Jeffrey Wright
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
After developing a prolific and acclaimed career on the stage, actor Jeffrey Wright quietly worked his way into the public consciousness in chameleon-like fashion, playing a wide range of roles in features and on television. Though he spent several years honing his craft off-Broadway and in regional theater, Wright staked his reputation with a Tony Award-winning performance in the widely acclaimed play, "Angels in America: Perestroika," which he later reprised almost a decade later in the highly lauded HBO miniseries. In between the play and the six-part movie, Wright built a resume that included deft performances as such divergent historical figures as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as an array of strong supporting roles in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" (1998) and "Shaft" (2000). After earning an Emmy for "Angels in America," Wright had finally broken through to the mainstream, earning meatier parts in "Syriana" (2005), "Casino Royale" (2006) and "W" (2008). The versatile actor continued to genre hop, jumping from the musical biopic "Cadillac Records" (2008) to the sci-fi thriller "Source Code" (2011) to the prescient political drama "The Ides of March" (2011) with impressive ease. During this period, he also gained mainstream success in the blockbuster "The Hunger Games" franchise, Pixar hit "The Good Dinosaur" (2015) and science-fiction cable drama "Westworld" (HBO 2016- ). While not the marquee draw of some of his contemporaries, Wright could always be counted upon to deliver a performance on par with the very best.
Born on Dec. 7, 1966 in Washington, D.C., Jeffrey Wright was raised by his mother, a customs lawyer, after his father died from unknown circumstances when he was a year old. When he was a kid, Wright was obsessed with sports, especially football, which he played in the Metropolitan Police Boys Club while attending Naylor Road School. When he was around nine, he received a so-called risk scholarship to attend St. Albans School, a private college preparatory school for boys, where he dealt with the pressures of being in a school filled with the children of the moneyed elite, while excelling at both sports and his studies. After graduating in 1983, he matriculated at Amherst College as a political science major with an eye towards becoming a lawyer. He did, however, make his first venture into acting in his senior year by doing his first play, despite having to overcome stage fright. In 1987, with his Bachelor's degree in hand, Wright returned home to appear in several productions at the Round House Theater, Arena Theater and even local schools. Though his mother held hopes that her son would become a lawyer - she even secured him a summer job at a law firm - Wright was determined to pursue an acting career.
In 1988, Zelda Fichandler, founding director of the Arena Theater, helped Wright obtain a full scholarship to New York University's graduate drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts. But after only two months in attendance, Wright dropped out, never to return. Meanwhile, he returned to the Arena theater, before performing at the Yale Repertory Theatre and in off-Broadway productions. Moving from stage to screen, he made his film debut with a bit part in "Presumed Innocent" (1990), which he followed with his first bow on the small screen, appearing in "Separate But Equal" (ABC, 1991), a two-part historical miniseries that dramatized the events leading up to the 1954 Supreme Court decision, "Brown vs. Board of Education," which ended segregation in public schools. As he made strides in front of the camera, including a small role in "Jumpin' at the Boneyard" (1991), Wright continued building an impressive stage resume, performing in productions of "Juno and the Paycock" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," in which he played a dreadlocked and streetwise Puck. Wright had one of his bigger television roles to date, playing early jazz musician Sidney Bechet in two feature-length installments of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" (ABC, 1991-93).
After having struggled on small stages while working as a bicycle messenger to make ends meet, Wright finally broke through with a sterling performance in the play "Angels in America: Perestroika," Tony Kushner's fantastical play about the AIDS crisis striking the gay community in New York City circa the mid-1980s. Wright played Belize, a former drag queen-turned-nurse who works at a hospital where several gay men, including a conservative man in denial about his homosexuality, are dying from AIDS. While the play was hailed by critics and won several awards, Wright was singled out among a stellar ensemble cast, winning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1994. Despite his onstage triumph, Wright still struggled to make his name on screen, though he continued to shine off-Broadway, essaying The Fool in F. Murray Abraham's "King Lear" (1996). This led theater director George C. Wolfe to cast him as "da Voice," the highly entertaining narrator of the acclaimed tap-dancing Broadway musical, "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk" (1996).
Wright finally had his chance to carry a film with a leading role when he played the radiant, but ultimately doomed young graffiti writer-turned-fine artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, in the biopic "Basquiat" (1996). Directed by independent filmmaker Julian Schnabel - who was also a friend of Basquiat's - the film gave Wright the palette to paint the portrait of a complicated and often misunderstood artist who became the darling of the New York art world - thanks to his discovery by Andy Warhol (David Bowie) - only to slip into drug addiction and mental depression that resulted in his untimely death. Wright continued to work steadily in film and television, including landing roles in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" (1998) and Ang Lee's independent Western "Ride with the Devil" (1999). After a brief appearance in a modern day adaptation of "Hamlet" (2000), starring Ethan Hawke as the melancholy heir of Denmark Corporation, Wright earned positive notices for playing a small time drug dealer looking to make it big in the remake of "Shaft" (2000), starring Samuel L. Jackson.
