Rafael Barba is a fictional character portrayed by Raúl Esparza, who joined the cast of the long-running NBC crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on a recurring basis during the 14th season episode "Twenty-Five Acts".

Barba is brought in to work with the Special Victims Unit at the behest of temporary SVU captain, Steven Harris (Adam Baldwin), due to the aftermath of a case involving sex trafficking and police corruption.

During his time as the Special Victims Unit ADA, he becomes a close friend of Detective (later Sergeant, Lieutenant and now Captain) Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), and they serve as each other’s confidantes during difficult cases.

Barba and the SVU detectives uncover a scandal within the Suffolk County DA's office, as Provo set the young woman up for the murder.

[2] In the episode, "Funny Valentine", Barba and the detectives have a tough time convincing pop star Mischa Green (Tiffany Robinson) to testify against her abusive boyfriend, hip-hop artist Caleb Bryant (Eugene Jones).

In the episode "Undercover Blue", Benson goes to Barba in an attempt to provide evidence that could potentially clear her boyfriend, Detective Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), of rape.

[4] In the season finale, "Her Negotiation", Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) calls Barba in to the precinct on a weekend for a class-B misdemeanor because she believes that the offender, William Lewis (Pablo Schreiber), is more dangerous than the charges.

[6] In the season 15 episode "October Surprise", SVU pursues Barba's childhood friend Alex Muñoz (Vincent Laresca), a frontrunner for the mayor of New York City, for indecent exposure and possession of child pornography.

A handful of details regarding Barba's early life was also revealed in "December Solstice"; it is mentioned there that he grew up in the Bronx and attended Harvard University on a scholarship.

[9] In the seventeenth season episode "Intersecting Lives", Barba goes after Riker's Island correctional officer Gary Munson (Brad Garrett), who is raping female inmates.

In the following episode, "Heartfelt Passages", Barba reveals he had been receiving threats even before the Munson case; Rollins and her partner Dominick Carisi, Jr. (Peter Scanavino) proceed to help him identify them and assign him a security detail.

In the season 18 episode "Know It All," Barba suddenly recuses himself from the investigation of rape/murder suspect David Willard (Chris Diamantopoulos), for whom Benson has requested a search warrant, and does not tell her the reason for his choice.

One of its received calls is from a young girl, who proves to have a connection to Barba; her mother, a heroin addict, had been a witness in one of his cases years earlier.

Barba started sending money to the daughter every month, and realizes that Willard must have hacked into his bank account in order to use this information against him.

Barba is later seen in the 21st season episode "Redemption in Her Corner", video chatting with Benson while he is investigating voter fraud in Iowa.

Barba manages to prove that the woman's actions were motivated by brain trauma she suffered as a result of her husband's abuse, winning an acquittal and getting her help from social services.

[10] Raúl Esparza, during the celebration for 25 years of SVU confirmed that former showrunner Warren Leight wrote a script with which "he wanted to do something that would upset the Benson and Stabler fans".

Raúl Esparza was approached by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Executive Producer Warren Leight to appear in the series as an Assistant District Attorney.

He initially had reservations about accepting the role, as he didn't believe that it would satisfy him as much as his stage work did, and was concerned that television acting required a different set of skills.

[20] According to Esparza, Barba's "flashy, high-fashion suits ... and snappy suspenders" are popular online, with Kate Stanhope of TV Guide adding that the character's "designer duds have been a hit with fans".

[12] Esparza has been credited in 119 episodes of SVU (appearing in 90) as Barba, making him the 2nd longest serving ADA in the Law & Order franchise history after Jack McCoy.