Actor Benjamin Bratt is known for playing Detective Reynaldo Curtis on the NBC drama Law & Order, but it’s being the father of his two children, Sophia and Mateo, that’s been the greatest role of his life.
“When you add kids to the mix, it all really makes sense,” the Miss Congeniality star told Glamour in May 2024. “That’s when I really began to define … my values and the list of priorities that I really live by. … My marriage … and my position as a father are the most significant and the most profound relationships I have.”
Bratt married his wife, Talisa Soto, in 2002, and the couple welcomed their daughter Sophia in December of that year. Their son Mateo completed the family in October 2005. Now, both kids are all grown up, but Bratt still wants to be there to guide them as much as they’ll allow.
“I’m at a stage where my two children are becoming their own individuals,” the Mother of the Bride star told Glamour. “It’s hard after spending a lifetime of teaching them everything to let go and watch them fly on their own and learn for themselves. It’s exactly what you want to happen, and yet it’s emotionally very difficult.”
Still, Bratt told Today in January 2023 that they remain “the center of our universe.”
Here’s everything to know about Benjamin Bratt’s kids, Sophia and Mateo.
Sophia Rosalinda Bratt, 22
Benjamin Bratt/Instagram
Benjamin Bratt with his wife Talisa and their kids Sophia and Mateo.
Bratt and Soto welcomed their first child, daughter Sophia, on Dec. 6, 2002.
After Sophia experienced a brain injury at birth, Bratt and Soto “educated [themselves] and assembled the best team of therapists [they] could,” the actor told The Boston Globe in 2008.
By age 6, Bratt described his daughter as someone who “understands everything. She’s quick to laugh, she’s loving and a physically beautiful child.”
They also adjusted their lifestyles to be the best parents they could be. For Bratt, that meant taking on more TV series that allowed him to work close to home. The family has also remained open to moving to different cities for Sophia’s medical care.
“Almost everything we do, every decision we make personally and professionally, is informed by our daughter, Sophia, and her needs,” he told Esquire in March 2022. “We’ve lived this kind of vagabond lifestyle in search of the best therapies, the best schooling, the best social situation for her.”
Benjamin Bratt/Instagram
Benjamin Bratt with his daughter Sophia.
As she has grown, Sophia has leaned more into independence.
“In New York, there’s an amazing transitional program that helps her with how to function: how to go shopping, how to use money, how to buy groceries, how to fold and put away clothing, how to cook a meal,” Bratt told Esquire. “She’s an amazing young woman, very spirited, very competitive.”
Sophia has different hobbies and interests, but a big one seems to be sports. In 2018, the actor posted a photo of his daughter decked out in San Francisco Giants gear. That same year, Soto shared a picture of Sophia on the bench wearing a uniform during a basketball game in honor of her 16th birthday.
She also tried her hand at acting for a cameo with her dad in the 2021 film Best Summer Ever, which is an “original inclusive musical featuring eight original songs and a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities,” according to the film’s website.
Mateo Bravery Bratt, 19
Talisa Soto/Instagram
Benjamin Bratt with his son Mateo.
Bratt and Soto welcomed their second child, son Mateo, on Oct. 3, 2005.
Mateo grew up in New York for the first few years of his life before moving to the West Coast and then Massachusetts, where Soto’s family is from. The foursome ended up back in New York just before the pandemic, according to Esquire.
Mateo quickly became besties with his older sister. Bratt told The Boston Globe in 2008 that he “encourages her” and “pushes her along.”
The younger Bratt was an avid basketball player in high school. “He’s in his senior year, they’re having a hell of a run,” Bratt told Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2023. “We’ve become a sports family because of what they participate in.”
Talisa Soto/Instagram
Benjamin Bratt with his two kids, Mateo and Sophia.
He continued, “We’re those dedicated parents. There’s a group of us who always show up. We center everything around it, so if I have work, if I have dinner plans, it all goes by the wayside.”
Bratt even discovered he’s a bit more of a sideline dad than he realized. “I think I always thought that I was rather sort of quiet about things,” he said. “Until I played back the tapes with sound.”
Mateo’s love of sports has even informed his future career. Now a student at New York University, he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sports management, according to his LinkedIn.
“We are super proud and happy for you, son!” Soto wrote alongside a photo from Mateo’s dorm room after dropping him off at college in August 2024. “But I cannot lie, I’m missing you and your beautiful smile around here already — my daily dose of sunshine.”
Read the original article on People
