Wood Harris

Sherwin David "Wood" Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor. He has portrayed the drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO crime drama The Wire, cocaine dealer Ace in Paid in Full and high school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 film Remember the Titans. He is also known for playing Brooke Payne on the BET miniseries The New Edition Story in 2017. From 2016 to 2017, he played Barry Fouray on VH1 miniseries The Breaks.

Not to be confused with Woody Harrelson.
Wood Harris
Wood Harris in a basketball game
Born
Sherwin David Harris

(1969-10-17) October 17, 1969
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationNorthern Illinois University (BA)
New York University (MFA)
OccupationActor
Years active1993–present
Height6'3"
Spouse(s)
Rebekah Harris
(
m. 2001)
Children2
RelativesSteve Harris (brother)

Early life

Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of seamstress Mattie and bus driver John Harris.[1][2] He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a Master of Arts from New York University.[3][4][5] He is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris.[6]

Career

While enrolled in NIU, Harris starred in his first major film role in the basketball drama Above the Rim, starring opposite Tupac Shakur,[3] and appeared in many theatrical stage productions of various off-Broadway plays. Harris subsequently guest-starred in a variety of television and film venues before portraying legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix in Showtime's 2000 movie, Hendrix.[3]

Later that year, Harris received his first NAACP Image Award nomination for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" along with the Blockbuster Movie Award nomination for "Favorite Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" for his role as Julius "Big Ju" Campbell in Remember the Titans.[7] In 2002, he starred in the Dame Dash produced cult-classic film Paid in Full, based on the true story of three Harlem drug dealers with Harris playing the real-life kingpin Azie Faison.[8]

He starred as Avon Barksdale, loosely based on the real-life Nathan Barksdale, in the first three seasons of HBO's original series The Wire, as well as one episode in the fifth season.[4][5][9] He also produced his own debut album, Beautiful Wonderful, which was intended for release in 2005.

In June 2008, director Martin Guigui revealed that Harris was cast as Nate "Sweetwater" Clifton in Sweetwater, a movie about the first black player in the NBA.[10] As of March 2018, it is still in pre-production.[11]

In 2009, Harris starred in the film Just Another Day, as a successful fictional rapper named A-maze.[12] The film centers on a clash between a young up-and-coming rapper and an older one at the top of his game, the former played by Jamie Hector (whose character Marlo Stanfield had a similar role with respect to Harris's character in The Wire).

In 2012, Harris narrated the ESPN 30 for 30 film Benji. In the same year he also played Harold "Mitch" Mitchell in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams; alongside Blair Underwood, Nicole Ari Parker, and Daphne Rubin-Vega.[3]

In 2015, he reunited with The Wire cast member Michael B. Jordan for Creed, the latest installment of the Rocky franchise, reprising the role in its sequel.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1994 Above the Rim Motaw as Sherwin David Harris
1997 As Good as It Gets Cafe 24 Busboy
1998 Celebrity Al Swayze
1998 The Siege Officer Henderson
2000 Train Ride Will
2000 Rhapsody Billy Dixon
2000 Committed Chicky
2000 Are You Cinderella?
2000 Remember the Titans Julius Campbell
2000 The Gold Cup Clayton
2002 Paid in Full Ace
2004 Joy Road Tony Smalls
2005 Dirty Brax
2006 Southland Tales Dion Element
2006 The Heart Specialist Dr. Sidney Zachary
2007 4 Life Dayvon
2008 Jazz in the Diamond District Gabriel Marx
2009 Not Easily Broken Darnell Gooden
2009 Dough Boys Julian France
2009 Next Day Air Guch
2009 Just Another Day A-Maze
2012 The Babymakers Darrell
2012 Dredd Kay
2012 Benji Himself Documentary
2015 Ant-Man Gale
2015 Creed Tony "Little Duke" Evers
2017 Once Upon a Time in Venice Prince
2017 9/11 Michael
2017 Blade Runner 2049 Nandez
2018 Creed II Tony "Little Duke" Evers

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1996 NYPD Blue Hector Episode: "Hector"
1997 Oz Officer Gordon Wood Episode: "Plan B"
1997 Cosby Tony Episode: "The Rules"
1998 New York Undercover Shadow Episode: "Going Native"
1999 Spenser: Small Vices Ellis Alves TV film
2000 Hendrix Jimi Hendrix TV film
2003 The Twilight Zone Marvin Gardens / Dwayne Grant Episode: "Another Life"
2007 Numb3rs Murphy 'Pony' Fuñez Episode: "The Art of Reckoning"
2002–08 The Wire Avon Barksdale 33 episodes
2008 House Bowman Episode: "Last Resort"
2009 Played by Fame Episode: "The Jealous Boyfriend"
2010 Southland Trinney Day 3 episodes
2010 Hawaii Five-0 Russell Ellison Episode: "Nalowale"
2013 The Watsons Go to Birmingham Daniel Watson TV film
2014 Justified Jay 4 episodes
2017 The Breaks Barry Fouray 8 episodes
2017 The New Edition Story Brooke Payne TV miniseries; 3 episodes
2018–20 Empire Damon Cross Seasons 5–6
2019 Ryan Hanson Solves Crimes on Television* Vince Vincetti Season 2, Youtube Premium
gollark: !esowiki Macron
gollark: Just name it something else?
gollark: The new osmarks.net one?
gollark: <@!224379582785126401> I feel like the robust-first computing thing is operating at the wrong level of abstraction.
gollark: You misspelt Mathematica.

References
  1. "Steve Harris Biography (1965-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  2. "Wood Harris Biography (1969-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  3. "Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wood Harris Join Broadway's A Streetcar Named Desire". Broadwayworld.com. August 23, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  4. Mooney, Jake (January 11, 2008). "New York Connections to 'The Wire'". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  5. Myerberg, Paul (December 11, 2012). "Ten things you need to know about Northern Illinois". USA Today. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  6. "Hendrix' Blazing Career Highlighted". Star-News. Google Books. September 16, 2000. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  7. Braxton, Greg (December 8, 2000). "'Basketball,' 'Titans' Lead NAACP Nominations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  8. Norman-Culp, Sheila (October 24, 2002). "'Paid in Full' is high in '80s drug-scene street value". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Associated Press. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  9. James, Caryn (September 19, 2004). "The Television Show That Thinks It's a Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  10. Martinez, Vanessa (January 4, 2013). "Exclusive: Wood Harris Confirmed for 'Sweetwater' Biopic; 2014 Playoffs Target Release Date". IndieWire. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  11. Sweetwater, IMDB.com, retrieved 2019-03-20
  12. Business Wire (June 16, 2011). "Image Entertainment Acquires the North American Rights to Soulja Boy – The Movie". Business Wire. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
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