Known best for his Golden Eagle Award-winning and ALMA Award-nominated role as Chakotay in the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager, this California-born actor is also famous for his title role in a 1982 dark comedy film called Eating Raoul.
After studying theater at California State University, Fresno, he was cast in the 1981 movie Zoot Suit.
He established a Los Angeles-based theater company called the East L.A. Classic Theater Group.
He and his nine siblings grew up in Bakersfield, California, as the children of Mexican-American parents Aurelia and Louis Beltran. One of his brothers, Louie Cruz Beltran, had a successful career as a musician.
He and Kate Mulgrew were co-stars on Star Trek: Voyager.
