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- Carl Lumbly is an actor respected for his steadfast talent, versatility and class. His prolific career includes over 150 credits in theatre, film, television and voiceover, with extensive critical acclaim for his work.
A familiar face on television, Lumbly's most recent memorable appearance was in Marvel's "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," for Disney+. The veteran actor played Marvel's forgotten super-solider, 'Isaiah Bradley,' arguably, the original Captain America. Most recently, Marvel Studios' President Kevin Feige announced at D23 Expo 2022 that Lumbly will return in the role of 'Isaiah Bradley' in the feature length version, "Captain America: New World Order," which will hit movie theaters on May 3, 2024.
For the big screen, Lumbly played a pivotal role in Warner Bros.' supernatural thriller, Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep," the imaginative continuation of "The Shining" storyline. He starred as 'Dick Hallorann,' the role originally played by Scatman Crothers. The gripping film was directed by Mike Flanagan from his own screenplay based upon King's best-selling novel.
Lumbly has reunited with Mike Flanagan in his highly anticipated upcoming horror miniseries for Netflix, "The Fall of the House of Usher," based on various works from Edgar Allan Poe. In his initial casting announcement for "Usher," Flanagan tweeted: Rounding out our first wave, as Poe's legendary investigator C. Auguste Dupin, we are so honored to welcome back one of my favorite past collaborators, the extraordinary... CARL LUMBLY."
The busy actor has also recently landed a recurring role on Netflix's upcoming one-hour action/comedy series, "Obliterated," from the creators of "Cobra Kai." It follows the story of an elite Special Forces team who thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas, only to discover after a wild celebratory party that a bomb they deactivated was a fake. Lumbly plays CIA Director 'James Langdon.'
Lumbly portrayed CIA agent 'Marcus Dixon,' the gentle, mild-mannered field partner to agent 'Sydney Bristow' (Jennifer Garner) for five seasons on ABC's hit drama series, "Alias." He also previously starred in FOX's drama series "M.A.N.T.I.S," playing an independently wealthy paraplegic scientist/crimefighter, marking the first black superhero on series television.
He had a recurring role as classic DC character M'yrnn J'onzz, the father of J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter on The CW television series "Supergirl." He previously voiced action hero J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter in the Cartoon Network's animated series "Justice League." The busy actor also recently had recurring roles on NBC's "This Is Us," CBS' "S.W.A.T.," Showtime's "The Chi" and CBS' "NCIS: Los Angeles," along with guest-starring roles on CBS' "God Friended Me," Netflix's "Altered Carbon" and HISTORY's military action drama, "Six."
Lumbly recently appeared in award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson's "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool," which received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of "Best Music Film." He voiced the iconic jazz musician in this feature-length documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and screened theatrically to wide acclaim. Produced by American Masters, "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool" made its television debut nationwide on February 2020 on PBS, in honor of Black History Month.
His impressive feature credits include a role opposite Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr. in "Men of Honor," portraying the father of the first black diver in U.S. Navy history. In "Everybody's All-American" with Jessica Lange and Dennis Quaid, he starred as a former football player affected by the segregated South. Other film credits include "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "South Central," "Pacific Heights," "To Sleep With Anger," "The Bedroom Window," "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," "Caveman," "Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation," and director Gore Verbinski's supernatural horror feature, "A Cure for Wellness."
Lumbly, the son of Jamaican immigrants Carrol and Ida, was raised with three sisters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Like many immigrants, his parents stressed education and reading, as the gateway to respect, success and achievement. A self-described 'library geek to this day,' Lumbly worked in libraries to earn money and have ready access to the larger worlds of literature, world history and art, which inspired his early appreciation for literature. An English major in college, Lumbly's first love was writing. He worked as a journalist in Minneapolis, early on. Through a series of 'happy accidents,' he took a short break from writing and worked in a political -satire comedy theatre. After a couple of years, Lumbly moved to San Francisco intending to continue his work as a journalist for the Associated Press. Just two days after arriving, he came across a newspaper ad seeking "two black actors for South African political plays." He went to the audition and met the other actor already cast -- an unknown Danny Glover. He landed the part and toured with Glover in productions of Athol Fugard's "Sizwe Bansi is Dead" and "The Island."
