Carlo Rota (born April 17, 1961) is a British-born Canadian actor, best known for his roles on Little Mosque on the Prairie and the FOX series 24.
He played Charles Salomon in Saw V.
Early life[]
Rota was born in London, England of Italian origin, the son of Rina, who worked in the restaurant business, and Dante Rota, a world-renowned chef. He grew up in Soho with two sisters and one brother. Through his life he has lived in many places of the world, including Hong Kong, Bahamas and England before his family settled in Toronto. Rota worked in the culinary industry for many years until he decided to abruptly switch careers to acting. According to his interview in the book Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita, he said of this decision: "To turn around and tell everyone at the tender age of 30, "Now I'm going to be an actor", most people just think that you're going through something."
Career[]
Almost immediately thereafter, Rota landed roles in the Canadian TV series Street Legal and the critically-acclaimed Canadian independent film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. Because of his experience prior to acting, he also hosted the Great Canadian Food Show for CBC television in Canada, a series which was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award for Excellence in Culinary Journalism.
He has appeared in numerous popular TV series including 24, Queer as Folk Castle, La Femme Nikita, Relic Hunter, Adventure Inc, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, The Gospel of John and Traders. Rota co-starred in the CBC sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, playing Lebanese-Canadian construction contractor Yasir Hamoudi. Rota also played a journalist for The Herald in the horror flick, Saw V.
On 24, Rota stars in the recurring role of Morris O'Brian, the arrogant but brilliant computer scientist husband of Chloe O'Brian. He has appeared in a few episodes of seasons 5 and 7 but appeared for the entire length of season 6. He has appeared in a couple episodes on the TV series La Femme Nikita, of which he had a recurring role as the smarmy greenlisted terrorist informant Mick Schtoppel (later revealed to be Mr. Jones, a high-ranking member of Section), and in the 1999 movie The Boondock Saints, Rota starred as crime boss Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta.
He lives in Los Angeles, California part time and spends time filming in Saskatchewan, Canada. On April 1, 2010, he married his 24 co-star Nazneen Contractor.
Filmograpy[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould | C.B.S. Producer |
| 1994 | TekWar: TekLab | Doorman |
| L'âge des images III: Comment filmer Dieu | ||
| 1995 | Friends at Last | Neil |
| First Degree | Joe Galeno | |
| Down Came a Blackbird | Sergeant Manuel Ortega | |
| 1996 | Maximum Risk | Bohemia Bartender |
| Joe's Wedding | Art Council Man | |
| 1997 | The Wrong Guy | French Restaurant Waiter |
| City of Dark | Plato | |
| Small Potatoes: A Cautionary Comedy | Henry Zanzibar | |
| 1998 | Clutch | Richard |
| Naked City: Justice with a Bullet | Findlay Clerk | |
| 1999 | Murder in a Small Town | Charles |
| Bonanno: A Godfather's Story | ||
| The Boondock Saints | Yakavetta | |
| Caracara | Mr. Zander | |
| Jigsaw | Richard | |
| Have Mercy | Jack | |
| 2000 | Catch a Falling Star | Harry Goldberg |
| Mission to Mars | Ambassador | |
| Trapped in a Purple Haze | David Lebeff | |
| Phantom of the Megaplex | Tyler Jesseman | |
| Passengers | Doctor | |
| 2001 | A Colder Kind of Death | Hairdresser |
| On Their Knees | Walter | |
| Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534 | Cal Matthews | |
| 2002 | Recipe for Murder | Simeon Vreeman |
| Global Heresy | Tony Mason | |
| Countdown | Bruce Donato | |
| 2003 | The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John | Chief Temple Guard |
| 2005 | Horsie's Retreat | Spiro |
