Jeffrey Wright | |
|---|---|
 Wright in 2019 | |
| Born | December 7, 1965 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Education | Amherst College (BA) New York University |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award. Wright began his career in theatre where he gained prominence for his role as nurse Belize in the Broadway production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America (1993), for which he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in the 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation, earning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
His first starring film role was as Jean-Michel Basquiat in Basquiat (1996). His other notable films include Shaft (2000), Syriana (2005), Lady in the Water (2006), Cadillac Records (2008), The Ides of March (2011), Rustin (2023) and American Fiction (2023). He also acted in the Wes Anderson films The French Dispatch (2021), and Asteroid City (2023), and has played Felix Leiter in the James Bond films Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008) and No Time to Die (2021), Beetee Latier in The Hunger Games films, and Jim Gordon in The Batman (2022).
Wright earned acclaim for his role as Valentin Narcisse in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2013–2014) and robot programmer Bernard Lowe in the HBO series Westworld (2016–2022), the latter of which earned him three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He also lent his voice as Isaac Dixon in the video game The Last of Us Part II (2020) and the Watcher in the Marvel Studios animated series What If...? (2021–present).
Early life and education
Wright was born on December 7, 1965, in Washington, D.C., the son of Barbara Evon Whiting-Wright, a customs lawyer, and James Charles Wright Jr., who died when Jeffrey was a child.[1][2] He graduated from St. Albans School and attended Amherst College, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science, planning to attend law school, but chose instead to study acting. After attending the MFA acting program at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts for two months in 1988, he left to appear in Les Blancs at Arena Stage before transferring with it to the Huntington Theatre Company and deciding to be an actor full-time.[3][4]
Career
1990s
Wright began appearing off-Broadway in New York City and Washington, D.C. In 1990, he appeared in his first major film as an attorney in Alan J. Pakula's legal drama Presumed Innocent. In 1991, he joined John Houseman's national touring repertory company The Acting Company in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Athol Fugard's Blood Knot. In 1993 and 1994, he appeared as Norman "Belize" Arriaga in Tony Kushner's award-winning play Angels in America. His portrayal of a gay nurse forced to take care of Roy Cohn as he dies of AIDS won him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He also had small roles in the films Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992), Faithful (1996), and Critical Care (1997).
He guest-starred in George Lucas's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as a fictionalized Sidney Bechet and Homicide: Life on the Street in the early to late 1990s. In 1996, Wright starred in his first leading film role, portraying painter Jean-Michel Basquiat in the film Basquiat, to critical acclaim. Critic Roger Ebert praised Wright as "[giving] a performance of almost mystical opacity".[5] For his performance, he earned a Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance nomination. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he appeared in leading and supporting roles in such films as Woody Allen's satirical comedy Celebrity (1998), and Ang Lee's western Ride with the Devil (1999).
2000s
In 2000, he starred in three films, Shaft, Hamlet, and Crime and Punishment in Suburbia. He also starred in Clark Johnson's HBO television film Boycott (2001) as Martin Luther King Jr., for which he received an AFI Award. He starred opposite Carmen Ejogo and Terrence Howard. The following year, he portrayed Howard Bingham in Michael Mann's biographical sports drama Ali (2001). The film also starred Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Voight. The following year, he returned to Broadway playing Lincoln in the Suzan-Lori Parks play Topdog/Underdog (2002). He starred opposite Mos Def who played Booth. Wright for his performance earned a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. In 2003, he reprised his role as Norman "Belize" Arriaga in HBO's award-winning adaptation of Angels in America, garnering him an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In 2004, he appeared in Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate starring Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington. In February 2005, he returned to HBO Films in Lackawanna Blues.
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In 2005, he played Washington attorney Bennett Holiday in Syriana and Bill Murray's eccentric Ethiopian neighbor Winston in Broken Flowers, the latter of which earned Wright a Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male nomination. That same year, he also starred in the play This Is How It Goes and appeared as one of the tenants in M. Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller Lady in the Water (2006). In 2006, he appeared as Felix Leiter in the James Bond film Casino Royale. He reprised the role in Quantum of Solace and No Time to Die.[6] In 2007, Wright starred in the alien invasion suspense thriller The Invasion. In 2008, he portrayed Colin Powell in Oliver Stone's biographical drama film W. He portrayed Muddy Waters in Cadillac Records, a biopic, loosely based on the rise and fall of Chess Records.
