Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks (born October 25, 1980) is an American actor and former fashion model. He is known for his roles as Matthew Applewhite in the second season of ABC's series ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'' (2005–2006), Jerome in '' The Game'', "Eggs" Benedict Talley in the first and second seasons of

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 ...

's series '' True Blood'', his leading role as Terrance "TK" King in the USA series '' Necessary Roughness'' (2011–2013) and James Olsen in the CBS/

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 ...

series ''Supergirl''. Since 2022, he has portrayed the lead role of

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

Detective Jalen Shaw on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

police procedural drama ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

''.

Early life

Brooks was born and raised in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, where he attended L.C. Anderson High School. Brooks is the son of ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

'' editorial writer Alberta Phillips and former pro football player Billy Brooks; his stepfather is lawyer Gary Bledsoe. After graduating from high school in 1999, he attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

's School of Cinema-Television. Brooks mentioned on a September 2010 episode of ''

The Wendy Williams Show ''The Wendy Williams Show'' (often shortened to ''Wendy'') is an American Broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams, and produced by Wendy Williams Productions, along with Perler Productions. The show was d ...

'' that he turned down

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

scholarships and offers from

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

schools in favor of going to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

. He then left to pursue an acting career.

Career

Brooks' early work includes being a

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer. In 1968, he launched the company that later became Calvin Klein. In addition to clothing, he has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery. ...

underwear model. In 2004, Brooks played a high school basketball player who was killed by a teammate's father on the series ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'' (season 1, episode 17). From 2005 to 2006, Brooks played the role of Matthew Applewhite on the ABC TV drama ''

''. He appeared in '' Glory Road'', portraying Harry Flournoy, an athlete at Texas Western University when the five starting black players beat Kentucky for the national championship. He acted in the 2007 film '' In the Valley of Elah''. He starred opposite Tia Mowry as her boyfriend, Jerome, on the TV series '' The Game'' in 2008. In 2009, he appeared on FOX's TV series '' Dollhouse''. Brooks played Benedict "Eggs" Talley in the second season of HBO's '' True Blood''. Beginning January 2010, he appeared as attorney Malcolm Bennet in the now-canceled ABC series '' The Deep End''. He plays the "new boyfriend" in a recent State Farm Insurance television commercial alongside former ''The Game'' co-star Gabrielle Dennis. Brooks appeared in the ABC documentary-style

dramedy Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series ''

My Generation "My Generation" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. One of the band's most recognizable songs, it was placed number 11 by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the " 500 Greatest S ...

'', which premiered in Fall 2010. The show was canceled after only two episodes. He was among the cast on the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

series '' Necessary Roughness'' which debuted on June 29, 2011. The show featured Brooks as Terrence "TK" King, a football player for the New York Hawks whose anger issues cause his team to require him to see a therapist. In 2013, ''Necessary Roughness'' was cancelled. Brooks guest starred in the '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' episode as Prince Miller, a basketball superstar who was molested as a child by his coach, and a guest role on J. J. Abrams' show ''

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate Strait. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fo ...

'' as a bomb disposal expert. In 2013, Brooks was featured in a

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...

for the

Center for Reproductive Rights The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization, headquartered in New York City, that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reprod ...

. From the series premiere until his departure in the fourth episode of the fifth season, Brooks played James Olsen on the CBS/

drama ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

'' as a series regular. On October 20, 2017, he released his debut single, "Tears Away". In 2019, he was announced to portray

Jax Briggs Jackson Briggs, known mononymously as Jax, is a character in the ''Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Introduced in '' Mortal Kombat II'' (1993) as the leader of a Special Forces unit, he became a m ...

for the ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'' reboot released on April 23, 2021. In June 2022, it was announced that Brooks would be joining the cast of the long-running crime series ''

'' as Detective Jalen Shaw in season 22.

In the media

He appeared in the July 2010 issue of '' GQ'', alongside Emanuela de Paula.

Personal life

He is the son of former NFL

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Billy Brooks. Brooks has stated in an interview with

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

that he is an avid player of video games, including the ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

'', ''

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

'', and '' Madden'' series. His older twin brother, Billy Brooks IV, was a regular on the now defunct Spill.com and currently guests on its successor Double Toasted. He was in a relationship with '' Creature'' co-star Serinda Swan until their break up in 2011.

Filmography

Films

Television

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Interview
at LIFETEEN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Mehcad 1980 births 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male models from Texas Living people Male actors from Austin, Texas Models from Austin, Texas USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni African-American male models American male models American male television actors American male film actors 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people