As the new millennium rolled around, Wright finally began to land more prominent roles in higher profile gigs more worthy of his considerable talents. Wright maintained the momentum of his burgeoning screen career playing a bartender who takes up with a mother (Ellen Barkin) whose daughter (Monica Keena) plots to murder her drunken stepfather (Michael Ironside) in the dreary "Crime and Punishment in Suburbia" (2000), a modern take on Fyodor Dostoyevski's classic novel. In "Boycott" (HBO, 2001), he earned rave reviews for his portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in this dramatization of the events surrounding the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. Also in 2001, Wright began performing in the Public Theater production of "Topdog/Underdog," Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about two African-American brothers (Wright and Don Cheadle) struggling to contend with the streets and their troubled lives. First staged off-Broadway, the play soon moved to Broadway, where Cheadle was replaced by Mos Def. Reviews at the time marveled at the energy between Wright and Mos Def, many of which claimed the two actors played off each other like real brothers.
Boosting his profile, Wright landed the part of Howard Bingham in "Ali" (2001), starring Will Smith as the legendary heavyweight prizefighter. Meanwhile, Wright reprised his stage role of nurse Belize for the critically acclaimed and multi-award winning television miniseries version of "Angels in America" (HBO, 2003), appearing alongside the likes of Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson. Directed by Mike Nichols, the epic six-part miniseries was a major triumph for the cable network, earning 11 Emmy awards atop of six wins at the Golden Globes. Wright figured into the equation, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, and a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. Back on the big screen, he had a small role in the straight-to-video crime thriller "Detox" (2002), followed by narrating the Civil Rights documentary "With All Deliberate Speed" (2004), a look at how Brown v. Board of Education failed to stem discrimination because many districts continued under-funding schools in African-American communities.
After a short, but unnerving performance as Cpl. Al Melvin in Jonathan Demme's disappointing remake of "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), Wright played Small Paul, a soft-spoken history buff who is rumored to have killed someone in "Lackawanna Blues" (HBO, 2005), an autobiographical drama based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson's Obie-winning play about his growing up in a boarding house run by a woman (S. Epatha Merkerson) who became the caregiver of lost souls. In Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" (2005), Wright had a supporting role a crime novel enthusiast who fancies himself a detective and convinces his neighbor (Bill Murray) to go on a road trip after being shown a letter from an ex-girlfriend claiming to be the mother of his long-lost son. Wright followed with a strong supporting performance in the sprawling ensemble epic about oil and geopolitical power, "Syriana" (2005), playing a Washington, D.C. lawyer helping to broker a merger between two oil company giants, despite their shady business dealings. He next appeared in the much-maligned "Lady in the Water" (2006), playing a delusional tenant of an apartment building where a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) suddenly appears in the pool. In danger of being killed by demon-like creatures, the nymph tries to get back to her world with the help of the building's superintendent (Paul Giamatti) and his motley tenants.
Wright next joined an excellent supporting cast in "Casino Royale" (2006), the 21st installment of the James Bond series and the first to star blonde Daniel Craig, whose cold and calculating take on Ian Fleming's super agent hit closer to the author's original vision of the character. Wright played Felix Leiter, a CIA mole who, along with MI6 operative Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), helps Bond take down a banker for terrorists (Mads Mikkelsen) in a high-stakes card game in Montenegro. Anticipation was high prior to the film's November 2006 release, with most critics agreeing that "Casino Royale" was one of the best in the long-running series. After starring in "Blackout" (BET Networks, 2007), a dramatization of the massive power outage in the northeast in 2003, Wright landed supporting roles in "The Invasion" (2007) and "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007). Meanwhile, he joined an all-star ensemble cast for one of the most controversial films of the early 21st century, playing former Secretary of State General Colin Powell in Oliver Stone's "W" (2008), a surprisingly even-handed look at the troubled life and presidency of George W. Bush (Josh Brolin). Wright followed with a reprisal of CIA operative Felix Leiter in the next Bond film, "Quantum of Solace" (2008).
