Born in Spain, Carlos Bea competed in the 1952 Olympics for Cuba in basketball. But he eventually settled in the United States, earning his political science degree from Stanford in 1956, and then a law degree from Stanford in 1958, before becoming a naturalized US citizen in 1959. Admitted to the California Bar in 1959, Bea worked with Dunne, Phelps & Mills as an associate partner from 1959-75, but later became a judge. He was an official judge with the San Francisco Superior Court from 1990-2003, and later served from 2003 as a 9th circuit US Appeal Court Judge.
Cuba