David Zayas (born August 15, 1962) is a Puerto Rican actor. He is most known for his roles as Angel Batista on Showtime's series Dexter, the cop at the poker game in the movie Rounders, Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama series Oz, and Sal Maroni on Fox's series Gotham.
Zayas was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and reared in The Bronx, New York.
Zayas joined the United States Air Force at age 19. He was a police officer with the New York City Police Department for almost 15 years. His career as a police officer allowed him to develop as a character actor, leading to a series of acting jobs on television and film mainly playing law enforcement officers. His experience in law enforcement helped him play characters on the other side of the law, like Enrique Morales on HBO's long-running prison-drama Oz. Zayas was a main cast member of Dexter for all of its eight seasons.
Zayas has been a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company since 1992, a New York City-based traveling actors group. He branched out into television and film projects, and has diversified with guest roles in such popular television series such as New York Undercover, Person of Interest, and NYPD Blue. At LAByrinth, he met his future wife, actress Liza Colón.