2010s
In 2010, Wright played Jacques Cornet in the world premiere run of A Free Man of Color at the Vivian Beaumont Theater of the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York City. In 2011, he acted in three films Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock and The Ides of March starring George Clooney. Wright played Beetee in The Hunger Games film series, starting with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, released in November 2013. He landed the role of Dr. Valentin Narcisse in season 4 of Boardwalk Empire, starting in the fall of 2013.[7] In 2015, he voiced Poppa Henry in the Pixar animated film The Good Dinosaur. He portrayed Charles Ogletree in the HBO film Confirmation (2016), and Bernard Lowe in HBO's Westworld, the latter of which earned him three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.[8] In March 2017, Wright appeared in a commercial for Dell Technologies.[9]
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In 2018, Wright produced the HBO documentary We Are Not Done Yet, which gives voice to war veterans who, through a USO-sponsored arts workshop at Walter Reed National Military Hospital, discover the power and healing of shared experience to unite and find resilience in the face of post-traumatic stress.[10] That same year, Wright starred in HBO's O.G., a film about a man confronting his past crime and preparing to leave prison after decades behind bars.[11] The film was directed by Madeleine Sackler, and was filmed entirely in Pendleton Correctional Facility near Indianapolis, Indiana.[12] The film was shot in a working prison and many prisoners and staff were recruited as actors for the film, including Wright's co-star, Theotus Carter, who plays Beecher, a younger prisoner that Louis, (Wright's character) takes under his wing, which threatens Louis' release date.[13] During shooting, Wright was sometimes mistaken for a prisoner by other real prisoners and guards. The film debuted on HBO on February 25, 2019.[14] Nick Paumgarten of The New Yorker said, "The performances are exceptionally strong, both by the free-to-leave professional actors (especially Jeffrey Wright, who plays Louis, the 'O.G.' of the title, an older inmate on the verge of release) and by the incarcerated neophytes."[15] Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times said, "Jeffrey Wright gives a rich, imposing performance as the former 'mayor' of Pendleton Correctional Facility."[16]
In 2018, Wright acted in six feature films including the legal drama Monster, the drama The Public, the action comedy Game Night and the crime drama Age Out. He starred in the HBO film O.G. which was filmed entirely in a Pendleton Correctional Facility. Also, in 2018, he acted in the Netflix action thriller Hold the Dark which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2019, he acted in the Steven Soderbergh directed Netflix comedy-drama The Laundromat starring Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, and Gary Oldman. He also acted in John Crowley's drama The Goldfinch starring Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, and Finn Wolfhard.
2020s
Wright starred in the video game The Last of Us Part II as Isaac, the leader of the Washington Liberation Front. The game was released on June 19, 2020.[17] Wright voices the Watcher in the Disney+ animated series What If...? (2021), which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).[18]
In 2021, Wright portrayed food writer Roebuck Wright in the film The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson.[19] He reunited with Anderson portraying General Gibson in the film Asteroid City (2023). That same year, he portrayed Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in the Netflix biographical drama film Rustin and played fictional author Thelonious "Monk" Ellison in the satirical comedy-drama American Fiction, the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.
Personal life
Wright married actress Carmen Ejogo in August 2000. They have a son named Elijah and a daughter named Juno and lived in Brooklyn, New York City.[20][21][22][23] They have since divorced.[24]
He is a fan of the Washington Commanders.[25][26]
In 2004, Wright received an honorary degree from his alma mater Amherst College.[27]
Wright is chairman and co-founder of Taia, LLC and Taia Peace Foundation and Vice Chairman of Taia Lion Resources, Inc,[28][29] a gold-exploration company looking to create a conflict-free gold mining operation in Sierra Leone.[30][31][32]
Filmography
Film
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Presumed Innocent | Prosecuting Attorney | |
| 1992 | Jumpin' at the Boneyard | Derek | |
| 1996 | Faithful | Young Man | |
| Basquiat | Jean-Michel Basquiat | ||
| 1997 | Critical Care | Bed Two | |
| 1998 | Too Tired to Die | Balzac Man | |
| Celebrity | Greg | ||
| Meschugge | Win | ||
| Blossoms and Veils | Ben | ||
| 1999 | Cement | Ninny | |
| Ride with the Devil | Daniel Holt | ||
| 2000 | Hamlet | Gravedigger | |
| Crime and Punishment in Suburbia | Chris | ||
| Shaft | Peoples Hernandez | ||
| 2001 | Ali | Howard Bingham | |
| 2002 | D-Tox | Jaworski | |
| 2004 | Sin's Kitchen | Rex | |
| The Manchurian Candidate | Al Melvin | ||
| 2005 | Broken Flowers | Winston | |
| Syriana | Bennett Holiday | ||
