Actor David Zayas, plays Angel Batista, a homicidal detective on the hit show ‘Dexter’. Actor David Zayas is currently better known as Angel Batista, a homicidal detective on the hit show ‘Dexter’ which airs on Showtime and is in its fourth season.

In that show, Zayas’ character works alongside Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall) who is a Forensics Blood Spatter Expert with the Miami Police Department and also a serial killer whose murders are fueled by a ‘taking out the trash’ mentality.

Zayas said it was Dexter’s consistent mental dialogue which has plenty of fans happy to go along for the ride.

“I think it is the fact that Dexter, the lead character, speaks to the audience, you understand what he is doing, not that you are condoning it, but you kind of go on that journey with him, the audience goes on that journey with him,” Zayas said. “If you think about other killers on film and television, you just see them do the act and then you deal with the aftermath; but with him (Dexter) you are actually listening to his thoughts on his journey and, even though you don’t agree with it or you say ‘this guy is a killer’, there is something about it psychologically that you can connect with. I think that is the ingredient that makes him popular.”

Mixing in a little Spanish dialogue during the show, Zayas had plenty of law enforcement experience before turning to acting.

“I just try to be as real as I can to represent the Cuban detective in Miami,” Zayas said. “I was an ex-cop in New York for fifteen years so that technical part of it kind of comes natural to me. But it is the cultural part of the Cubanos in Miami that I try to learn a lot about so I can try, in some form, to relay that to my character.”

Zayas has starred in more than 30 plays, and appeared on hit TV shows such as New York Undercover, Law & Order and NYPD Blue. He also played ‘Enrique Morales,’ (the leader of a Latino prison gang) on HBO’s Oz.

“I started going to acting school while I was a cop and then started doing a lot of theatre in New York, started working a lot and one thing led to another,” Zayas said.

Zayas will also star in the upcoming film ‘The Expendables’ (out on August 13) alongside Hollywood heavy hitters Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Micky Rourke.

Recently, Zayas was on hand at the 41st annual World Series of Poker where he participated in the ‘Ante Up for Africa’ celebrity charity tournament held on July 3. The event has been hosted by Oscar Nominee Don Cheadle and Celebrity Apprentice Star Annie Duke for the past four years. The charity’s purpose is to provide humanitarian assistance to areas in Africa, such as Darfur Sudan.

“I think this a great charity and one that is very needed for such a region which really needs our help,” Zayas said. “We have celebrities and poker players here and this is the type of sport that is kind of self induced which is the same thing with acting where sometimes it is good to just have your feet on the ground and help other people and I think this is a great opportunity to do that. “I think the question should be why hasn’t everyone else joined.”