Eriq La Salle
Eriq La Salle | |
|---|---|
La Salle at the 1995 Emmy Awards | |
| Born | Erik Ki La Salle July 23, 1962 |
| Education | New York University (BFA '84) |
| Occupation | Actor/Director |
| Years active | 1985–present |
Eriq La Salle (born Erik Ki La Salle, July 23, 1962) is an American actor, director, writer and producer known for his portrayals of Darryl in the 1988 comedy film Coming to America and Dr. Peter Benton on the NBC drama series ER.
Early life and education
La Salle, one of four children, was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut by his mother, Ada Haynes.[1] He is an alumnus of the Artists Collective, Inc. in Hartford. He attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 13 (1980–1984)[2] for two years, then attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree[3] in 1984.[4][5]
Career
At the time of his graduation from NYU, La Salle was cast in Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park production of Henry V.[3] Soon after, he found continuous acting work on Broadway, off-Broadway and in several daytime TV dramas including One Life to Live, where he played the reporter Mike Rivers.
In 1988, La Salle starred in Eddie Murphy's breakthrough movie Coming to America.
In 1994 the medical drama ER premiered on NBC with La Salle starring as Dr. Peter Benton. He held the role until leaving during the eighth season. In 2009, he returned to ER for two episodes (including the series finale) during its 15th and final season. He also returned to direct one episode.[6]
He then played a Jamaican gangster in the independent film Johnny Was[7] opposite Vinnie Jones, Samantha Mumba, Lennox Lewis, and Roger Daltrey. La Salle lived in Belfast, for four weeks while filming the movie, which he supported at the North American premiere of the film in 2006, at the American Black Film Festival in Miami.
He also starred in the Hallmark Channel original movie, Relative Stranger, which premiered on March 14, 2009. Also in the movie were Cicely Tyson as well as La Salle's former ER castmates Michael Michele (Dr. Cleo Finch) and Michael Beach (Al Boulet).
In 2010, La Salle played the United Nations Secretary General in the series finale of 24 and guest-starred in an episode of Covert Affairs in August of the same year.
In 2011, he played two recurring roles - one as a Caribbean community leader who rallied against the product Rasta Monsta in HBO's How to Make it In America, the second as the neuropsychiatrist E-Mo in CBS' A Gifted Man.
In 1996, La Salle made his directorial debut in the HBO made-for-TV movie Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault, starring Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones and Forest Whitaker, in which La Salle also played a pivotal role. Shortly after that, La Salle also directed the pilot for Soul Food: The Series on Showtime.
In 2002 he produced the feature film The Salton Sea with Val kilmer and in the same year, he produced, directed and starred in the movie Crazy As Hell and in 2003 he wrote, directed and starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Ever since, he has directed several episodics including multiple episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,[8] CSY New York, Ringer and A Gifted Man.
In 2012 he directed the the Hallmark movie Playing Father.
After several years writing screenplays, Eriq decided to take on a new challenge and expanded his horizons by writing his first novel. The task wasn’t easy, but, inspired by the role he played on the 1999 movie Mind Prey (which he also produced for ABC), he tackled the thriller genre with great success and 2012 published Laws of Depravity, the story of a serial killer who, in a 30-year murder spree has butchered 36 clergymen in twisted scenes reflecting the martyrdom of the twelve Apostles. The same M.O. -- Twelve murders. Every ten years. All of the victims preachers and priests. And now, the Martyr Maker is back.
The book is currently available exclusively on Amazon and is already getting great reviews. [citation needed]
References
- ^ Eriq La Salle Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ^ "Alumni News". The Juilliard School. April 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ a b "ER Cast Biographies". NBC. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni: Eriq LaSalle ('84)". NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
- ^ "Eriq La Salle". All Movie Guide. The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ Eriq La Salle Back in the ER — to Direct" TV Guide. November 5, 2008. Retrieved on November 5, 2008.
- ^ MySpace.com - Johnny Was - 37 - Garçon - LOS ANGELES, California - www.myspace.com/johnnywasmovie
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005113/#Director
External links
- 1962 births
- Actors from Connecticut
- African-American actors
- African-American film actors
- African-American television actors
- African-American television directors
- American film actors
- American film directors
- American members of the Churches of Christ
- American television actors
- American television directors
- Juilliard School alumni
- Living people
- New York University alumni
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People from Hartford, Connecticut