Raúl Castillo Jr. (born August 30, 1977) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for his acting roles in Amexicano and Cold Weather and his role as Richie Donado Ventura in the HBO series Looking and its subsequent series finale television film, Looking: The Movie. He received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film We the Animals.
His notable written plays include Border Stories and Between Me, You, and the Lampshade. His works are associated with the LAByrinth Theater Company and the Atlantic Theater Company.
Early life
Raúl Castillo Jr. was born to Raúl H. Castillo Sr. and Adela "Adelita" Rodríguez de Castillo. He has an older brother, Tony, and a younger sister. His parents are Mexican emigrants from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, who later moved to McAllen, Texas, where he and his siblings were raised. His hometown of McAllen was 90 percent Mexican-American. Living so close to the Mexico–United States border, Castillo's family would often visit family members who still lived in Reynosa, affording him an upbringing that he describes as "very much bicultural." Castillo states that growing up in a border town made him feel 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." He was raised Catholic. His childhood nickname was "Gordo" ("fat", in Spanish), due to his weight.
He first became interested in acting in the third grade, after seeing his older brother in a school production of The Wizard of Oz as the Tin Woodman. His older brother played guitar and was a musician. His dedication was seen by Castillo when he would sit and play scales for hours, which inspired him to use the same technique for his own performance. He auditioned the next year for the school play "about a mouse and a clock", but could not stop giggling during his audition and was cast in a non-speaking role as a guard. While in 6th grade at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School, he met and befriended future Mutemath bass guitarist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas. With their friends Nick Trevino and Robert Vleck, they started underground punk-rock band IPM (short for "Influential Phecal Material") in high school. Mitchell-Cárdenas played drums while Castillo played bass guitar. Before he began acting, he considered pursuing a career as a rock musician.
Castillo states that he started acting when he was 14. Seeking an elective when entering McAllen High School and a way to make friends, he turned to theater, which was popular in his hometown school. He became deeply involved in his high school drama department, which he says looked fun. His background playing music for audiences since age 11 made performing on stage feel natural for him. His first acting role was subsequently in high school in a production of Paul Zindel's play The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild. He also performed in his high school production of I Remember Mama. It was then, at age 14, that he met and became friends with future staff writer for Devious Maids, Girls and Looking, Tanya Saracho, who also attended McAllen High School. Saracho influenced Castillo greatly, introducing him to playwrights and encouraging to develop his own tastes in drama. Castillo cites the 1993 film Carlito's Way as the film that "changed everything" for him. He was inspired by the performances of John Leguizamo, John Ortiz, Viggo Mortensen, and Luis Guzmán in particular. He even memorized several of Leguizamo's pieces such as "Spic-O-Rama", "Mambo Mouth", and "Freak". Castillo also found inspiration from several Hispanic artists in the media, including Miguel Piñero and an anthology of works from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. He looked up to several actors such as Al Pacino and Anthony Quinn, and spent much of his time watching the film The Outsiders.
After graduating, he went on to study playwriting as an undergraduate at Boston University College of Fine Arts, though he continued to act, and majored in theater. During his studies, Castillo felt that the most important skill he developed there was learning how to produce his own work. He would regularly put on plays during the school's student-run playwright's festival. This university offered festival gave Castillo 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, including a trio of one-act plays called Border Stories, about life on the Mexico–United States border in Reynosa. He graduated from Boston University in 1999.
Castillo viewed himself as more of a writer, despite his performing abilities. It was not until after college, while performing the lead role in a 2000 production of Santos & Santos at the Nushank Theater Collective in Austin, Texas, that he felt encouraged in identifying as an actor as well. He eventually moved to New York City in 2002, which he describes as the smartest decision he made for his career.
