J.R. Ramirez
J.R. Ramirez is an actor, born 1980.
J.R. Ramirez was born in Matanzas, Cuba, and has built an entire career inside American genre television, which is a harder trick than it sounds in an industry that mostly casts to type. The breaks came in quick succession: AJ Aquino on Emily Owens, M.D. in 2012, then Julio on Starz's Power, a lieutenant in the show's drug operation, and Oscar Arocho on Marvel's Jessica Jones, one of very few warm presences in an extremely cold series.
The role that made him a lead was Detective Jared Vasquez on Manifest, an NBC series that was cancelled and then revived by Netflix on the strength of its streaming numbers. Vasquez is the reasonable man in a story with no reasonable explanation, holding the police-procedural half of a supernatural mystery together, and Ramirez plays him without ever asking the audience for sympathy. He also had a recurring turn as Ted Grant, the boxer known as Wildcat, in the third season of Arrow.
He has stayed in the same lane and kept getting better slots inside it: Patrick Sanchez in the medical drama PULSE in 2025, Staff Sgt. Kendrick in the film Sun Dogs, and the series It's Not Like That ahead of him.
Movies (2)
TV (6)
Where to start with J.R. Ramirez
Take Manifest first, with a warning attached. This is a long supernatural mystery that keeps raising its own stakes, and Ramirez has the least fantastical job in it, which is exactly why his scenes are what keep the thing anchored. The later stretch tests your patience; the first season does not.
If you want him sharper, Power is the better-made show. Julio is a supporting part in a crowded ensemble and Ramirez makes him legible fast. Marvel's Jessica Jones uses him differently again, as warmth in a series that has almost none to spare.
The rest is a short list. PULSE is the recent network job, Emily Owens, M.D. is where the run started, Sun Dogs is the small independent film, and It's Not Like That is what comes next.