Carlos Bernard spent his formative years in Mexico City and Chicago. He attended New Trier High School and majored in Fine Art at Illinois State University. It was after college that Carlos began his acting career - performing at such Chicago theaters as The Second City, Victory Gardens and Pegasus Players. He later made the move to San Francisco to train at the prestigious American Conservatory Theater masters program. While at A.C.T., he appeared in the classic plays Hamlet, As You Like It, The Cherry Orchard, Heartbreak House and Good.

Carlos has starred in various films and television series, including The Lincoln Lawyer, The Orville, Madame Secretary, Supergirl, Castle, CSI Miami and Dallas; however, he is probably best known for his portrayal of Tony Almeida on the Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning series 24 - for which he received two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, two Alma Award nominations and three Imagen Award nominations.

Carlos has written and directed for the stage and screen. He received an LA Weekly Theater Award nomination (Best Director) for his staging of Vaclav Havel's play The Memorandum. His first film Your Father's Daughter, which he wrote and directed, premiered at The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. He has directed episodes of FBI, Law & Order, Chicago Fire, FBI Most Wanted, Law & Order: Organized Crime, BULL, Criminal Minds, and Magnum P.I. among others.

Carlos was selected to participate in the Warner Bros. Directors' Workshop and the Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directors Program. He was one of the founding members of the Ashbury Actors Group theater company in Los Angeles.

Carlos is a life long Cubs fan.