Jeffrey Wright Biography

Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor.

Early life

Wright was born in Washington, D.C., to a mother who worked as a customs lawyer and a father who died when Wright was a child. He graduated from St Albans School and attended Amherst College, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science and planning to attend law school; however, he decided to study acting instead. After attending New York University for two months, he left to become a full-time actor.

Career

Wright began appearing off-Broadway in New York City and Washington DC, and in 1990, he appeared in his first major film as an attorney in Presumed Innocent, which starred Harrison Ford. In 1991, Wright joined John Houseman's national touring repertory company The Acting Company with productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Athol Fugard's Blood Knot. Wright continued with his stage performances and in 1994 was cast 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 the homophobic Roy Cohn as he lay dying from AIDS won him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

In 1996, Wright portrayed painter Jean-Michel Basquiat in the film Basquiat. Wright's performance was again critically acclaimed. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Wright appeared in both leading and supporting roles in such films as Celebrity (1998), Ride with the Devil (1999), Shaft (2000), and Boycott (2001), where he gave an AFI Award-winning performance as Martin Luther King, Jr.. In 2003, Wright reprised his role as Norman "Belize" Arriaga in HBO's award-winning adaptation of Angels in America. His performance garnered him an Emmy award as well as a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries. In 2004, he appeared in Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In February 2005, Wright returned to HBO Films in Lackawanna Blues. He also guest starred on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Homicide: Life on the Street.

Among his other film roles was Washington attorney Bennett Holiday in Syriana (2005). The same year, he played Bill Murray's eccentric Ethiopian neighbor Winston in Broken Flowers. In 2005, he starred in the play This Is How It Goes. He also appeared as one of the tenants in Lady in the Water. In 2006, Wright was featured as Felix Leiter in the James Bond movie Casino Royale. He reprised the role in Quantum of Solace.

In 2007, Wright starred in the alien invasion suspense thriller The Invasion. In 2008, he portrayed Colin Powell in W. He portrayed Muddy Waters in Cadillac Records, a biopic, loosely about the rise and fall of Chess Records. 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.

Wright has also been announced as playing Beetee in The Hunger Games films, starting with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which is due to start filming in September 2012.

He also landed the role of Dr. Valentin Narcisse in season 4 of Boardwalk Empire, starting in the fall of 2013.

Personal life

Wright married actress Carmen Ejogo in August 2000. They have a son named Elijah and live in Brooklyn, New York. In 2004, Wright received an honorary degree from his alma mater, Amherst College.

Wright has been a longtime activist working to end resource-related conflicts. In 2011, Wright established Taia Lion Resources, a mineral exploration company focused on ethical and sustainable mining in Sierra Leone. In August 2012, Wright's conflict-free mining philosophy was highlighted in a video by the Enough Project.

Filmography

Film

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	Producer
2008	W.	Colin Powell
	Quantum of Solace	Felix Leiter
	Cadillac Records	Muddy Waters
2009	One Blood	Dan Clark	Producer
2011	Source Code	Dr. Rutledge
	The Ides of March	Senator Thompson
	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	William Black
2013	Broken City	Carl Fairbanks
	A Single Shot	Simon
	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Beetee
	The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete	Henry	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Separate But Equal	William Coleman
1993	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Sidney Bechet	2 episodes
1994	New York Undercover	Andre Foreman	1 episode
1997	Homicide: Life on the Street	Hal Wilson	3 episodes
2001	Boycott	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2003	Angels in America	Belize
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Mr. Paul
2007	American Experience	Narrator	1 episode
2008	Independent Lens	Bobby Seale	1 episode
2011	House	Dr. Walter Cofield	Season 8, Episode 11: "Nobody's Fault"
2013	Boardwalk Empire	Dr. Valentin Narcisse	Season 4

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2002	AFI Awards	AFI Actor of the Year " Male " Movie or Mini-Series	Boycott
2002	Black Movie Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role	Syriana
2002	Black Reel Awards	Network/Cable - Best Actor	Boycott
2004		Television: Best Supporting Actor	Angels in America
2005		Best Supporting Actor	The Manchurian Candidate
2006		Best Supporting Actor " Television	Lackawanna Blues
		Best Supporting Actor	Syriana
2008		Best Supporting Actor	Cadillac Records
		Best Ensemble
2012	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Acting Ensemble	The Ides of March
2012	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards	Best Acting Ensemble	The Ides of March
2007	Chicago International Film Festival	Career Achievement Award
2006	Chlotrudis Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Broken Flowers
2004	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Angels in America
2004	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television	Angels in America
2002	Image Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	Boycott
2006		Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	Lackawanna Blues
2009		Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Cadillac Records
2012		Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	The Ides of March
1997	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Debut Performance	Basquiat
2006		Best Supporting Male	Broken Flowers
2005	NAMIC Vision Awards	Best Dramatic Performance	Angels in America
2005	San Diego Film Critics Society Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Broken Flowers
2002	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film	Boycott
2004		Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Angels in America
2004	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Angels in America
1994	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actor in a Play	Angels in America: Perestroika
2002		Best Actor in a Play	Topdog/Underdog
2000	Toronto Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Performance, Male	Shaft (tied with Tobey Maguire for Wonder Boys)