Roger Guenveur Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Berkeley, California, U.S. | July 27, 1955
Education | |
Occupation(s) | Actor, director, writer |
Years active | 1988–present |
Spouses |
|
Children | 4 |
Roger Guenveur Smith (born July 27, 1955) is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee. [1]
Smith was born on July 27, 1955, in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guenveur, a dentist, and Sherman Smith, a judge. He attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, and graduated from Occidental College (American Studies) in Los Angeles. He then studied at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he successfully auditioned for the Drama School and switched his pursuit of a graduate degree in history. Additionally, Smith studied at the Keskidee Arts Centre in London, England.
In film, Smith has collaborated with Spike Lee on several works. He has appeared in films such as School Daze , [1] Do the Right Thing , [1] King of New York , Panther, Malcolm X , Poetic Justice , Get on the Bus , Eve's Bayou , He Got Game , and Summer of Sam . During the 1990s, he had a recurring role on A Different World .
In 1996, he starred in the self-written and produced A Huey P. Newton Story , a one-man theatre performance based on the life of Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton. Smith received an Obie Award, and a performance was later filmed by Spike Lee and released in 2001.
In addition to his performances in major studio productions, Smith continues to work in and support independent film projects. In 2003, he had a starring role in the Steven Soderbergh/George Clooney TV series K-Street on HBO. Also in 2003, Smith read in the HBO documentary, Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives; the film, based on interviews conducted by the WPA in the 1930s with formerly enslaved African Americans, is a compilation of slave narratives with actors emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. Smith was also the voice of Bao-Dur in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords . He portrayed a corrupt detective in the martial arts/crime film Fist of the Warrior , alongside Ho-Sung Pak and Sherilyn Fenn. Smith starred with Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum in the 1992 film Deep Cover . He also played a villain in All About the Benjamins (2002) with Ice Cube. In 2000, he portrayed Agent Schreck in the first installment of the Final Destination horror films. In 2006, he played the main villain in the straight-to-video actioner Mercenary for Justice , opposite Steven Seagal. Smith was in the 2007 film American Gangster with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, in which he played the role of "Nate", Frank Lucas's army connection in Vietnam. Most recently he played the role of "Isaiah" in the 2016 film The Birth of a Nation, a film about the life of Nat Turner.
Smith also had a recurring role in the hit HBO series Oz .
Juan and John, written and performed by Guenveur Smith, is based on baseball's most famous fight--San Francisco Giants pitcher Juan Marichal clubbing John Roseboro of the Los Angeles Dodgers with his bat during a 1965 battle for the pennant at Candlestick Park—which traumatized the playwright as a child. [2]
Smith portrayed American black leader Booker T. Washington in the 2020 Netflix miniseries Self Made, based on the life of Madame C. J. Walker.
Smith works and resides in Los Angeles, California, and also resides in New York City. He is divorced from Carolina Smith, the mother of his adult daughter. He and his wife, LeTania Kirkland Smith, have three children. [3]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | School Daze | Yoda | |
1989 | Do the Right Thing | Smiley | |
1990 | King of New York | Tanner | |
1992 | Deep Cover | Eddie | |
1992 | Malcolm X | Rudy | |
1993 | Poetic Justice | Heywood | |
1995 | Panther | Pruitt | |
1995 | Tales from the Hood | Rhodie | |
1996 | Get on the Bus | Gary | |
1997 | Eve's Bayou | Lenny Mereaux | |
1997 | Oz | Huseni Mershah | |
1998 | He Got Game | Big Time Willie | |
1999 | Summer of Sam | Detective Curt Atwater | |
1999 | Facade | Henson | |
2000 | Final Destination | Agent Schreck | |
2001 | A Huey P. Newton Story | Huey P. Newton | TV movie |
2002 | All About the Benjamins | Julian Ramose | |
2003 | Shade | Marlo | |
2004 | Justice | Carter | |
2004 | Joy Road | Charles Blocker | |
2006 | Fatwa | Samir Al-Faied | |
2006 | Mercenary for Justice | Anthony Chapel | Video |
2006 | Confessions | Father Jeffrey | |
2006 | God's Waiting List | Solomon Corbin | |
2007 | Fist of the Warrior | Det. Craig Barnes | |
2007 | I Believe in America | Cesar | |
2007 | The Take | Dr. Phineas | |
2007 | American Gangster | Nate | |