| 2006 | Lady in the Water | Mr. Dury | |
| Casino Royale | Felix Leiter | ||
| 2007 | The Invasion | Dr. Stephen Galeano | |
| Blackout | Nelson | Also producer | |
| 2008 | W. | Colin Powell | |
| Quantum of Solace | Felix Leiter | ||
| Cadillac Records | Muddy Waters | ||
| 2009 | One Blood | Dan Clark | Also producer |
| 2011 | Source Code | Dr. Rutledge | |
| The Ides of March | Senator Thompson | ||
| Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close | William Black | ||
| 2013 | Broken City | Carl Fairbanks | |
| A Single Shot | Simon | ||
| The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | Beetee | ||
| The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete | Henry | ||
| 2014 | Ernest & Celestine | Grizzly Judge (voice) | English dub |
| Only Lovers Left Alive | Dr. Watson | ||
| The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | Beetee | ||
| 2015 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | ||
| The Good Dinosaur | Poppa Henry (voice) | ||
| 2018 | Monster | Mr. Harmon | |
| The Public | Mr. Anderson | ||
| Game Night | FBI Agent Ron Henderson | Uncredited[33] | |
| Age Out | Detective Portnoy | ||
| O.G. | Louis | ||
| Hold the Dark | Russell Core | ||
| 2019 | The Laundromat | Malchus Irvin Boncamper | |
| The Goldfinch | James "Hobie" Hobart | ||
| Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook | Narrator | ||
| 2020 | All Day and a Night | J.D. | |
| 2021 | The French Dispatch | Roebuck Wright | |
| No Time to Die | Felix Leiter | ||
| 2022 | The Batman | Jim Gordon | |
| 2023 | Asteroid City | General Gibson | |
| Atrabilious | Vincent Daugherty | ||
| Rustin | Adam Clayton Powell Jr. | ||
| American Fiction | Thelonious "Monk" Ellison | ||
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Separate but Equal | William Coleman | Television movie |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Sidney Bechet | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | New York Undercover | Andre Foreman | Episode: "Garbage" |
| 1997 | Homicide: Life on the Street | Hal Wilson | 3 episodes |
| 2001 | Boycott | Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Television movie |
| 2003 | Angels in America | Norman "Belize" Arriaga / Mr. Lies / Homeless Man / The Angel Europa |
6 episodes |
| 2005 | Lackawanna Blues | Mr. Paul | Television movie |
| 2007 | American Experience | Narrator | Episode: "New Orleans" |
| 2012 | House | Dr. Walter Cofield | Episode: "Nobody's Fault" |
| 2013–2014 | Boardwalk Empire | Valentin Narcisse | 11 episodes |
| 2016 | The Venture Brothers | Think Tank (voice) | Episode: "Tanks for Nuthin" |
| Confirmation | Charles Ogletree | Television movie | |
| BoJack Horseman | Cuddlywhiskers / Father (voice) | 3 episodes | |
| 2016–2022 | Westworld | Bernard Lowe / Arnold Weber | Main role |
| 2017 | She's Gotta Have It | Purple "ITIS" Voice (voice) | Episode: "#NolasChoice (3 DA HARD WAY)" |
| 2019 | Sesame Street | Bernard Lowe | Segment: "Respect World" |
| Green Eggs and Ham | McWinkle (voice) | 13 episodes | |
| Rick and Morty | Tony (voice) | Episode: "The Old Man and the Seat" | |
| 2020 | Finding Your Roots | Himself | Episode: "This Land is My Land"[34] |
| The Daily Show with Trevor Noah | Narrator | Episode dated 28 August 2020 | |
| 2021–present | What If...? | The Watcher (voice) | Main role[35] |
| 2023 | Digman! | (voice) | Episode: "The Grail" |
| I Am Groot | The Watcher (voice) | Episode: "Groot and the Great Prophecy"[36] | |
| TBA | Ark: The Animated Series | Henry Townsend (voice) | [37] |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Last of Us Part II | Isaac Dixon | Voice; Also motion capture |
Audio
| Year | Title | Role | Production company | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | The Sandman: Act II | Destiny | Audible | [38] |
| 2021 | Batman: The Audio Adventures | Batman/Bruce Wayne | Blue Ribbon Content |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Author | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Belize / Mr. Lies | Tony Kushner | Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway |
| 1993 | Angels in America: Perestroika | Belize / Mr. Lies / Council of Principalities | ||
| 1996 | Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk | Da Voice | Reg E. Gaines | Ambassador Theatre, Broadway |
| 2002 | Topdog/Underdog | Lincoln | Suzan-Lori Parks | |
| 2010 | A Free Man of Color | Jacques Cornet | John Guare | Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway |
Awards and nominations
References
- ↑ . "Jeffrey Wright". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2013. Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- ↑ Stated on Finding Your Roots, January 14, 2020
- ↑ Richards, David (February 12, 1988). "Barren 'Blancs'". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ↑ Horwitz, Simi (November 22, 2010). "Jeffrey Wright Preens in 19th Century New Orleans". Reuters. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ↑ "Basquiat". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
- ↑ Meza, Ed; Siegel, Tatiana (January 2, 2008). "'Bell' man takes on Bond". Variety. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ↑ Moaba, Alex (March 6, 2013). "Jeffrey Wright Joins 'Boardwalk Empire' And More Casting News". HuffPost.
