Santiago Cabrera

Santiago Cabrera
Santiago Cabrera in March 2008
Born	(1978-05-05) 5 May 1978 (age 38) Caracas, Venezuela
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2003–present

Santiago Cabrera (born 5 May 1978) is a Venezuelan-born Chilean actor, most known for his roles as the character Isaac Mendez in the television series Heroes and as Lancelot in the BBC drama series Merlin. He also starred as Aramis in the BBC series The Musketeers.

The middle child of a Chilean diplomat father and mother, Cabrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Santiago grew up mainly in England, but also Romania, Toronto and Madrid. His family returned to Chile when he was fifteen years old and as a captain of the football team in high school, Cabrera focused on athletics before switching gears; he headed towards acting when his high school drama teacher encouraged him to try it. During his three years of training at the Drama Centre London, Cabrera honed his acting skills in productions of The Madras House, A Month in the Country, Napoli Milionaria, Britannicus, The Dutch Courtesan, The Strangeness of Others, Three Birds Alighting on a Field, and played the title character in The Last Days of Don Juan.

Concurrent with his final year at the Centre, he made his television debut with small roles in the British television series Battlefield Britain, Judge John Deed, Spooks and As If. His first role after graduating from drama school was Montano in Shakespeare's Othello, at the Northampton Theatre Royal. He has also starred in the 2006 film Love and Other Disasters as the Argentinian Paolo Sarmiento, alongside Brittany Murphy and Matthew Rhys.