Juan Pablo Raba

Juan Pablo Raba Vidal, born on January 14, 1977, is a Colombian actor who works across film, television, and telenovelas. Internationally, he is best recognized for portraying Gustavo Gaviria in the 2015 Netflix television series Narcos. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, he completed his secondary education at Colegio Nueva Granada. Following his parents' divorce, he relocated to Spain, where he was brought up by his Argentinian father.

Upon returning to Colombia, Raba initially found employment as a model. His career path shifted toward performing after the Colombian television network Caracol advised him to pursue dramatic training. He took acting classes in Bogotá under Edgardo Román, who was impressed by his talent during a class session and encouraged him to pursue auditions. Raba subsequently continued his theatrical education in New York City at the Lee Strasberg Institute.

Two months after his initial audition, Caracol cast Raba in a co-starring role in the television series Amor En Forma. In 1999, he secured a minor part in the series Marido y mujer, which was quickly followed by a leading role in La reina de Queens. Around this time, he also performed on stage in a theatrical adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez's book Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

Raba expanded his career internationally when the Venezuelan broadcaster RCTV offered him a co-starring role in the telenovela Viva La Pepa, followed by La niña de mis ojos. In 2002, he starred in Mi gorda bella as Orestes Villanueva Mercuri, a character who falls in love with the kind-hearted Valentina. He continued working with RCTV on Estrambótica Anastasia in 2004 before returning to Colombia in 2005 to work on Por amor a Gloria for Caracol. In 2006, he appeared in the feature film Una Abuela Virgen and played the central character in the television movie Soltera y sin Compromiso.

In the following years, Raba appeared in numerous soap operas and television productions. He joined the cast of El Cartel de los sapos in 2008, made episodic appearances in Tiempo final in 2009 and Mental, and performed in Los Caballeros Las Prefieren Brutas. In 2013, he was featured as a main character in Los secretos de Lucía.

Raba was cast in 2014 as Gustavo Gaviria, the cousin of Pablo Escobar, in Narcos. He noted that the project held personal significance for him because his own uncle was killed by Escobar. In 2015, he joined the third season of the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., playing the Inhuman character Joey Gutierrez.

In 2003, Raba married Colombian journalist Paula Quinteros in a barefoot Celtic ceremony held in Los Roques, Venezuela. The couple separated in 2006 and finalized their divorce in 2007. In August 2011, he married television presenter Mónica Fonseca in a private ceremony in Miami, United States, and the couple welcomed a son, Joaquín Raba Fonseca, on July 19, 2012. Raba currently lives in Miami, is an active cyclist, and participates alongside his family in human and animal rights organizations.