Rodrigo Junqueira Reis Santoro (Portuguese pronunciation: ; born 22 August 1975) is a Brazilian actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Persian King Xerxes in the movie 300 (2006) and its sequel 300: Rise of an Empire (2014). Other famous movies include Brainstorm (2001), Carandiru (2003), Love Actually (2003), Che (2008), I Love You Phillip Morris (2009), and Rio (2011). He also appeared on the television series Lost, portraying the character Paulo, and on HBO's Westworld (2016–2020) as Hector Escaton.
Early life
Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro state, to Francesco Santoro, an Italian engineer with roots in Paola, Province of Cosenza, Calabria, and Maria José Junqueira Reis, a Brazilian artist of Portuguese ancestry.