Damon Gupton Biography

Damon Jamal Gupton (born January 4, 1973) is an American actor and orchestral conductor, best known for his television roles as Charles Foster on Deadline, Evrard Velerio on Prime Suspect, Adam Page on The Divide, Calvin Walker on Empire, and Cal Brown on The Player. He has also co-starred in the films The Last Airbender (2010) and Whiplash (2014).

Early life and education

Gupton was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan, where he directed a musical ensemble, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Music Education. He received the Emerging Artist Award from the University's School of Music and Alumni Society. He also graduated in drama from Juilliard School in New York. Gupton studied conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin. He later attended the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C., studying with Leonard Slatkin.

Career

Gupton's first film appearance was in the 2002 drama Unfaithful.

In 2004 he was an American Conducting Fellow at the Houston Symphony, and he was assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony in 2006. He was a guest conductor with various orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, as well as Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Orchestra of Tokyo, and the Orquesta Filarmonica de UNAM. He was the conductor of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra during its national tour, including performances at Carnegie Hall. He won Mexico City's third International Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition, the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize and The Aspen Conducting Prize. He was named a Presidential Professor by the University of Michigan in January 2009.

In 2012, Gupton performed in the Broadway production of the play Clybourne Park, receiving an AUDELCO nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

In September 2012, Gupton landed the lead role on the short-lived AMC drama series The Divide, playing District Attorney Adam Page. Gupton joined the cast of the NBC procedural drama series The Player in February 2015, co-starring as Detective Cal Brown alongside Wesley Snipes. On December 3, 2015, he was cast in the recurring role of psychiatrist Gregg Edwards on the fourth season of A&E's drama-thriller series Bates Motel.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Unfaithful	Other Businessman
2006	Helen at Risk	Pearson	Short film
2007	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead	Doctor
2010	The Last Airbender	Monk Gyatso
2012	This Is 40	Colonoscopy Technician
2014	Whiplash	Mr. Kramer
2015	Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story	Leonard Herring
2016	La La Land	Harry

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Law & Order	Sammy Morris	Episode: "Merger"
2000	The Loretta Claiborne Story	Sam Claiborne	Television film
2000	Third Watch	Carter	Episode: "Just Another Night at the Opera"
2000-01	Deadline	Charles Foster	13 episodes
2002	Hack	Mark Simmons	Episode: "Slippery Slope"
2006	Drift	Sal Bianca M.E.	Television film
2006	Conviction	Keith Watts	Episode: "Indebted"
2009	The Unusuals	Wiley Probst	Episode: "Crime Slut"
2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Detective Gearhardt	2 episodes
2010	Strange Brew	Lester Lewis III	Unsold pilot
2011-12	Prime Suspect	Evrard Velerio	13 episodes
2012	The Newsroom	Sutton Hall	Episode: "Bullies"
2014	Rake	Marcus Barzmann	5 episodes
2014	Suits	James Quelling	2 episodes
2014	The Divide	Adam Page	8 episodes
2015	Empire	Calvin Walker	4 episodes
2015	The Player	Detective Cal Brown	9 episodes
2016	Bates Motel	Dr. Gregg Edwards	7 episodes
2016	Criminal Minds	SSA Stephen Walker	Upcoming season
2016	Goliath	Leonard Letts	Upcoming series