Evan Olav Ross-Næss (born August 26, 1988) is an American actor and musician. He made his acting debut in the comedy-drama film '' ATL'' (2006), and has since starred in the films ''

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

'' (2007), '' According to Greta'' (2009), '' Mooz-lum'' (2010), '' 96 Minutes'' (2011), '' Supremacy'' (2014), and '' The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'' (2014) and '' Part 2'' (2015). On television, Ross had a recurring role as Charlie Selby in the season 3 of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

's teen drama series '' 90210'' and a regular role as Angel Rivera in the season 2 of Fox's musical drama series ''

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

.'' Ross also starred on ABC's procedural drama series '' Wicked City'' as Diver Hawkes. As a musician, he released his first single "Yes Me" in February 2011, and his second single "How To Live Alone" in May 2015. Ross is the son of

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

and shipping magnate and mountaineer Arne Næss Jr. He has been married since 2014 to singer-songwriter Ashlee Simpson, with whom he has two children.

Early life

Ross was born Evan Olav Næss in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

, to businessman and mountaineer Arne Næss Jr., who was Norwegian, and entertainer

, who is African-American. His paternal great-uncle was Norwegian philosopher

Arne Næss Arne Dekke Eide Næss ( ; ; 27 January 1912 – 12 January 2009) was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term "deep ecology", an important intellectual and inspirational figure within the environmental movement of the late twentieth cent ...

. Ross' parents divorced in 2000. He has one older full brother, Ross Næss, and three older maternal half-sisters, Rhonda, whose biological father is

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

, and Tracee and Chudney from his mother's marriage to Robert Ellis Silberstein. He also has three older paternal half-siblings from his father's first marriage, Christoffer, Katinka, and Leona, and two younger paternal half-brothers from his father's third marriage, Nicklas and Louis. In January 2004, Ross' father was killed at age 66 in a mountain climbing accident near

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Career

Acting

Ross began his career as an actor while a student at

Greenwich High School Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students. It offers over 295 courses and a wide variety of co-cu ...

. His first major role was in the film, '' ATL'', released in March 2006, in which he co-starred with rappers

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

and

Big Boi Antwan André Patton (born February 1, 1975), known professionally as Big Boi, is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Atlanta, he was one half of the Southern hip-hop duo Outkast along with rapper ...

. Ross received rave reviews for his role as troubled teenager Amare McCarter in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, 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 business unit is based a ...

television film ''

Life Support Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform bas ...

'', starring alongside

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, and actress. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe ...

and his real-life half-sister Tracee Ellis Ross, who portrayed his elder sister in the film. Ross later co-starred in the biographical film ''

'', in which he portrayed a good-natured teen with a

speech impediment Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is co ...

. He also appeared (uncredited) in an episode of '' Girlfriends''. The episode, titled "What's Black-A-Lackin'?", also guest-starred

Chrisette Michele Chrisette Michele Payne (born December 8, 1982) is an American R&B and soul singer. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song " Be OK" (featuring will.i.am). She was previously signed to Motown Recor ...

, and was directed by his half-sister Tracee. Evan Ross 2008

Ross has appeared in several other films, including the thriller '' Linewatch'' with Cuba Gooding, Jr. (2008), the drama '' Gardens of the Night'' (2008), and the crime drama film '' Life Is Hot in Cracktown'' (2009). He then starred as Julie, the love interest of

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer, author and businesswoman. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hilary Duff, various accolades, including a World Music Awards, World Mus ...

's character, in the 2009 comedy-drama film '' According to Greta''. Ross has also appeared in The Notorious B.I.G. music video for the song " Nasty Girl" (2005), and the

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

music video for the song " Just Go" (2009). In 2010, Ross joined the cast of

's teen drama series '' 90210'' in its third season, portraying Liam Court's ( Matt Lanter) half-brother and the love interest to Annie Wilson, played by Shenae Grimes. That same year, he appeared in '' Case 219'', and the critically acclaimed film festival winner '' Mooz-lum'', also starring

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

and

Nia Long Nia Talita Long ( ; born October 30, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her work in Black cinema, Long rose to prominence after starring in the film '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), and for her portrayal of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on the N ...