Continuing his streak of impressive film roles for the year, Wright portrayed blues guitar legend Muddy Waters in "Cadillac Records" (2008), a musical docudrama about the founding of the influential Chess Records, co-starring Adrien Brody and Beyoncé Knowles. After some time away from movie screens to enjoy a brief return to the stage, the actor reappeared as the genius creator of the timeline altering "Source Code" (2011), in a sci-fi thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Vera Farmiga. That same year, the in-demand Wright played an influential U.S. senator in "The Ides of March" (2011), a timely political drama produced, co-written and directed by its star George Clooney. Rounding out the season, he turned up as a man connected to a mystery left behind by a 9/11 victim (Tom Hanks) for his son (Thomas Horn) in the coming-of-age melodrama "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (2011) prior to delivering a turn as a disapproving contemporary of the titular troubled doctor's in a final season episode of the medical drama "House M.D." (Fox, 2004-2012). After costarring in the drama "The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete" (2013), Wright next joined the cast of a popular Young Adult dystopia, co-starring in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013) and its two-part sequel "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" (2014) and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" (2015). In between, he co-starred in Jim Jarmusch's stylish vampire drama "Only Lovers Left Alive" (2014). Wright returned to television in a key role in the science fiction drama "Westworld" (HBO 2016- ).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Special Thanks (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1987
Returning to D.C. after graduation, appeared in several Arena Stage productions
1990
Feature acting debut, a bit part in "Presumed Innocent"
1991
Played a small role in "Jumpin at the Boneyard"
1991
TV acting debut, "Separate But Equal" (ABC)
1993
Played celebrated jazz musician Sidney Bechet in two installments of ABC's "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"
1993
Originated the role of Belize, Roy Cohn's nurse, in the Broadway play "Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika"
1996
Played The Fool to F Murray Abraham's "King Lear" off-Broadway
1996
First starring role in a film, "Basquiat"; played the celebrated but doomed graffiti artist
1996
Played da Voice on Broadway in "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk"
1999
Had featured role as a freed slave involved in the border skirmishes between Missouri and Kansas during the Civil War in "Ride With the Devil"
2000
Garnered attention portraying a flamboyant Dominican drug lord in "Shaft"
2001
Acted off-Broadway opposite Don Cheadle in "Topdog/Underdog"; moved to Broadway in 2002 opposite Mos Def
2001
Portrayed Howard Bingham in "Ali"
2001
Played Marting Luther King Jr. in the HBO original "Boycott"
2003
Recreated his award-winning stage role as nurse Belize in the Mike Nichols-directed adaptation of "Angels in America"; received a SAG nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie (2004)
2004
Starred in the remake of the 1962 thriller "The Manchurian Candidate"
2005
Co-starred with Bill Murray in Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers"; earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best Supporting Male
2005
Co-starred with Ben Stiller in "This Is How It Goes," a play by Neil LaBute about an interracial love triangle set in small-town America; performed at the Public Theater in New York
2005
Cast in the HBO original movie "Lackawanna Blues," based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson's autobiographical one man show
2005
Co-starred with George Clooney and Matt Damon in the geopolitical thriller "Syriana," based on the real-life memoirs of CIA agent Robert Baer; produced by Clooney
2006
Portrayed Felix Leiter, Bond's long time CIA friend in "Casino Royale," starring Daniel Craig as 007
2006
Co-starred in M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" with Bryce Dallas Howard and Paul Giamatti
2007
Co-starred with Bruce Willis in "Live Free or Die Hard," the fourth "Die Hard" film in long-running franchise
2008
Portrayed American blues musician Muddy Waters in musical biopic "Cadillac Records"
2008
Reprised role of Felix Leiter in "Quantum of Solace"; second collaboration with Craig as Agent 007
2008
Portrayed former Secretary of State Colin Powell in Oliver Stone's controversial film "W."
2011
Landed featured role in "Source Code" opposite Jake Gyllenhaal
2011
Cast opposite Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in 9/11 drama "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," Stephen Daldry's feature adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel
2011
Cast in "The Ides of March" with George Clooney, who also directed, co-wrote, and produced
2013
Acted with Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe in crime drama "Broken City"
2013
Played Valentin Narcisse on 20 episodes of HBO's period gangster drama "Boardwalk Empire"
2015
Reprised his role as Beetee in "The Hunger Games: Mockingly - Part 2"
2015
Voice the role of Poppa in the Pixar film "The Good Dinosaur"
2016
Voiced the role of Cuddlywhiskers on the Netflix animated series "BoJack Horseman"
2016
Joined the ensemble cast of HBO's sci-fi western series "Westworld"
2018
Appeared in the crime drama "Friday's Child"
2018
Co-starred with Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Ehle in crime drama "Monster"
2018
Was cast in the drama "The Public"
Family
Companions
