Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay is a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he developed an interest in acting while still in school and continued his career after graduating. After playing locally for a while, he was persuaded by entertainer Orson Bean to move to New York City. Juliá, who has been bilingual since childhood, quickly fell in love with the Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. He reenacted the role of Orson in the Broadway hit Your Own Thing, a rock update by Twelfth Night. He has performed in mobile projects, including the Puerto Rico Tourist Theater. Juliá was finally noticed by producer Joseph Papp, who offered to work at the New York Shakespeare Festival. After gaining popularity, he received roles in two dramas, Love of Life and Sesame Street. In 1978, he starred alongside Meryl Streep in an electric cover of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew at the Delacorte Theater.

He is most known for his roles in the films Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Addams Family as Gomez Addams. In 1990, he co-starred in Presumed Innocent with Harrison Ford, and in 1994, he co-starred in Street Fighter with Jean-Claude Van Damme.