Andre Braugher

Andre Keith Braugher was born July 1, 1962, in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of four children born to postal worker Sally and heavy equipment operator Floyd Braugher.[1] He attended St. Ignatius College Prep and graduated from Stanford University with a BA in theatre in 1984. He then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division, graduating with an MFA in 1988.[2][3]

Braugher's first film role was in the 1989 film Glory as Thomas Searles, a free, educated black man from the North who joins the first black regiment in the Union Army. He played Kojak's sidekick in the late-1980s ABC television film revival of Kojak. He subsequently moved on to a role on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street as Detective Frank Pembleton, a self-righteous, fiery, unyielding, Jesuit-educated police detective. Playing opposite Kyle Secor (who portrayed Detective Tim Bayliss), Braugher became the series' breakout star. He received Television Critics Association awards for individual achievement in drama in 1997 and 1998. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1996 and 1998, winning in the latter year. He left Homicide after its sixth season but returned for the reunion television film. He has also co-starred in the films City of Angels, Frequency and Poseidon. In 1997, he was selected by People as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World".[4]

As part of the Shakespeare in the Park series at the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park, Braugher played the title role in the 1996 production of Henry V, for which he received an Obie Award. In 2000, he played the title role as Ben Gideon in the series Gideon's Crossing, which lasted one season. In 2002, Braugher narrated the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, produced by Unity Productions Foundation and recently re-issued. Braugher also narrated The Murder of Emmett Till for PBS. He played Detective Marcellus Washington in the TV series Hack from 2002–2004.[5] In 2006, Braugher starred as Nick Atwater in the mini-series Thief for FX Networks, winning a second Emmy for his performance. He portrayed General Hager in the 2007 film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Braugher appeared on the TV series House, M.D. as Dr. Darryl Nolan, a psychiatrist who helps House recover from his addiction to Vicodin. He also appeared in the TNT series Men of a Certain Age, for which he was nominated twice as Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He also voiced the villain Darkseid in the animated film, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.[6] Braugher co-starred in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of The Whipping Man, off-Broadway, for a limited run from January–March 2011. He narrated the introduction to the Olympic Games on NBC from 2006 to 2010, succeeding James Earl Jones in the role. Braugher also narrated James Patterson's Alex Cross book Cross Fire (2010).

He has a recurring role as defense attorney Bayard Ellis on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and appeared as the lead character, Capt. Marcus Chaplin, in ABC's military drama TV series Last Resort. Braugher also had a recurring role in season 4 of the Netflix animated series Bojack Horseman as California Gov. Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz. He currently stars in the Golden Globe-winning TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine as the precinct captain, Raymond Holt, for which he has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

In 1991, Braugher married actress Ami Brabson, who later played his character's wife on Homicide. They have three sons: Michael (born 1992), Isaiah (born 1997), and John Wesley (JW) (born 2002). The family resides in South Orange, New Jersey. He and his family are Unitarian Universalists.

• Andre Braugher on IMDb
• Andre Braugher at AllMovie
• Andre Braugher at Internet Off-Broadway Database