The plays brought Lumbly to Los Angeles, where he signed with an agent, followed by a move to New York. He landed his first significant on-screen role in a movie-of-the-week, "Cagney and Lacey," which turned into the hit series. More importantly, CBS cast the beautiful and talented actress, Vonetta McGee, as his wife on the show. They fell in love, married and had a beautiful son, Brandon and a beautiful life together. Lumbly starred as 'Detective Marcus Petrie' for the show's seven-year run.
Lumbly's versatility spans a range of characters, from his NAACP Image Award-nominated work in TNT's "Buffalo Soldiers," produced by Danny Glover, to a wealthy, black entrepreneur in "Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding," starring opposite Halle Berry. He starred in the Showtime telefilm "Just a Dream," directed by Glover. He also starred in the telefilms "Color of Friendship," "Little Richard," "On Promised Land," "The Ditchdigger's Daughters," "Nightjohn" and "Sounder," ABC's telefilm remake of the 1972 classic. Of his critically acclaimed performance in "Sounder," the Houston Chronicle stated, "Carl Lumbly plays 'Father', and his performance is a stunner: Dignity and anguish come together to touch your heart."
His additional television credits include a recurring role on the TNT cop drama, "Southland," where he played old-school, no-nonsense LAPD Captain 'Joel Rucker.' He appeared in the ensemble cast of A&E's suspense series "The Returned" and has made numerous guest-starring appearances on such popular television series as "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," "Chuck," "Grey's Anatomy," "Cold Case," "Battlestar Galactica," "The West Wing," "ER" and "The X-Files."
For the stage, Lumbly received glowing reviews for his 2015 performance of 'Pops Washington' in "Between Riverside and Crazy" at the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco. States the Huffington Post, "Pops is portrayed with torrents of fury and flashes of gentleness by the marvelous Carl Lumbly. He is one of seven characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis's play, which won this year's Pulitzer Prize for drama, but he provides the fuel that energizes all."
In 2013, Lumbly starred Off-Broadway at Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre in New York's Pershing Square Signature Center in "stop. reset," directed by Regina Taylor. "stop. reset." tells the story of 'Alex Ames' (Lumbly), the owner of Chicago's oldest African American book publishing company.
He starred in the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's (LHT) 2012 production of British playwright Joe Penhall's comedy drama "Blue/Orange" in San Francisco. He was featured in the San Francisco Playhouse's 2010 production of Cormac McCarthy's "Sunset Limited." In 2007, he starred in the SF Playhouse's production of "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train," directed by Bill English. For his remarkable performance, he was honored with a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Performance by an Actor.
Lumbly works out regularly to keep in shape for his demanding roles. In his free time, he enjoys writing, long walks and playing basketball. Carl is a Leo. That's about all... - Born on August 21, 1939, the son of a displaced musician, Harlem-born actor Clarence Williams III was raised by his musical grandparents, the legendary jazz and boogie-woogie composer/pianist Clarence Williams, who wrote such classics as "T'Aint Nobody's Business If I Do" and "Baby, Won't You Please Come Home," and blues singer Eva Taylor. While attending a local YMCA as a teen, Williams became interested in dramatics.
After a two-year hitch with the U.S. Air Force, he started his acting career, making a minor New York stage debut with "The Long Dream" in 1960. He continued impressively with roles in "Walk in Darkness" (1963), "Sarah and the Sax" (1964) and "Doubletalk" (1964), and capped his early career with a Theatre World Award and Tony-nomination for the three-person play "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground" (1964). Continuing on with powerful work in "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" (1966) and "King John," Vietnam-era Hollywood finally began to take notice of his "angry young man" charisma.
His casting as former delinquent-turned-undercover cop Linc Hayes on the highly popular TV cop series Mod Squad (1968) along with fellow white partners Michael Cole and Peggy Lipton was a huge break for all three relative unknowns. Sporting a huge Afro, paisley shirts, dark shades and spouting catchprase language like "dig it" and "solid," the gap-toothed Linc (and his mod partners) showed the requisite anti-establishment defiance and coolness to attract the hip generation--while still playing good guys.
Following the series' demise in 1973, he purposely avoided the "blaxploitation" Hollywood scene and returned to the stage, notably on Broadway opposite Maggie Smith in Tom Stoppard's play "Night and Day" (1979). In the 80s he launched an enviable character career in films, often playing a cool, streetwise character or threatening menace. Among his better-known on-screen assignments is the role of Prince's abusive father in Purple Rain (1984), a burnt-out political activist in the spoof I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), the recurring part of Roger Hardy in the twisted cult TV series Twin Peaks (1990), a good-guy cop in Deep Cover (1992), an rioter in the Attica-themed mini-series Against the Wall (1994) and Wesley Snipes heroin-addicted dad in Sugar Hill (1993), among others. Powerful roles on such shows as "Law & Order," "Profiler" and "Judging Amy" has kept him strongly in the limelight.
Millennium acting work included solid performances in the films Reindeer Games (2000), Ritual (2000), Blue Hill Avenue (2001), The Extreme Team (2003), Constellation (2005), The Blue Hour (2007),The Way of War (2009), A Day in the Life (2009), The Butler (2013) and American Nightmares (2018), as well as his interesting role as mysterious book store manager Philby in the lengthy Mystery Woman (2003) series of TV movies (2003-2007). Clarence also made guest appearances on TV programs, "Cold Case," "Memphis Beat," "Justified" and "Empire," to name a few.
Wed to wife Kelly until his death, Clarence was first married to actress Gloria Foster (1967-1984). The two appeared together in the movie The Cool World (1963). Following their divorce, they remained friendly and, upon her death in 2001, it was he who made the formal announcement. - Actor
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Marcus Chong began as a child actor in Roots: The Next Generations (1979) as Frankie Warner where he met Alex Haley. He then went on to work on Little House on the Prairie (1974), starring Michael Landon . As a young adult, he appeared on Broadway in "Stand Up Tragedy", and won a Theater World Award. In film, he debuted in Jeff Bridges's American Heart (1992) about street kids in Seattle. He went on to perform in "Panther", written and directed by Melvin Van Peebles. Chong portrayed Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panthers. Marcus filmed The Matrix (1999). Chong has been performing his up and coming new productions on stage in NY as Alexander Dumas, author of the "Three Musketeers" and the "Count of Monte Cristo". Chong portrayed Harry Belafonte in Not 4 Sale (2013) and appeared in the USC film Son Shine (2013). He also appeared on such television shows as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and Burn Notice (2007).- Actor
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Harris was born Sherwin David Harris in Chicago, Illinois, to John and Mattie Harris. However, he works under his nickname, "Wood". Attended New York University Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School. Has performed in many films and various stage productions including plays by August Wilson, William Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams. He is one of the stars of the HBO series The Wire (2002), which was recently chosen by Time magazine as one of best TV shows of all time. He is regarded as one of the best actors of his generation. Wood is the younger brother of Steve Harris, star of the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997). Wood, like his brother, splits his time between New York and California.- Actor
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- Dipo Ola was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. He moved with his family to the U.K. as a child. After studying he made his screen debut in the critically acclaimed and multi-award nominated Channel 4 Series Baghdad Central. He has gone on to work with the BBC on the cult classic anthology show Inside No.9, before landing a role in the much anticipated sister produced, HBO true crime mini series Landscapers, directed by Will Sharpe.
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Nicholas Pinnock was born on 2 September 1973 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Fortitude (2015) and The Book of Clarence (2023).- Micheal Ward was born on 18 November 1997 in Spanish Town, Jamaica. He is an actor, known for Empire of Light (2022), The Old Guard (2020) and Blue Story (2019).
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Chris Chalk was born on 7 December 1977 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. He is an actor and director, known for When They See Us (2019), Perry Mason (2020) and Detroit (2017). He is married to Kimberley Dalton Mitchell.- Lester Pine was born on 5 December 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Claudine (1974), Popi (1969) and Peter Gunn (1958). He was married to Tina Pine. He died on 11 August 2001 in Los Angeles, California, USA.