Actor Nicholas Gonzalez ’98 graduated from Stanford a quarter early because he “just couldn’t wait to get to LA.” After landing his “breakout” television role on “Resurrection Blvd” in 2000, Gonzalez remains a regular on our TV screens 24 years later.
The San Antonio, Texas native boasts an impressive acting career with credits in theater, television and film. Gonzalez is most known for his role as Dr. Niel Melendez in ABC’s hospital drama “The Good Doctor” (2017-2024). He appeared in an episode of “Modern Family” and had a recurring role in “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” Most recently, he played Levi Delgado in NBC’s sci-fi drama “La Brea”(2021-2024).
Gonzalez became involved with theater during his undergraduate years at Stanford, acting in shows with the drama department and in improvisation and acting classes. As an English major, he researched British literature and poetry during two quarters abroad at the University of Oxford and ran for the track and cross country teams.
One of his early performances included his senior year rendition of a 15-minute monologue from José Rivera’s play “Gas,” directed by Irma Mayorga Ph.D. ’05. Gonzalez said that performing this monologue was a formative and visceral experience for him.
“I studied it so much,” he said. “I felt like I was this person in this situation, and it was a drug.”
Actor and professor Alma Martinez Ph.D. ’06 first saw Gonzalez perform in Mayorga’s production of “Giants Have Us in Their Books” and took immediate notice of his tenacity.
“I saw him and I went ‘Oh boy, who is this?’” Martinez said.
“The thing with Nicholas, first of all, is he understood the text and was able to say it naturally,” she added. “He knew what he was saying as opposed to just memorizing and emoting and being dramatic.”
Martinez also praised Gonzalez’s voice. After seeing Mayorga’s play, Martinez recalls going up to Gonzalez and telling him that she thought he was “really good.” When Gonzalez expressed uncertainty about post-graduation plans, Martinez advised him to pursue his passion for acting in Los Angeles and later introduced him to her agent who signed him “right away.”
Months after graduating from Stanford and soon after moving to Los Angeles, Gonzalez got hired as a guest star on “Dharma & Greg” (1997–2002), one of the biggest television shows at that time, according to Martinez.
“You don’t come into town, no one knows you and get a guest star [role],” Martinez said. “Everybody saw the talent I saw.”
The actor vividly remembers his experience on “Dharma & Greg.”
“I just still remember the smell of the stages and all the rehearsals you would do the days leading up to it,” he said. “It was the easiest, most fun, relaxed setting. And then you would have the performance in front of the live studio audience — it was so intoxicating.”
Gonzalez eventually got his first breakthrough role as Alex Santiago in the 2000 Showtime series “Resurrection Blvd.,” the first Latine primetime series.
Gonzalez had received the script for “Resurrection Blvd.” while on the set of MTV’s “Undressed” (1999-2002) in which he had acted alongside Emmy nominee-Pedro Pascal. The episodes Gonzalez worked on had been the six most watched episodes of the entire series.
“This character [Alex Santiago] was almost tailored for me,” Gonzalez said. “They had a really hard time finding their Alex Santiago who was somebody who was educated as well as could pull off the boxing and feel believable, who could live between those two worlds. And I think that’s what I brought to the industry at a time when there were very few of us they saw that way.”
Beyond Gonzalez’s wide range of acting roles, he also went on to earn producer credits. He produced the 2006 short film “Fool Me Once” directed by Paco Farias ’94. The short opened the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Gonzalez and Farias never met on campus and first met in Los Angeles. Farias saw the play “Dialectic of the Heart” produced by Venice Sky Productions in Santa Monica, in which Gonzalez had acted alongside “Desperate Housewives” and “NYPD Blues” actor Sharon Lawrence. Farias hoped to cast Lawrence as the short film’s lead, and Gonzalez agreed to share the script with her.
Farias said that Gonzalez was “fantastic” as a producer. “He was on set, very supportive and helpful and just quick to problem solve,” Farias said.
“He is a person with a lot of integrity,” Farias said about Gonzalez. “He is genuine and kind and not at all pretentious. He is very down-to-earth.”
Gonzalez has been working in entertainment for over 20 years, a fact that gives him confidence that he will continue to succeed even when being in the industry feels difficult.
“You get to a certain point in this business when I’m like ‘alright, I belong here,’” he said. “I’ve worked hard to etch an area here and I’m not moving.”