As a former police officer, actor David Zayas was immediately interested in the role of Sgt. Angel Batista. After appearing in "Oz" for a season, Erik King, was looking for a "different" acting chance, he "loved" the character of Sgt. Doakes, after reading the script. South Korean actor C.S. Lee, who has a recurring role on the show as forensics specialist Vince Masuka, was asked for the part after "Dexter" producers recognized him in guest parts on "Spin City", "" and "The Sopranos". Lee accepted the part because of the "fantastic" writing. By September 15, Jennifer Carpenter had joined the cast to play the part of Debra Morgan. Carpenter had enough time before her audition to read the "Dexter" books, but admitted that she "didn’t exactly see myself in the books. I knew that it was going to be a TV show and that it had the potential to go for five to seven years, so I tried to make Deb as similar to me as possible and to bring out the parts of myself that were like Deb. I think that may have helped in the audition and it has certainly helped sustain such a long run with one character." She also stated that she enjoyed cursing on television, but found it hard to stop it creeping into her real life. In June 2006 Geoff Pierson was cast as Cpt. Matthews. The series stars Lauren Vélez (Maria LaGuerta), David Zayas (Angel Batista) and Erik King (James Doakes), all previously starred in the American HBO television drama series "Oz".