- ↑ "Jeffrey Wright". Television Academy.
- ↑ Matyszczyk, Chris (March 26, 2017). "Is Dell claiming it's better than all that Apple magic?". CNET.
- ↑ Simkins, J. D. (November 15, 2018). "New HBO documentary puts a much-needed face to complex veteran struggles with PTSD". Military Times. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
- ↑ "I'm in Prison—And on HBO". The Marshall Project. March 1, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ↑ Travers, Ben (February 23, 2019). "'O.G.' Review: Jeffrey Wright Awes in a Meditative HBO Film Shot in a Working Prison". IndieWire. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ↑ Smith, Jamil (February 22, 2019). "Inside Man: 'O.G.' Star Jeffrey Wright on Life Behind Bars". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ↑ Travers, Ben (February 28, 2019). "Jeffrey Wright Made 'O.G.' in a Working Prison to Show the Thin Line Between Us and Them". IndieWire. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ↑ Paumgarten, Nick. "The Première of "O.G.," the Film Made Inside an Indiana Prison". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ↑ Kenigsberg, Ben (April 17, 2018). "17 Movies to Enjoy for the Tribeca Film Festival's 17th Edition". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ↑ Hawkins, Josh (June 22, 2020). "The Last of Us Part 2 voice actors and cast". Shacknews.
- ↑ Welk, Brian (July 20, 2019). "Jeffrey Wright to Play The Watcher in Marvel's 'What If...?' Animated Series". TheWrap. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
- ↑ "'The French Dispatch': How Jeffrey Wright Landed His Best Performance in Wes Anderson's Literary Tribute". IndieWire. October 26, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ↑ "Jeffrey Wright Biography (1965?–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
- ↑ "Carmen Ejogo: 'There's some kind of trauma at play'", The Independent, 4 September 2009 (retrieved 2 July 2015).
- ↑ "Carmen, Elijah & Juno Wright" alittlemuse.com, 7 September 2011 (retrieved 2 July 2015).
- ↑ "Actor Jeffrey Wright and family". bck online. August 31, 2009. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- ↑ Zahed, Ramin; "'Selma' allows Carmen Ejogo to play Coretta Scott King a second time", LATimes.com, 18 December 2014 (retrieved 26 December 2014).
- ↑ "20 celebrities and athletes who are Redskins fans". NBCSports.com. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
- ↑ Steinberg, Dan (September 24, 2013). "Jeffrey Wright defends 'Redskins' name". WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
- ↑ Amherst Magazine Summer 2004: College Row Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Amherst Magazine, Summer 2004
- ↑ "About Us". www.taiapeace.org. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ↑ "Jeffrey Wright". Oslo Freedom Forum. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ↑ Bergner, Daniel (January 16, 2014). "Jeffrey Wright's Gold Mine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ↑ Shaffer, Claire (May 4, 2020). "'The First Time': Jeffrey Wright". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ↑ "Mining in Africa for the 21st Century". Human Rights Foundation. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
- ↑ Bramesco, Charles (September 27, 2018). "Jeffrey Wright on Hold the Dark: 'I Was Worn Out, Physically and Mentally'". Vulture. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
- ↑ "Finding Your Roots: Meet Our Guests – Jeffrey Wright". PBS. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
- ↑ Mancuso, Vinnie (July 20, 2019). "Marvel's 'What If?' Announces Massive Voice Cast of MCU Stars & Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher". Collider. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- ↑ Babb, Tiffany (September 1, 2023). "I Am Groot season 2 cameo adds a cosmic heavyweight to MCU". PopVerse. Archived from the original on September 3, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ↑ Del Rosario, Alexandra (December 11, 2020). "'Ark: The Animated Series': Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh & Elliot Page Among Voice Cast Members In New Video Game-Inspired Show". Deadline Hollywood.
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (July 22, 2021). "'The Sandman: Act II' on Audible Premiere Date Set, James McAvoy Returns to Lead Star-Studded Cast". Variety. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
- ↑ Scott Feinberg (December 18, 2023). "Santa Barbara Film Fest: 'American Fiction' Star Jeffrey Wright Set for Montecito Award". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 29, 2023.