Sherman Augustus (born January 10, 1959) is an American actor, martial artist and former NFL player. He is best known for his roles as Nathaniel Moon in the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

series '' Into the Badlands'' and Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan in seasons 4 and 5 of ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

''. Augustus played professional football with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, and previously played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Northwestern College in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

with Jimmy Bridges. He is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in the martial art of Taekwondo.

Early life

Sherman Augustus was born on January 10, 1959, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Growing up, Augustus had severe

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

which made him afraid to leave home, so his parents enrolled him in

flag football Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

to help him overcome his illness and conquer his fears. Augustus attended Dorsey High School in the 1970s. He later attended Northwestern College where he majored in

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

Career

Acting

Following a knee injury that sidelined him, Augustus decided to retire from professional football and pursue a career in acting. Augustus contacted agent James Bridges Sr. and spent five years taking improv classes. In 1988, Augustus landed his first film role in Dennis Hopper's

Colors Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

. In 1996, Augustus played Rudy in Space Marines. On the set of the film, Augustus was approached by fight coordinator Philip Tan who encouraged him to pursue martial arts. In 2001, Augustus landed a role as "Well Dressed Black Man" in

Gore Verbinski Gregor Justin "Gore" Verbinski (born March 16, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing ''Mouse Hunt'', '' The Ring'', the first 3 ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, and '' Rango''. For '' ...

The Mexican ''The Mexican'' is a 2001 American romantic crime comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski. The film stars Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, with James Gandolfini, Bob Balaban, J. K. Simmons, and Gene Hackman in supporting roles. It tells th ...

. During filming he caught the attention of his co-star

James Gandolfini James John Gandolfini (; September 18, 1961June 19, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Tony Soprano, the Italian-American American Mafia, Mafia crime boss in HBO's television series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007 ...

who had watched him rehearsing and called several agents to vouch for his talent. From 2017 to 2019, Augustus played Nathaniel Moon in the

series Into the Badlands. Augustus was first introduced to the show during the airing of the first season in 2015, when his mother called him to ask him if he had seen the pilot episode, which he watched later that night. Disappointed that he had not been made aware of a martial arts television show, Augustus fired his manager and agent. During production of season 2, Augustus auditioned for the role of Nathaniel Moon with help from his friend, Tim Cogshell, and received a call informing him he had gotten the role four weeks later. He left on a flight to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

for filming the next day and didn't get the chance to read any scripts until he got on the plane. According to Augustus, the role was initially offered to Wesley Snipes but scheduling conflicts led to him being cast in the role instead. In 2022, Augustus joined the cast of the fourth season of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series

as Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan. Augustus has stated that he received a call from the show's casting director Carmen Cuba in 2019, which prompted him to watch the first three seasons of the show in preparation for his role. Augustus based his performance on real-life

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

military men Russel L. Honoré and

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

. He has also described his character as "a man with tremendous gravitas but very few words" and compared him to

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...

as John Smith in Last Man Standing. According to Augustus, after his first day of shooting the

Duffer Brothers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer (born February 15, 1984), often credited as the Duffer Brothers, are both American television writers, directors, and producers. The brothers are identical twins and work on all their projects as a pair. They are best ...

told him “Dude, that’s exactly what we wanted. We want this guy to come in and not say a word and command this room". In 2025, Augustus joined the cast of the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...

television series Lanterns as John Stewart's father John Stewart, Sr.

Writing

In 2024, Augustus and Tim Cogshell co-created and co-plotted ''Daughters of Django'', an independent

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

published by GenSeven Comics. The graphic novel follows Bapoto, Eloisa, and Antonia, three daughters of Django as they search for their father who has gone missing.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Augustus, Sherman 1959 births Players of American football from Minnesota American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male taekwondo practitioners American male soap opera actors African-American male actors San Diego Chargers players Minnesota Vikings players Susan Miller Dorsey High School alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people)