| The Last Hit | Mario | |
| Cake | Bob Jackman | |
| 2006 | Time Bomb | Musab Hyatti |
| I Am an Apartment Building | Host | |
| 2007 | Small Potatoes | Henry Zanzibar |
| 2008 | Cold Play | Nigel |
| Othello the Tragedy of the Moor | Othello | |
| Saw V | Charles Salomon | |
| 2009 | Mortimer | John / Mortimer |
| Shark City | Ventura Ritt | |
| 2010 | Son of a Don | Avi |
| Love Letters | Andy | |
| The Conversation | Him | |
| 24: Chloe's Arrest | Morris O'Brian | |
| The Day the Old Man Knocked | Narrator | |
| 2011 | Rehab | |
| Ecstasy | Solo | |
| Man on the Train | Max | |
| 2012 | Pegasus Vs. Chimera | King Orthos |
| 2013 | Beverly Hills Cop | Trevor |
| The Golden Ticket | Elbow Patches | |
| 2014 | Small Time | Panama Hat Man |
| Brick Mansions | George the Greek | |
| 2015 | After the Ball | Richard |
| 2017 | People You May Know | Bill |
| Welcome to Nowhere | The General | |
| 2018 | Spinning Man | Santos |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Street Legal | Waiter |
| 1993 | Counterstrike | |
| Matrix | Roche | |
| 1995-1996 | Kung Fu: The Legend Continues | Dassas / Torquemada |
| 1996-1998 | Traders | Brunet |
| 1996 | Forever Knight | Roy Martin |
| Viper | Harry Ibarra | |
| The Sentinel | Jack Buchanan | |
| 1997-2001 | La Femme Nikita | Mick Schtoppel / Mr. Jones / Shtoppel |
| 1998 | Highlander: The Raven | Mario Cardoza |
| Black Harbour | Grant | |
| 1999 | Total Recall 2070 | Kelly |
| Earth: Final Conflict | Margolis | |
| PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal | Bert Kay | |
| 2000-2001 | Relic Hunter | Lagenfeld / Sultan |
| 2000 | Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story | Cockney Driver |
| Canada: A People's History | David Samwell | |
| 2001 | Doc | Jason |
| 2002-2004 | Queer as Folk | Gardner Vance |
| 2002 | A Nero Wolfe Mystery | Barry Fleming / Spiros Papps / Felix Courret |
| Adventure Inc. | Sergi Borodin | |
| 2003 | Street Time | Arthur Marx |
| Veritas: The Quest | Ali Hassan Rif | |
| 2004 | Il duce canadese | Avvocato |
| Christine Cushing Live | ||
| Show Me Yours | Paul | |
| 2006-2009 | 24 | Morris O'Brian |
| 2006 | This Is Wonderland | Giuseppe Burelli |
| At the Hotel | Albert | |
| 2007-2011 | Little Mosque on the Prairie | Yasir Hamoudi |
| 2008 | Shark | Anton Robitaille |
| 2009 | White Collar | Ghovat |
| SGU Stargate Universe | Carl Strom | |
| Castle | Bahir Harun | |
| 2010-2012 | Goldilocks | Ivan |
| 2010 | CSI: NY | Joseph Vance |
| NCIS: Los Angeles | Kalil Abramson | |
| The Good Guys | Asher | |
| 2011 | Human Target | Eli Rosko |
| Bones | Lambert Chaisson | |
| Breaking Bad | Benicio Fuentes | |
| The Mentalist | Dimitri Zubov | |
| Sanctuary | Richard Feliz / Feodor 'Frank' Glazov | |
| 2012 | Nikita | Ian Damascus |
| Thundercats | Ratar-O | |
| World Without End | Edmund | |
| Hawaii Five-0 | Sean Winston | |
| 2013 | Cracked | Mandar Kush |
| 2014-2015 | Jane the Virgin | Emilio Solano |
| 2014 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Luca Russo |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Karl Schrute | |
| Grimm | Hedig | |
| Scandal | Ivan | |
| Sequestered | Niles | |
| 2015 | The Player | Daoud Raqiv |
| 2016 | Dark Matter | Warden |
| Beauty and the Beast | Dr. Albert Garrus | |
| Major Crimes | Alfredo de Concini | |
| Swedish Dicks | Dimitri Nobakov | |
| Conviction | Vince Scarlata | |
| 2017-2018 | Lethal Weapon | Guillermo Azoulay |
| Ransom | Damian Delaine / Damien Delani | |
| 2017 | Lopez | Danny Green |
| Scorpion | General Savic | |
| Jean-Claude Van Johnson | Dragan |
Video Games[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Splinter Cell: Blacklist | Majid Harata Sadiq |
| 2020 | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla | Basim Ibn Ishaq |
Gallery[]
External Links[]
Carlo Rota on Wikipedia
Carlo Rota at the Internet Movie Database
Carlo Rota on Twitter
Carlo Rota on Instagram