic Tyson, it was released on October 30, 2012.

• List of Puerto Ricans
• List of Dominican Americans

• Rick Gonzalez atIMDb

• 1979 births
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• Hispanic and Latino American male actors
• American musicians of Puerto Rican descent
• American people of Dominican Republic descent
• Living people
• Male actors from Brooklyn
• People from Bushwick, Brooklyn
• Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
• American actors of Puerto Rican descent

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from July 2011
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2024
• Articles with hCards
• Articles with unsourced quotes