Harold Perrineau Biography

Harold Perrineau (born August 7, 1963) is an American actor, known for the roles of Michael Dawson in the U.S. television series Lost, Link in The Matrix films and games, Augustus Hill in the American television series Oz, and Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's [[Romeo + Juliet]]. He starred in ABC's comedy-drama television series The Unusuals, playing NYPD homicide detective Leo Banks and was cast as ruthless drug kingpin Damon Pope on the FX drama Sons of Anarchy. He has appeared in several other high-profile films, including The Best Man, 28 Weeks Later, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, and Zero Dark Thirty. He also starred alongside Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin in the survival drama The Edge.

Personal life

Perrineau was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Harold Williams and Sylvia Perrineau. His parents changed his name to Williams when he was seven. Harold later legally changed his name back to his birth name, after discovering there was already a Harold Williams in the Screen Actors Guild union. Perrineau attended Shenandoah University, but did not graduate. Perrineau and his wife, Brittany, have three daughters, Aurora Robinson Perrineau, born 1994, Wynter Aria, born on May 7, 2008, and Holiday Grace, born on March 21, 2013.

Acting career

In 1989, Perrineau was cast as the original Tyrone Jackson in the world premiere of the stage adaptation of the 1980 hit movie Fame (now known as Fame: The Musical) at the Walnut Street Theatre, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Perrineau took the role of Link in The Matrix series after the original operator Tank was written off the script when Marcus Chong was fired over money disputes. Lost co-star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje starred with Perrineau on the HBO series Oz.

Perrineau played the character Michael Dawson on ABC's hit show Lost. He was temporarily written off when his character left the island with his son at the end of season two and did not appear at all in season three. In July 2007, it was announced Perrineau would return to the main cast for the show's fourth season. However, this return was short lived, as the fourth season was his last as a regular cast member; Dawson died in the season finale. He made one guest appearance in the sixth and final season.

He stars also in 30 Days of Night: Dark Days along with Rhys Coiro, Mia Kirshner, Kiele Sanchez (also a Lost co-star), Diora Baird and Monique Ganderton.

Perrineau appeared in the 2008 music video, "Yes We Can".

Perrineau voiced the title character from Marvel's new Blade anime series on G4 January 2012. He has been cast to play the character of Damon Pope the main antagonist of Season 5 of the hit show Sons of Anarchy.

Perrineau starred as Stevie, the bass player, in the TBS comedy Wedding Band, which ran from 2012 to 2013.

Music

Since his debut single "Stay Strong" in 2007, Perrineau has also been working on his musical career, and is actively collaborating with music producer Tomo in der Muhlen, known as Tom Tom, on his soon-to-be-released debut album, Seeker. The first single, "Moving On," was released October 15, 2011. Having his creative roots on the stage, Perrineau enjoys doing live shows where he performs with a full band: two guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. He performed at Los Angeles club The Mint in April 2010. He also appeared in the MKTO - Thank You Music Video

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1988	Shakedown	Tommie
1990	King of New York	Thief on the subway
1995	Smoke	Thomas "Rashid" Cole	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Actor
1996	Blood and Wine	Henry
	[[Romeo + Juliet]]	Mercutio
1997	The Edge	Stephen
1998	Lulu on the Bridge	Bobby Perez
1999	The Best Man	Julian Murch	Nominated - Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
	Macbeth in Manhattan	The Chorus
2000	Woman On Top	Monica Jones
2001	Prison Song	Uncle Cee
2002	On Line	Moe Curley
2003	The Matrix Reloaded	Link
	The Matrix Revolutions	Link
2007	28 Weeks Later	Flynn
2008	Gardens of the Night	Orlando
	Ball Don't Lie	Jimmy
	Felon	Lt Jackson
2010	30 Days of Night: Dark Days	Todd
	The Killing Jar	John Smith
2011	Seeking Justice	Jimmy
2012	Transit	Losada
	Zero Dark Thirty	Jack
2013	Snitch	Jeffrey Steele
	Go for Sisters	Wiley
	Sexy Evil Genius	Marvin
	The Best Man Holiday	Julian Murch
Television Appearances
Year	Title	Role	Episodes
1989	The Cosby Show	Scott	Season 5 " "Dead End Kids Meet Dr. Lotus" (as Harold Perrineau Jr.)
1991"1993	I'll Fly Away	Robert Evans
1993	Law & Order	Kenny Rinker	1 episode
1997	ER	Isaac Price
1997"2003	Oz	Augustus Hill	55 episodes
2003	Dead Like Me	Aroun Levert	1 episode
2004"2006, 2008, 2010	Lost	Michael Dawson	61 episodes Won - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2007	CSI	Rev. Rhodes	1 episode
2009	The Unusuals	Detective Leo Banks
2010	CSI: NY	Reggie Tifford	S06E19
2012	Sons of Anarchy	Damon Pope	Season 5 antagonist
	Phineas and Ferb	Additional Voices
	Wedding Band	Stevie	Series regular
2013	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Rape Suspect	Season 14 (episode - "Secrets Exhumed")
	Growing Up Fisher	Fred	post-production
Video Game Voice-overs
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Enter the Matrix	Voice	Link