About Me

"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours."

Hi there.  I'm Rafael Untalan, a regional theatre actor originally from Portland, Oregon.  I'm currently based out of Lincoln, Nebraska.
When I first started out in this business, someone asked me, "Rafael, dude...what ARE you?”  The answer to that question is … complicated.  I can tell you that I've been lucky enough to have played both Nordic gods and Hindu gods.  I've played an Argentine political prisoner, a Spanish Knight, and a Tibetan immigrant father.  I've played a hapless Latinx gumshoe, and the greatest detective the world has ever known.  I've played a Scottish fur trader and a Chinook tribal leader.  I've played William Shakespeare's King of Shadows, and William Shakespeare's King of Sicilia, and William Shakespeare's best friend, and I've played William Shakespeare.  I've played Japanese ogres and Italian fiends.  I've played foolish kings, kingly fools, lovers, tyrants, warriors, and magicians.  I've performed Lorca and Chekhov and Ruhl, Sophocles, and Pinter. I've been doing this thing for twenty five years, and yet, "what are you?” is the one question that inevitably, perpetually arises. I'm not going to answer that question -- not because I'm not proud of my heritage (I am), but because I don't want a label to place limits on what you think I'm capable of as an artist.  I feel blessed to call myself an actor.  And I'm at your service.  And that, methinks, is enough.