Sherwin David "Wood" Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor. He has portrayed the drug kingpin

Avon Barksdale Avon Randolph Barksdale is a fictional character in the American television series ''The Wire'', played by Wood Harris. Barksdale is one of the most powerful drug dealers in Baltimore, Maryland, and runs the Barksdale Organization. Stringer Bell, ...

on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

crime drama ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2, ...

'', cocaine dealer Ace in '' Paid in Full'' and high school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 film ''

Remember the Titans ''Remember the Titans'' is a 2000 American biographical sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on the true story of coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denze ...

''. He is also known for playing Brooke Payne on the BET miniseries ''

The New Edition Story ''The New Edition Story'' is an American biographical three-part miniseries about the R&B group New Edition, from their rise to fame as a boy band from the Orchard Park Projects of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to becoming a successful adult act. It w ...

'' in 2017. From 2016 to 2017, he played Barry Fouray on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

miniseries '' The Breaks''. Most recently, Harris portrayed Damon Cross on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve s ...

series ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' for its fifth and final sixth season. Currently, Wood Harris is starring as drug lord "Pat" in the Starz series '' BMF'' alongside Demetrius Flenory Jr. and his older brother, Steve Harris.

Early life and education

Harris was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the son of seamstress Mattie and bus driver John Harris. He was given the nickname "Wood" by friends in his neighborhood, because "Sherwin" was too difficult for some to pronounce. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in

Theater Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

from

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a Public university, public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of ...

(NIU) and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, t ...

. He is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris.

Career

While enrolled in NIU, Harris starred in his first major film role in the basketball drama '' Above the Rim'', opposite

Duane Martin Duane Martin (born August 11, 1965) is an American actor. Early life and education Martin was born in Brooklyn, New York, and he graduated from New York University. He played NCAA Division III basketball at NYU and was signed as an undrafted ...

and co-starring

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

, and appeared in many theatrical stage productions of various off-Broadway plays. Harris subsequently guest-starred in a variety of television and film venues before portraying legendary rock guitarist

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

in Showtime's 2000 film, ''Hendrix''. Later that year, Harris received his first

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

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 ''

''. In 2002, he starred in the Dame Dash produced cult-classic film '' Paid in Full'', based on the true story of three Harlem drug dealers with Harris playing the real-life kingpin

Azie Faison Azie Faison Jr. (born November 11, 1964), sometimes known by the nickname "AZ", is an American former drug dealer and businessman who attained notoriety during the War on Drugs era as an individual drug dealer in New York. His five-year reign as ...

. He starred as

, loosely based on the real-life

Nathan Barksdale Nathan "Bodie" Barksdale (1961 – February 13, 2016) was a Baltimore, Maryland, stick up kid dramatized in the HBO series ''The Wire'', although the extent to which any of the show's characters or plot lines are based on his life is disputed. His ...

, in the first three seasons of

's original series ''

'', as well as one episode in the fifth season. He also produced his own debut album, ''Beautiful Wonderful'', which was intended for release in 2005. In June 2008, director Martin Guigui revealed that Harris was cast as Nate "Sweetwater" Clifton in ''Sweetwater'', a movie about the first black player in the NBA. , it is still in pre-production. In 2009, Harris starred in the film ''Just Another Day'', as a successful fictional rapper named A-maze. The film centers on a clash between a young up-and-coming rapper and an older one at the top of his game, the former played by

Jamie Hector Jamie Hector (born October 7, 1975) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'' and as Detective Jerry Edgar in the drama series '' Bosch''. Career Hector began acti ...

(whose character

Marlo Stanfield Marlo Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO television drama ''The Wire'', played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ambitious, intelligent and ruthless gangster and head of the eponymous Stanfield Organization in the Baltimore ...

had a similar role with respect to Harris's character in ''The Wire''). In 2012, Harris narrated the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

film ''

Benji Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise. Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an unca ...

''. In the same year he also played Harold "Mitch" Mitchell in the Broadway revival of ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

; alongside Blair Underwood,

Nicole Ari Parker Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film '' The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went o ...

, and

Daphne Rubin-Vega Daphne Rubin-Vega ( Vega; born November 18, 1969) is a Panamanian-American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for originating the roles of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical '' Rent'' and Lucy in the Off-Broadway play '' ...

. In 2015, he reunited with ''The Wire'' cast member

Michael B. Jordan Michael Bakari Jordan (; born February 9, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama ''Fruitvale Station'' (2013), boxer Adonis Creed in ''Creed'' (2015), and Erik Killmonger in ''Bla ...

for '' Creed'', the latest installment of the ''Rocky'' franchise, reprising the role in its sequel.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Wood 1969 births Living people African-American male actors American male film actors American male television actors Tisch School of the Arts alumni Northern Illinois University alumni Male actors from Chicago 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors