Gene Gabriel

Gene Gabriel, born Eugene Jimenez on August 27, 1970, is a Cuban-American actor and writer whose Broadway career spanned 2003 to 2005. He is best known for originating the role of Rodriguez in Richard Greenberg's play Take Me Out and for his appearance alongside Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, and Brad Garrett in The Odd Couple.

Gabriel's professional career began in 1990 with a small role in Joseph Vásquez's film The Bronx War. After his family relocated to Miami, he followed and continued working in local theater. In 1995 he joined South Florida improv troupe Laughing Gas as an apprentice, eventually becoming a company member. In 1998, he and nine other members co-founded Just The Funny, which became South Florida's leading comedy improv troupe and training center. He also starred in director Luis Saumell's award-winning Spanish-language short film Porque during this period.

Gabriel returned to New York in the summer of 1999, where he worked with Freestyle Repertory Theatre, an improv troupe that performed weekly adult shows and toured the tri-state area educating children in improv comedy. In early 2002 he auditioned for and won the role of Rodriguez, an immigrant baseball player who refuses to speak English to his teammates, in Greenberg's Take Me Out. The production opened at the Donmar Warehouse in London before moving to the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York and then transferring to Broadway in early 2003, where it won three Tony Awards including Best Play for Greenberg and Best Director for Joe Mantello. Gabriel is acknowledged by name in the published version of the play alongside cast members James Yaegashi and Robert M. Jimenez.

Beyond Broadway, Gabriel has appeared in numerous films, including Brittany Runs a Marathon, The Informer, Return to Danger, Death of a Fool, Lift Me Up, Rich Boy Rich Girl, and The Evil Gene. His television credits include Bull, Instinct, The Good Fight, The Blacklist, Homeland, The Sopranos, Walker Texas Ranger, Guiding Light, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, with recurring roles on CBS's Numb3rs, One Life to Live, and NBC's Days of Our Lives. He is also the star, writer, and director of the award-winning short film Sane People, the creator of the series Montecito Heights, and the writer of an action comedy film entitled Above the Title.

In his personal life, Gabriel met dancer and choreographer Stacey Tookey on a blind date in New York City. The two married in October 2005 and have a daughter born in January 2015.