Theo Rossi
Theo Rossi is an American actor and producer best known for playing Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz in Sons of Anarchy and Hernan “Shades” Alvarez in Marvel’s Luke Cage. His later credits include the crime thriller Emily the Criminal and the HBO miniseries The Penguin.
Rossi went vegan in 1997. He has linked the decision to growing up around animals, including rescued dogs, cats, hamsters and snakes. In a 2021 interview, he spoke about how different vegan eating was in the late 1990s, before mainstream plant-based options were widely available, and described sticking with it as something that simply works for him.
He has also supported animal protection campaigns with PETA. In 2023, Rossi and Sons of Anarchy co-star Emilio Rivera appeared in PETA’s “Real Men Don’t Chain Dogs” campaign, urging people to treat dogs like family and not keep them chained outdoors. He has also worked with PETA on adopt-don’t-shop messaging, appearing in a campaign with his adopted dog Benito and discussing why adoption matters.
“I have a certain connection to animals. I’ve never lived a day in my life without multiple animals… I’ve always rescued dogs.”
“Listen, there’s eat to live, and live to eat. I eat to live.”
