Paul Calderón

Paul Calderón (born ) is a Puerto Rican actor. He is a founding member of the Touchstone Theatre, the American Folk Theatre and the LAByrinth Theater Company. He is also a member of the Actors Studio, auditioning and accepted as a member in 1984 alongside Melissa Leo and two other actors. He is best known for portraying Raymond Cruz in the 1998 crime comedy film Out of Sight and the 2023 neo-Western crime drama miniseries Justified: City Primeval, Jimmy Robertson in the series Bosch, and Paul in Pulp Fiction.

Early life Calderón was born in Puerto Rico, and moved to New York City as a child. He served in the United States Army and studied acting under the G.I. Bill. He has had various short stories published in literary journals. His last published story was "Primitive Grace" for the international e-magazine Noir Nation.

In the 1980s, Calderón appeared in several TV series. He acted in three episodes of Miami Vice, playing a different character in each. He also appeared in the extended music video of "Bad" by Michael Jackson (who played the film's main character, Darryl).

Calderón appeared in Abel Ferrara's 1992 crime drama Bad Lieutenant, starring Harvey Keitel.

Calderón was almost cast as Jules Winnfield in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, since director Quentin Tarantino had been impressed by his audition, but the role eventually went to Samuel L. Jackson, and Calderón was given a role as a bartender, Paul, who speaks the line, "Hey, my name's Paul and this shit's between y'all," to John Travolta's character, Vincent Vega.

He has performed in numerous feature films, including King of New York, Sea of Love, The Last Castle, The Firm, Four Rooms, Out of Sight, La Soga, Cop Land, The Addiction, Welcome to New York, and 21 Grams.

He has made many guest appearances on television series, including recurring roles on Dream Street, Law & Order and Miami Vice. In 2012, he guest-starred in the Blue Bloods episode "Domestic Disturbance", playing Lieutenant Martin Perez. (He reprised the role in the 2016 Blue Bloods episode "Back in the Day". ) Calderón worked on two films in 2012: West End, directed by Joe Basille; and Biodegradable, a futuristic film shot in the Dominican Republic with an all Latino cast, directed by Juan Basanta. In 2014, he played Arquimedes, the bodyguard of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in seven episodes of the fifth (final) season of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. He played Alejandro, a recurring role on Fear the Walking Dead. Since 2017, he has appeared as Detective Santiago "Jimmy" Robertson on the Amazon TV series, Bosch.

In 2023, he reprised his role from Out of Sight as Raymond Cruz in the FX miniseries Justified: City Primeval.

In 2025, he reprised his role of Detective Santiago "Jimmy" Robertson in the Bosch spinoff series Bosch: Legacy.

Personal life Calderón lives in Brooklyn with his wife Catherine. They have two children.

Filmography Film YearTitleRoleNotes 1985 Tenement Hector 1986 Band of the Hand Tito 1988 Sticky Fingers Speed 1988 The Chair Pizza 1989 Sea of Love Juan 1990 King of New York Joey Dalesio 1990 Q&A Roger Montalvo 1992 CrissCross Blacky 1992 Bad Lieutenant Cop #1 1993 The Firm Thomas Richie 1994 Pulp Fiction Paul 1995 Clockers Jesus at Hambones 1995 Four Rooms Norman Segment: "The Man from Hollywood" 1995 The Addiction Professor 1997 Cop Land Hector 1998 OK Garage Carl 1998 One Tough Cop Sgt. Diaz 1998 Out of Sight Raymond Cruz 1999 Oxygen Jesse 2000 Girlfight Sandro Guzman 2000 Once in the Life Manny Rivera 2001 The Last Castle Sergeant Major Dellwo 2003 Kill the Poor Carlos 2003 21 Grams Brown 2006 The Sentinel Deputy Director Cortes 2009 La Soga Rafa 2009 The Hungry Ghosts Carl 2014 Welcome to New York Pierre

Television