. He then starred in the comedy-drama '' The Family Tree'' (2011) and co-starred alongside

Brittany Snow Brittany Anne Snow (born March 9, 1986) is an American actress. She came to prominence for her role in the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'' (1998–2001), for which she won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress and was nominated for two o ...

in the thriller '' 96 Minutes'', which was released April 28, 2012, in select theaters. Ross won the Breakout Acting Award at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

for his performance in the film. In 2012, Ross had a supporting role in the Jay and

Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996, for which they wrote and directed ''The ...

-directed comedy-drama '' Jeff, Who Lives at Home''. The following year, he portrayed music producer

Dallas Austin Dallas L. Austin (born December 29, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, and film producer from Columbus, Georgia. Biography Early life During a 2019 interview with DJ Vlad, Dallas Austin detailed previously unknown or unconfir ...

in the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

biopic '' CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story'', about the 1990s

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

girl group

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

(the film was named after their second album '' CrazySexyCool''). He then appeared in the drama film '' All the Wilderness'' (2014), which premiered at SXSW; the Courteney Cox-directed comedy-drama '' Just Before I Go'' (2014), which premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

; and the drama film '' Supremacy'' (2014), which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Also in 2014, Ross portrayed the role of Messalla in '' The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'', released on November 21. He reprised the role in '' Mockingjay – Part 2'', which was released on November 20, 2015. In July 2015, he joined the cast of ABC's crime drama series '' Wicked City'', portraying crime scene paparazzo Diver Hawkes, replacing

Darrell Britt-Gibson Darrell Hadari Britt-Gibson is an American actor, known for his role as Darius "O-Dog" Hill on the HBO series ''The Wire''. He has also appeared on the Showtime series '' Californication'', the Starz series '' Power'', the FX series ''You're t ...

in the role. Beginning in 2017, Ross had a major role as Angel Rivera in the second and third seasons of Fox's drama series ''

''. In 2018, Ross starred in a reality show alongside his wife Ashlee Simpson Ross called '' Ashlee+Evan'', which lasted 6 episodes.

Music

In 2007, Ross began recording his debut album, which was expected to encompass R&B and pop. After four years in the studio, Ross released his single "Yes Me" on February 25, 2011, which was produced by Tony DeNiro and written by DeNiro and Ross. On December 5, 2014, Ross released a sneak preview of another song, "How To Live Alone", on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account. Ross released the song as a single, featuring rapper

, on May 14, 2015. In 2016, Ross was featured on DJWS & Hero's song, "They". Ross also recorded the duets, "Don't Look At Me" and "All I Want" for the series ''Star'' with Brittany O'Grady. In 2017, Ross was featured on "Restricted" by Kronic. In 2018, Ross became one-half of the duo,

Ashlee + Evan Ashley is a given name which was originally an English language, Old English Ashley (surname), surname. It is derived from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words ''wikt:æsc#Old English, æsċ'' (Fraxinus, ash) and ''wikt:leah, lēah'' (clearing, me ...

, with his wife. The pair released a duet collaboration, ''

'', on October 12, 2018.

Personal life

Ross became engaged to singer-songwriter Ashlee Simpson in January 2014, and the two were married that year on August 30 at his mother's estate in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. They have two children together, a daughter born in 2015 and a son born in 2020, and Ross is the step-father of Simpson's son with her previous husband, musician

Pete Wentz Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician who is the bassist and lyricist for the rock band Fall Out Boy. Before the band's formation in 2001, Wentz was a fixture of the Chicago hardcore scene and was the lead si ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Evan Ross
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Evan Olav 1988 births Living people 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American musicians American male film actors American male television actors American people of German descent American people of Norwegian descent American people of Danish descent Male actors from Greenwich, Connecticut Musicians from Greenwich, Connecticut 21st-century American male musicians Greenwich High School alumni 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people