Rafael Casal

Rafael Casal
Born	Rafael Santiago Casal (1985-08-08) August 8, 1985 (age 40) Berkeley, California
Education	Berkeley High School
Occupations	Writer poet producer showrunner actor musician singer
Years active	2008–present

Rafael Santiago Casal (born August 8, 1985) is an American writer, rapper, producer, director, actor, musician, and showrunner originally from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Early life

Casal grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, California. He was expelled from Berkeley High School after two years but earned his diploma through an alternative independent study program. ^[1] Casal later designed and served as creative director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s First Wave Spoken Word and Hip Hop Arts Program while earning a sociology degree at night. ^[2]

Casal has Irish ancestry on his mother's side, and Spanish and Cuban on his father's side. ^[3]

Career

Poetry

At 18, Casal appeared on 3 seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam while touring, performing, and teaching nationwide with YouthSpeaks. He is a two-time Brave New Voice Poetry Slam Festival champion.

Music

Casal has released several mixtapes online, ^[4] including As Good As Your Word (2008), Monster (2009), and Mean Ones (2012). He also collaborated with best friend Daveed Diggs and Chinaka Hodge to release The Getback Mixtape, vol. 1 (2007) and The BAY BOY Mixtape (2010) as the Getback Productions Crew.

In 2018, Casal and Diggs released the Collin and Miles EPs to accompany their film Blindspotting . ^[5]

Theater

Casal and Diggs co-founded the BARS workshop at the Public Theater in New York City. ^[6] The workshops serve as a platform for artists to explore and enhance their craft by merging contemporary verse with theatre.

Film and television

In 2018, Casal and Daveed Diggs released their movie, Blindspotting . The duo wrote, produced, and starred in the film, which uses verse to tell the story of Oakland. ^[7]

In 2020, the movie was adapted as a comedy-drama series of the same name. Casal reprised his role as Miles and served as co-writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. ^[8] The series premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 11, 2021, and began streaming on Starz on June 13, 2021. Season 2 premiered at SXSW in March 2023 and began streaming on April 14, 2023. ^[9] In September 2023, Blindspotting was cancelled. ^[10]

Casal has also appeared in supporting roles in Bad Education , The Good Lord Bird and the second revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? In 2023, he appeared as X-5/Brad Wolfe in the second season ^[11] of the series Loki.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Ricochet in Reverse	Dylan Klebold	YouTube Short
2014	The Away Team	Cal	Web series; also creator, producer, director
2018	Blindspotting	Miles	Also co-producer, co-writer
	Rachel Dratch's Late Night Snack	Elliot	Season 2 Episode 7
2019	Stucco	Throne - Crowning Arm	Short
	Bad Education [12]	Kyle Contreras
	Are You Afraid of the Dark?	Mr. Top Hat	3 episodes; miniseries
2020	The Good Lord Bird	John E. Cook	3 episodes; miniseries
2021-2023	Blindspotting	Miles	Also creator, executive producer, director, and writer
2023	Wildcat	O.E. Parker	Appears in 9 minute Vignette “Parker’s back”
	Loki	Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe	4 episodes; season 2
2025	The Lowdown	Johnny	3 episodes
2026	The Boroughs †	Neil	Recurring role [13]
TBA	Fade to Black†	Zach	[14]

References

1. "The Def Poetry of Rafael Casal". East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda. 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
2. Danzig, Christopher (10 November 2010). "The Def Poetry of Rafael Casal". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
3. Betancourt, Manuel. "Rafael Casal on Creating a Complex Portrait of Oakland's Race & Class Dynamics in 'Blindspotting'". Remezcla . Retrieved June 27, 2020.
4. "RAFAEL CASAL". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
5. "Blindspotting: The Miles EP by Rafael Casal". Genius. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
6. "Bars Workshop". NPR .
7. Dry, Jude (July 27, 2018). "'Blindspotting': How Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal Made the First Buddy Comedy About Gentrification and White Privilege". IndieWire . Retrieved April 29, 2019.
8. Otterson, Joe (September 10, 2020). "'Blindspotting' Series Starring Jasmine Cephas Jones Gets Greenlight at Starz". Variety . Retrieved May 16, 2021.
9. "Starz Releases Lineup for 2023".
10. "Blindspotting cancelled by Starz".
11. Andreeva, Nellie (2022-07-15). "'Loki': Rafael Casal Joins Season 2 Of Marvel Series For Disney+". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
12. "Rafael Casal". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
13. Rowan, Iona (November 24, 2024). "Stranger Things bosses' new Netflix show reveals new cast additions". Digital Spy . Retrieved November 3, 2025.
14. Dunn, Jack (September 24, 2024). "'Deadpool' Actor Karan Soni Lands Lead Role in Andrew Sandler's Thriller 'Fade to Black' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved November 3, 2025.