Eriq La Salle
| Eriq La Salle | |
|---|---|
 La Salle at the 1995 Emmy Awards |
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| Born | Erik Ki La Salle July 23, 1962 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor/Director |
| Years active | 1985–present |
Eriq La Salle (born Erik Ki La Salle, July 23, 1962) is an American actor and director, known for his portrayals of Darryl in the 1988 comedy film Coming to America and Dr. Peter Benton on the NBC drama series ER.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
La Salle, one of four children, was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut by his mother, Ada Haynes.[1] La Salle studied at Juilliard for two years, then moved on to New York University's Graduate Acting Program in 1984,[2] but did not complete either degree. After leaving school, he was cast in the first of several productions for Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park theater company. Soon after, he found continuous acting work on Broadway, off-Broadway and in the daytime TV drama One Life to Live as reporter Mike Rivers.
In 1988 Eriq starred in Eddie Murphy's breakthrough movie Coming to America. He played Lisa's 'slick' and obnoxious boyfriend Darryl with an even slicker 'Soul Glo' haircut.
[edit] Career
In 1994 the medical drama ER premiered on NBC with La Salle starring as Dr. Peter Benton. He held the role until leaving during the eighth season. In 2009, La Salle returned to ER for two episodes (including the series finale) during its 15th and final season. He also returned to direct one episode.[3] He also had a supporting role as Detective Anderson in the 1994 murder mystery thriller Color of Night.
In 1996, La Salle directed and acted in the HBO made-for-TV movie Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault, starring Don Cheadle. After ER, La Salle had relatively small roles in movies such as One Hour Photo and also directed for Soul Food: The Series on Showtime.
La Salle played a Jamaican gangster in the independent film Johnny Was [4] opposite Vinnie Jones, Samantha Mumba, Lennox Lewis, and Roger Daltrey. La Salle lived in Belfast for four weeks filming the movie, which he supported recently[when?] at the North American premiere of the film, at the American Black Film Festival in Miami.
La Salle directed and starred in the movie Crazy As Hell. He has directed two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[5]
After a fairly extensive absence from acting, La Salle starred in the Hallmark Channel original movie, Relative Stranger, which premiered on March 14, 2009. Also in the movie were La Salle's former ER castmates Michael Michele (Dr. Cleo Finch) and Michael Beach (Al Boulet).
In 2010 he played the United Nations Secretary General in the series finale of 24. He guest starred in an episode of Covert Affairs in August 2010.
In 2011 he played the psychiatrist E-Mo in A Gifted Man
in 2011 LaSalle appeared in some episodes of HBO's How to Make it In America. As a West Indian Caribbean Community Leader who rallied against the product Rasta Monsta..
[edit] References
- ^ Eriq La Salle Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ^ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". 2011. http://gradacting.tisch.nyu.edu/object/ga_alumbios.html. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
- ^ Eriq La Salle Back in the ER — to Direct" TV Guide. November 5, 2008. Retrieved on November 5, 2008.
- ^ MySpace.com - Johnny Was - 37 - Garçon - LOS ANGELES, California - www.myspace.com/johnnywasmovie
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005113/#Director
[edit] External links
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- 1962 births
- Actors from Connecticut
- African American actors
- African American film actors
- African American television actors
- African American television directors
- American film actors
- American film directors
- American members of the Churches of Christ
- American television actors
- American television directors
- Juilliard School alumni
- Living people
- New York University alumni
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People from Hartford, Connecticut
