Jon Seda

Early life

Seda was born in Manhattan to parents of Puerto Rican descent and raised in Clifton, New Jersey.

After graduating from high school, Seda began to work out in a gym, after two friends convinced him that he should take up boxing. He boxed in several gyms in New Jersey and soon was a runner up in the New Jersey Golden Gloves competition. As an amateur boxer, Seda had a record of 21 wins and one loss.

Career

Seda's film debut was in 1992, in the boxing film Gladiator in which he played the role of "Romano," a Cuban boxer. He has since worked in various films and TV series. In 1995, Seda was nominated Best Male Lead at the Spirit Awards for his role the 1994 movie I Like It Like That opposite Rita Moreno and Lauren Vélez. In 1996, he was nominated for the Palme d'Or (Best Actor Award) for his role as "Blue" in the film The Sunchaser, opposite actor Woody Harrelson at the Cannes Film Festival.

Seda became widely known to the Hispanic film audience when he portrayed Chris Pérez alongside Jennifer Lopez in Selena, a 1997 film based on the true story of the Tejano singer, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, who was murdered on her way to mainstream stardom. Seda played Selena's husband. Also in 1997, Seda landed the role of Detective Paul Falsone on NBC's: Homicide: Life on the Street. The writers took advantage of his boxing background, writing a shirtless practice bout into an episode which established his character's attractiveness to fellow detective Laura Ballard. He also boxed opposite Jimmy Smits in the 2000 film Price of Glory.

His first leading role on the large screen was as the protagonist in 2002's King Rikki, a re-imagining of Shakespeare's Richard III in East L.A. Seda has appeared in more than two dozen movies, including Bad Boys II (2003) as "Roberto," as well as numerous television appearances. Aside from Homicide, he has had notable roles as Dino Ortolani in Oz, Matty Caffey in Third Watch, Paul Falsone (in a Homicide crossover with Law & Order), House, and CSI: Miami. He is featured as one of the three leads in the HBO World War II mini-series The Pacific released on March 14, 2010, playing the part of Marine John Basilone. Seda appeared as a guest star in an episode of Burn Notice. In 2007, Seda also made a cameo in Ludacris' song Runaway Love, as an abusive, alcoholic stepfather.

Seda appeared in the second season of Treme as Nelson Hidalgo, a politically connected land developer from Dallas who helps out with the relief efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans. He appeared in the 2011 film Larry Crowne, which starred, and was co-written and directed by, Tom Hanks. Hanks served as an executive producer on The Pacific, in which Seda starred. In 2013 he starred alongside Hollywood superstar Sylvester Stallone, Christian Slater and Jason Momoa in the Walter Hill action thriller Bullet to the Head.

In 2012, Seda began portraying Detective Antonio Dawson in Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise, first starring on Chicago Fire in a recurring role and then, in 2014, as part of the main cast of the spin-off Chicago P.D. In 2017, he carried his role over into another spin-off, Chicago Justice, which was canceled after its first season. His daughter Haley made a guest appearance on Chicago P.D. as a key witness in a bombing. In July 2017, it was announced that Seda would return to Chicago P.D. following the cancellation of Chicago Justice.

Personal life

Seda married his long time girlfriend, Lisa Gomez in 2000. The couple has four children, Haley Seda, Madison Seda, Jonathan Seda, Stepdaughter Jessica Seda Pinto