Hill Harper

Hill Harpost
Hill Harper takes a question from the audience at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, Missouri.
Born	Frank E. Harper (1966-05-17) May 17, 1966 Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Other names	F. Hill Harper
Occupation(s)	Actor, author
Years active	1993–present

Frank Eugene Hill Harper (born May 17, 1966), known professionally as Hill Harper, is an American film, television and stage actor, and author. An alumnus of Harvard Law School, he is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in the television series CSI: NY from 2004 to 2013.

Early life

Harper was born in Iowa City, Iowa, the son of Harry Harper, a psychiatrist, and Marilyn Hill, who was one of the first black practicing anesthesiologists in the United States. He has been acting since the age of 7. Harper graduated from Bella Vista High School in 1984, then graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and also graduated with a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During his years at Harvard, he was a full-time member of Boston's Black Folks Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed black theater troupes in the country. While a student at Harvard, Harper befriended President Barack Obama. Harper and Obama met on the basketball court and became good friends during their first year as law students.

Although Harper obtained a J.D. and M.P.A., he chose to use neither and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2009 by Westfield State College. Born Francis Harper, he adopted the name "Hill" as tribute to both his maternal and paternal ancestors.

Acting career

Harper broke into both film and television in 1993, doing recurring work on the Fox series Married... with Children and making his film debut in the short Confessions of a Dog. He had his first substantial role in a feature in Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), which cast him as a UCLA film student riding a bus to the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. He went on to further demonstrate his versatility in such films as Christopher Scott Cherot's Hav Plenty (1997) and Lee's He Got Game (1998), the former of which featured him as an egotistical pop-soul singer.

His profile subsequently rose on both the mainstream and independent film circuits, thanks to roles in films ranging from Beloved (1998) to the independent romantic comedy Loving Jezebel (1999) to The Skulls (2000), an entry into the teen thriller genre. Harper did some of his most acclaimed work in Jordan Walker-Pearlman's The Visit (2000), an independent drama in which he starred as a prisoner dying of AIDS who tries to put his life back together.

His best-known role to date is that of coroner-turned-crime scene investigator Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the CBS crime drama CSI: NY. He worked in the series for nine seasons. He also portrayed Leshem in the 2010 Syfy original movie Stonehenge Apocalypse.

In February 2013 it was announced that CSI: NY would be ending and Harper would be joining the cast of Covert Affairs as a series regular.

Writing career and political advocacy

Harper is the author of several books: Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny, was published in 2006, Letters to a Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny, was published in 2008; The Conversation: How Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships, was published in 2010. His fourth book, The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place, was published in 2011, and his fifth book, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones was published in 2013. In January 2008, he participated in "Yes We Can", a music video supporting Barack Obama, produced by will.i.am. Harper is a member of the Obama for America National Finance Committee.

As of October 2009, Hill has made several contributions to political candidates, exclusively to Democrats. Harper endorsed the 10,000 Bookbags back to school backpack campaign to help local disadvantaged children with Urban Change Ministries founder Pastor Jay Cameron of the Life Center and R&B singer Ginuwine. Harper stated that he is a fiscal conservative when he appeared on the political talk show Hannity on September 10, 2009.

Awards and recognition

In the fall of 2008, Harper was initiated as a brother of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity with his line brothers Dr. Naim Akbar of Florida State University and former NFL player LeMarcus Newman.

Harper won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for three consecutive years (2008–2010) for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY. Previously he had been nominated for the award for three consecutive years (2005–2007), for the same character. In 2000, he had also been nominated for the award, for his role in the medical drama City of Angels. On January 9, 2014 his book Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction.

Personal life

While writing his fourth book, Hill was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After treatment, he was given a clean bill of health.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993–1994	Married... with Children	Aaron Mitchell	5 episodes
1994	Walker, Texas Ranger	B.J. Mays	Episode 2.01 "Badge of Honor"
1994	Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings	Peter	Direct to video
1994	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Dana	Episode 5.11 "Will Steps Out"
1995	Live Shot	Tommy Greer	All 13 episodes
1996	Get on the Bus	Xavier	Film
1996	NYPD Blue	Bo-Bo Thomas	Episode 3.10 "The Blackboard Jungle"
1997	Steel	Slats	Film
1997	Hav Plenty	Michael Simmons	Film
1998	The Nephew	Chad Egan-Washington	Film
1998	Beloved	Halle	Film
1998	He Got Game	Coleman 'Booger' Sykes	Film
1998	Mama Flora's Family	Don	TV movie
1998	Park Day	Steve Johnson	Film
1999	In Too Deep	Breezy T.	Film
1999	Loving Jezebel	Theodorous	Film
1999	Slaves of Hollywood	Fisher Lovelace	Film
2000	City of Angels	Dr. Wesley Williams	All 24 episodes Nominated: Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2000)
2000	The Skulls	Will Beckford	Film
2000	The Visit	Alex Waters	Film Won: Method Fest Award for Best Actor (2000) Nominated: Black Reel Award for Best Actor (2000), Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead (2000)
2002	The Court	Christopher Bell	TV series
2002	The Twilight Zone	Professor John Woodrell	Episode 1.03 "Shades of Guilt"
2003–2004	The Handler	Darnell	All 16 episodes Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Television Actor (2003)
2003	Love, Sex and Eating the Bones	Michael Joseph	Film
2004	CSI: Miami	Dr. Sheldon Hawkes	Episode 3.23 "MIA/NYC NonStop"
2004	Soul Food	Kelvin Chadway	Episodes 5.03 "The Son Also Rises" and 5.08 "Angelitos Negros"
2004	The Sopranos	Stokley Davenport M.D.	Episode 5.05 "Irregular Around the Margins"
2004–2013	CSI: NY	Dr. Sheldon Hawkes	All 197 episodes Won: Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2008), (2009), (2010) Nominated: Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2005), (2006), (2007), (2011), (2012)
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Ruben, Jr. (Adult)	TV movie
2005	The 4400	Edwin Mayuya	Episode 2.09 "Rebirth"
2005	Constellation	Errol Hickman	Film
2006	Max and Josh	Josh	Film short (also co-wrote)
2006	The Breed	Noah	Film
2006	Premium	Ed	Film
2008	This Is Not a Test	Carl	Film
2008	A Good Man Is Hard to Find	Damion Marshall	Direct to video
2009	The Game	Himself	Episode 3.17 "Hill Street Blues"
2010	Stonehenge Apocalypse	Joseph Lesham	TV movie
2010	For Colored Girls	Donald	Film
2011	Mama, I Want to Sing!	Jeff Andrews	Direct to video
2013	Miss Dial	Political Nutcase	Film
2013–present	Covert Affairs	Calder Michaels	16 episodes (so far)
2013	The Volunteer	Phil	Film
2013	1982	Tim Brown	Film
2014	Parts Per Billion	Rick	Film (Post-production)
2015	The Boy Next Door	Headmaster	Film (Filming)

External links

• Manifest Your Destiny
• Hill Harper at IMDb
• Hill Harper – CSI: NY Cast at CBS
• Hill Harper at the CSI: NY Fan Wiki