Laz Alonso stars as Detective Billy Soto on NBC's "The Mysteries of Laura."

Alonso's television credits include lead roles on NBC's "Deception" and A&E's "Breakout Kings."

On the film side, he recently played the lead in "Battle of the Year," opposite Josh Holloway, Josh Peck and Chris Brown. Inspired by the award-winning documentary "Planet B-Boy," the film is about an all-star American b-boy crew training to compete in France at the Battle of the Year (BOTY) International Championship.

In 2011, Alonso starred in the hit romantic comedy "Jumping the Broom" for which he received a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture and was also nominated for a BET best actor award. Prior to "Jumping the Broom," he co-starred in the highest-grossing film of all time, James Cameron's "Avatar." Alonso also played the lead villain in "Fast & Furious," which reunited the original cast.

His past movie credits include lead roles in "Stomp the Yard" and "This Christmas," a co-starring role in Sam Mendes' hit "Jarhead," and a supporting role in Rod Lurie's remake of the Sam Peckinpah classic "Straw Dogs." Alonso also starred in Spike Lee's World War II film "Miracle at St. Anna."

Alonso executive produced and starred opposite Danny Glover in Alan Jacobs' "Down for Life," (aka "Por Vida"), which received much acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Alonso always knew he wanted to be an actor. He graduated from the prestigious Howard University School of Business, earning a BA in business administration with a concentration in marketing. After college, he worked on Wall Street as an investment banker.

He now splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.