Daniel Sunjata

Daniel Sunjata (born Daniel Sunjata Condon; December 30, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series '' Rescue Me''.

Early life and education

Sunjata was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. He is the adopted son of Bill and Catherine Condon, a police dispatcher and a civil rights worker. His adoptive parents are of Irish and Italian-German descent. He is named in honor of the Mandinka king Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire; the name means "hungry lion." He was told his biological mother was a white teenager who had run away from home and his father was African-American. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, where he played linebacker for two state championship football teams. After attending Florida A&M University, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Fine Arts from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He is of African, German, and Irish descent.

Career

Sunjata played the role of a sailor on shore leave on the first post-9/11 themed episode of ''Sex and the City''. He portrayed poet Langston Hughes in the film '' Brother to Brother'' (2004) and James Holt, a fashion designer, in '' The Devil Wears Prada'' (2006).

He starred as firefighter Franco Rivera on the television program '' Rescue Me''. During the summer of 2007, he also starred in the ESPN miniseries '' The Bronx is Burning'' as Reggie Jackson. He appeared as a Special Forces Operative in Christopher Nolan's ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012).

In 2003, he won a Theatre World Award for his breakout Broadway performance as a gay Major League Baseball player who comes out to the public in ''Take Me Out'', the Tony award-winning play, which also earned him nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.

In 2010-2011, he played "Nurse Eli" on the TV series ''Grey's Anatomy'' and had a relationship with Dr. Miranda Bailey.

Beginning in 2013, he played FBI agent Paul Briggs on ''Graceland'', which aired on USA Network. The show was canceled in 2015 after 3 seasons.
He also starred as Mecca the past lover of Monique in Power Book 2 on Stars for season 2.

Sunjata starred in the ABC/Hulu series ''High Potential'', beginning in 2024. To date (February 18th, 2025,) he has been featured in all 13 episodes of the show.

Views on the September 11 attacks

On April 30, 2009, Sunjata announced that he would narrate '' Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup'', the last in the '' Loose Change'' documentary film series that advocates several conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks.Gil, Billy
"Microcinema Gets Rights to 'Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup
(), ''Home Media Magazine'', May 4, 2009. Producers of ''Rescue Me'' created a subplot of the show for that year's fifth season in which Sunjata's character, Franco Rivera, creates controversy in the firehouse when he tells a journalist that he, like Sunjata in real life, believes 9/11 was an inside job.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Games

Theater

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunjata, Daniel
1971 births
Living people
American male film actors
American male television actors
21st-century African-American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Male actors from Chicago
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Male actors from Evanston, Illinois
University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni
American adoptees
American people of Irish descent
American people of German descent
9/11 conspiracy theorists
Theatre World Award winners