EXCLUSIVE: Al Calderon (Days of Our Lives, Step Up: Highwater) has been cast in NBC‘s Brilliant Minds for Season 2, premiering in September. He joins fellow incoming series regulars Brian Altemus and John Clarence Stewart.
Inspired by the life and work of author and physician Oliver Sacks, Brilliant Minds follows Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto), a revolutionary, larger-than-life neurologist, and his team of interns as they explore the last great frontier – the human mind – while grappling with their own relationships and mental health.
Calderon will play Nurse Scotty Silva, who runs the hospital and looks good doing it. With charisma to spare, he’s widely regarded as the Mayor of Bronx General. His warm, funny and outgoing charm may or may not be the reason why he knows everything about everyone at work.
The cast also includes Tamberla Perry, Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs, Spence Moore II, Teddy Sears and Donna Murphy. Bellamy Young recently joined as a recurring guest star.
Michael Grassi serves as writer and executive producer. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman, Lee Toland Krieger, DeMane Davis, Henrik Bastin, Andy Serkis, Jonathan Cavendish and Will Tennant also executive produce. Berlanti Productions, Fabel Entertainment, The Imaginarium, Grassi Productions and Tavala produce in association with Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Calderon is a bilingual actor, singer and dancer whose work spans Broadway (13: A New Musical) and television (Days of Our Lives, Step Up: Highwater). Of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Caucasian descent, Calderon is coming off a contract role on Days of Our Lives, but continues to play Javi Hernandez on the long-running Peacock sudser, returning with new episodes in 2026. He was a former series regular in both YouTube Red/Starz’s dance series Step Up: Highwater & Snapchat’s Dead Girl’s Detective Agency.
His screen credits include Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, Max’s Minx, AMC’s The Walking Dead: World Beyond, OWN’s The Haves and the Have Nots, and the Fox pilot Amy’s Brother opposite Melissa McCarthy. On the feature side, he appeared in Detachment, Stealing Cars and the musical drama Hello Again opposite Audra McDonald and Martha Plimpton. Calderon is repped by AKA Talent Agency, Cultured Artists, and Felker Toczek Suddleson.