Wood Harris
| Wood Harris | |
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| Born | Sherwin David Harris October 17, 1969 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1994–present |
Sherwin David "Wood" Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO television drama The Wire, and as high-school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 motion picture Remember the Titans.
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[edit] Life and career
Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mattie, a housewife, and John Harris, a bus driver.[1][2] He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Theater Arts from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a Master of Arts from New York University. He is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris. While enrolled in NYU, Harris starred in his first major film role in the basketball drama Above the Rim, starring opposite Tupac Shakur, and appeared in many theatrical stage productions of various off-Broadway plays.
Harris was awarded the New York Film Festival's 1st Run Best Actor Award for his portrayal of "Derrick 'D-Train' Trainer" in Morningside Prep, a thirty minute short movie directed by rising filmmaker, Malcolm Lee. He subsequently guest starred in a variety of television and film venues before portraying legendary rock guitarist, Jimi Hendrix in Showtime's 2000 movie, Hendrix.
Later that year, Harris received his first NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture along with the Blockbuster Movie Award nomination for Favorite Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as Julius "Big Ju" Campbell in Remember The Titans. In 2002, he starred in the Dame Dash produced cult-classic film, Paid in Full, based on the true story of three legendary Harlem drug kingpins.
He starred as Avon Barksdale in the first three seasons of HBO's original series The Wire. He also produced his own debut album, Beautiful Wonderful, which was intended for release in 2005. Harris returned to his role as the ruthless drug kingpin Avon Barksdale for one episode in the fifth and final season of The Wire.
In June 2008 director Martin Guigui revealed on his production blog[3] that Harris was cast as Nate "Sweetwater" Clifton in Sweetwater, the movie about the first black player in the NBA.
In 2009 Harris had a major role in the film Just Another Day, where he played a successful rapper named A-maze. The film is about the clash between a young up-and-coming rapper and an older one at the top of his game.
[edit] Filmography
- Just Another Day (2009)- A-Maze
- Sweetwater (2009)- Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton
- Dough Boys (film) (2009)- Julian France
- Next Day Air (2009)- Guch
- MVP (2009)- Tony Smalls
- Not Easily Broken (2009)- Darnell Gooden
- Jazz in the Diamond District (2008)- Gabriel Marx
- 4 Life (2007)- Dayvon
- The Heart Specialist (2006/2011)- Dr. Sidney Zachary
- Southland Tales (2006)- Dion Element
- Dirty (film) (2005)- Brax
- Paid in Full (2002)- Ace
- The Wire (2002–08) (TV series)- Avon Barksdale
- The Gold Cup (2000)- Clayton
- Remember the Titans (2000)- Julius Campbell
- Hendrix (2000) (TV)- Jimi Hendrix
- Are You Cinderella? (short film) (2000)
- Committed (2000)- Chicky
- Rhapsody (2000) (TV)- Billy Dixon
- Train Ride (2000)- Will
- Spenser: Small Vices (1999) (TV)- Ellis Alves
- The Siege (1998)- Officer Henderson
- Celebrity (1998)- Al Swayze
- As Good as It Gets (1997)- Cafe 24 busboy
- Above the Rim (1994)- Motaw
[edit] Guest TV appearances
- Hawaii Five-0 (2010)- Russell Ellison
- Southland (TV series) (2010)- Trinney Day
- House (2008)- Bowman
- Numb3rs (2007)- Murphy 'Pony' Fuñez
- The Twilight Zone (2003)- Dwayne Grant/Marvin Gardens
- New York Undercover (1998)- Shadow
- Cosby (1997)- Tony
- Oz (1997)- Officer Gordon Wood
- NYPD Blue (1996)- Hector
