Robert Christopher Riley (born October 11, 1980) is an American film, television, and stage actor of

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

and Bajan descent. He is known for his role as Terrence Wall in the

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 Communic ...

television drama series '' Hit The Floor'' from 2013 to 2016, and for playing

Michael Culhane Michael Culhane is a fictional character from the ABC television series ''Dynasty'', created by Richard and Esther Shapiro. Portrayed by Wayne Northrop, the character is introduced in the series' 1981 pilot episode as the chauffeur of oil tycoo ...

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

's 2017 ''Dynasty'' reboot.

Early life

Riley was born and raised in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. His mother is from Trinidad and father is from Barbados. Riley attended

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of th ...

where he participated in the school's drama club and also played safety for the Engineers. He went to college and received his B.A. in Theater from

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Ep ...

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,3 ...

, in 2003. In 2006, he received his Masters in Theater from

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequ ...

. He played college football and wrote his first theatrical script which he also directed.

Career

From 2013 to 2016, Riley played Terrence Wall in the

television drama series '' Hit The Floor''. On

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, Riley played the role of Dave Robinson in ''Lombardi'' and starred in the 2009 production of

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 ...

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams. An adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", the play was written by him between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his p ...

'' as Brick, succeeding

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films '' Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema role ...

in the role. In 2014, he appeared as Jay "The Sport" Jackson in the

Old Globe Theatre The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which i ...

's production of television writer and producer Marco Ramirez's ''The Royale''. He also played Jared in the 2016 TV One movie ''Bad Dad Rehab''. In March 2017, Riley was cast in

's ''Dynasty'' reboot as chauffeur

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Games

Music Videos

Staff credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Robert Christopher 1980 births African-American male actors American male stage actors American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from New York City Lehigh University alumni Living people People from Brooklyn 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people