Category / genre: Actors
Gaining notice in the early ’90s for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Detective Francis Xavier “Frank” Pembleton on the popular television police drama “Homicide: Life on the Street,” tireless Chicago native Andre Braugher remained with the show through 1998 while simultaneously building a feature career with roles in such theatrical releases as “Primal Fear” and “City of Angels.” A graduate of Stanford University who also received a M.F.A. from the prestigious Juilliard School, Braugher claims to have originally taken up acting to meet girls. He later changed his major after realizing his true calling during a production of Hamlet, and his first professional role came in a performance at the Berkley Shakespeare Festival.
Making the leap from stage to screen with the 1989 civil war drama “Glory” proved an eye opening experience, and following numerous appearances as Detective Winston Blake in a series of made-for-TV “Kojak” features, Braugher held onto his badge by joining the cast of “Homicide” in 1993. Later alternating successfully between film and television, Braugher was voted one of the “50 Most Beautiful” people in a 1997 issue of People magazine; the following year, the handsome actor turned down a prominent role in the sci-fi drama “Sphere” in order to spend more time with his family. Jumping back into features in 2000, roles in “Frequency,” “Duets” and “A Better Way to Die” proved that Braugher was still in top form, and, in 2002, he turned back to the small screen with the made-for-TV feature “Hack” (and later reprised his role when the feature was turned into a weekly series). Following a role in the made-for-TV feature “A Soldier’s Girl,” Braugher joined the cast of the television remake of the Stephen King vampire chiller “Salem’s Lot,” then returned to television — and changed camps to tap into the underground element — on the weekly crime drama “Thief.” As Nick Atwater, one of the most genial and principled of all television criminals, Braugher evoked an unusual ethical balance in his character and tapped into the fence’s deep-seated devotion to his family, even as he drummed up a fiery intensity from episode to episode. Successive years found the actor moving into supporting roles in Hollywood A-listers with a heightened emphasis on effects-heavy action, adventure and fantasy-themed material; projects included “Poseidon,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” and Stephen King’s “The Mist.”
Braugher would star in the TV mini-series “The Andromeda Strain” in 2008, before taking on a role in the cult favorite comedy series “Men of a Certain Age” from 2009-2011. He also enjoyed a recurring role on “House M.D.,” and played a memorable supporting role in the Angelina Jolie action flick “Salt.” Braugher’s set to star in the upcoming FOX series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” is a single-camera ensemble comedy about what happens when a detective who doesn’t take anything seriously gets a new “by-the-book” boss who wants him to grow up and respect the badge.
