Biography for
Avery Brooks (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 October 1948, Evansville, Indiana, USA

Birth Name

Avery Franklin Brooks

Height

6' 1" (1.85 m)

Mini Biography

Avery Franklin Brooks was born on October 2, 1948 in Evansville, Indiana to a musically talented family. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Travis Crawford, was a tenor who graduated from Tougaloo College in Mississippi in 1901. Crawford toured the country singing with the Delta Rhythm Boys in the 1930s. Brooks also is musically inclined having played jazz piano, and has performed as the great baritone/actor/scholar Paul Robeson in the play entitled "Paul Robeson". He sang the lead in the A. Anthony Davis opera "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X", and performed as "Theseus" and "Oberon" in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Washington's Arena Stage. Long affiliated with Rutgers University, he was the institution's first Black MFA graduate. Additionally, he served as the National Black Arts Festival's (NBAF) Artistic Director throughout the 1990s in Atlanta, Georgia. An actor, activist, musician, director, and educator of epic proportions, Brooks was quoted in an interview about his work with NBAF and his performances: "If I were a carpenter, I'd find a way to empower using that skill. I'm using as much as God has given--my mind, my voice, my heart, my art forms. This is the highest form of expression on the planet from God, to me, to you".

IMDb Mini Biography By: L. J. Allen-2

Spouse

Vicki Lenora Bowen

(1976 - present) 3 children

Trade Mark

Deep resonant voice

Shaved head and goatee

Trivia

Associate Professor of Theater Arts Rutgers University, New Jersey [1976-present]

Raised from the age of 8, in Gary, Indiana.

In 1993, he was inducted into the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

He served as Artistic Director of the Atlanta, Georgia-based "National Black Arts Festival" from 1993 to 1996.

He is a tenured professor of Theatre at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Taught courses for Rutgers University while working on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993). He videotaped his lessons for his students at the studio, occasionally while still in his character's uniform!

Has three children: Ayana, Asante and Cabral.

Benjamin Sisko, Brooks's character on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993), was ranked #50 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].

Has a very, very close relationship with Cirroc Lofton, the actor who played his son on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993)

He was the only actor to appear in every episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993).

Parents are Samuel and Eva Lydia Brooks.

He is the first African-American actor to play a lead captain on Star Trek.

Attended the closing of Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton on September 1, 2008.

Personal Quotes

It's the year 2000. But where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars! I don't see any flying cars! Why? Why? Why?

On the best thing about playing a Star Trek captain: "One of the reasons that I accepted, once asked to do Star Trek, was to give a single child a chance to see the long thought, to see themselves some 400 years hence. It occurred to me that we must ensure that we keep in front of children the ever-changing horizon. To let the children know that there is possibility, to let the children know that someone is not going to take away or destroy this world before they have a chance. We have to keep that in front [of them]." (Sept/Oct 2006, Star Trek Magazine issue #1)

On how he felt about the ending of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993): "The show ran for seven years. It was a long, long road. I did have some reservations initially when I read the script [for the series finale "What You Leave Behind"], because I thought they were going to really kill Sisko. I took that very literally, and asked the producers, "Why are you killing Sisko?" The Producers told me, "Look we thought you'd be thrilled because we had made him a God!" The difference, of course, is you have Sisko with another child on the way. You still have Sisko with a young man [Jake Sisko] trying to find his way, and you make him a God! That wasn't fair." (Sept/Oct 2006, Star Trek Magazine issue #1)

His advice to aspiring actors: "Hold on to your dream. Don't let the people shake you from your dream. Don't let form become more important than the substance of your heart and mind. Don't let commerce determine what you do exclusively" (Sept/Oct 2006, Star Trek Magazine issue #1)

In the documentary "The Captains", Avery Brooks tells William Shatner that he is from Gary, Indiana.

Where Are They Now

(February 2004) Will be appearing in "King Lear" at the Yale Repertory Theatre, from February 13 - March 13, 2004.

(September 2005) Appearing onstage as "Othello" by William Shakespeare (directed by Michael Kahn) at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Lansburgh in Washington, D.C., from August 30 - October 30, 2005.

(October 2007) Still attending Star Trek conventions, including one in New Zealand. He will be appearing in "Tamburlaine" in Washington, D.C.

(September 2008) Appearing onstage as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio on September 18-21.

(September 2008) Attending the closing of Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton