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In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Olmos branched out from music into acting, appearing in many small productions, until his big break portraying the narrator, called "El Pachuco", in the play Zoot Suit, which dramatized the World War II-era rioting in California brought about by the tensions between Mexican-Americans and local police. He took the role to the filmed version in 1981. Other films that featured Olmos followed, including Wolfen, Blade Runner and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.

In 1984, Olmos starred in his biggest role up to that date as the authoritative police Lieutenant Martin Castillo in the television series Miami Vice alongside Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver. He directed American Me in 1992, and starred in the multigenerational story of a Chicano family in My Family/Mi Familia. In 1997 he played alongside Jennifer Lopez in the film Selena.

He played Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the 2001 movie In the Time of the Butterflies. He also appeared as a recurring character Justice Mendoza in the NBC drama The West Wing. He later starred as the recently widowed father in a Latin L.A.-family, in the PBS drama American Family: Journey of Dreams.

In 2003, he starred as Commander Adama in the Sci Fi Channel's reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and in the TV series that followed. (wikipedia.org)