2007 | Cover | Kevin Wilson | |
2009 | Fighting | Jack Dancing | |
2009 | The Rothstein Diamond | Walter | |
2010 | Caller ID | Blake | |
2010 | Mooz-Lum | Hassan Mahdi | |
2010 | Better Mus' Come | Prime Minister | |
2011 | The Son of No One | Hanky | |
2011 | CornerStore | Earl | |
2011 | Abduction | Mr. Miles | |
2011 | Lost Revolution | Cesar | |
2012 | In the Hive | Paris | |
2013 | Water & Power | Turnvill | |
2013 | They Die by Dawn | Jourdon Anderson | |
2015 | Dope | Austin Jacoby | |
2015 | Dutch Book | Cornelius Parks | |
2015 | But Not for Me | Raymond Little | |
2015 | Supermodel | Max | |
2015 | Chi-Raq | Red, White, and Blue Insurance Salesman | |
2016 | The Birth of a Nation | Isaiah | |
2016 | Dirty | Detective Berg | |
2016 | Why Lie? Beer, Woman, Chicken Wings | Dubs Miguel | |
2017 | Bitch | Steven Sheriff | |
2017 | The Queen of Hollywood Blvd. | Duke | |
2017 | The Clapper | Dr. Rogers B. Hay | |
2017 | Rodney King | Rodney King | |
2017 | Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks | Paul Sydney | |
2017 | Marshall | Walter White | |
2018 | The Choir Director | Trustee Jonathan Smith | |
2018 | No More Mr Nice Guy | El Gato | |
2018 | The Other Side | Martin | |
2018 | Burning Shadow | Mr. Jones | |
2018 | I'll See You Around | Michael Gomez | |
2018 | Behind the Movement | Rosa Parks husband | |
2020 | Carl Weber's Influence | Bradley Hudson | |
2022–23 | All Rise | Judge Marshall Thomas | |
2022 | Till | Dr. T.R.M. Howard |
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, producer, and director. In a career spanning over four decades, Washington has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and two Silver Bears. He was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and in 2020 The New York Times named him the greatest actor of the 21st century. In 2022, Washington received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Edward Allen Harris is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman Show (1998), Pollock (2000), and The Hours (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations.
Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie, John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbury in St. Elmo's Fire, Alex in Cybermutt, Joe Hunt in Billionaire Boys Club, Nick Peretti in New Jack City, Billy Beretti in Empire, and Jack Richmond in the television series Suddenly Susan.
Marcus Scott Chong is an American actor. He is known for playing Miguel Mendez in the short-lived crime drama, Street Justice (1991–1993), real-life activist Huey P. Newton in Panther (1995), directed by Mario Van Peebles, and most notably, Tank in The Matrix (1999), directed by The Wachowskis.
Courtney Bernard Vance is an American actor. He started his career on stage before moving to film and television. Vance has received various accolades, including a Tony Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Gerald Lee McRaney is an American television and film actor. McRaney is best known as one of the stars of the television shows Simon & Simon, Major Dad, Promised Land and House of Cards. He most recently starred as Admiral Hollace Kilbride on NCIS: Los Angeles. He was a series regular in the first season of Jericho and the final season of Deadwood. He appeared in a recurring role as main antagonist Mason Wood in season eight of Castle. Recently, he played Barlow Connally in the A&E series Longmire and had a recurring role in the NBC series This Is Us as Dr. Nathan Katowski, a role which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
Barry Robert Pepper is a Canadian-American actor. He played Private Daniel Jackson in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Corrections Officer Dean Stanton in The Green Mile (1999), Roger Maris in 61* (2001), Joseph L. Galloway in We Were Soldiers (2002), Sergeant Michael Strank in Flags of Our Fathers (2006), DEA Agent Cooper in Snitch (2013), Vince in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), Lucky Ned Pepper in the remake of the western True Grit (2010) and David Keller in Crawl (2019). He has been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award. For his role as Robert F. Kennedy in the miniseries The Kennedys (2011), Pepper won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
He Got Game is a 1998 American sports drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. The film revolves around Jake Shuttlesworth, father of the top-ranked basketball prospect in the country, Jesus Shuttlesworth. Jake, in prison for killing his wife, is released on parole for a week by the state's governor to persuade his son to play for the governor's alma mater in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.
Bokeem Woodbine is an American actor. In 1994, he portrayed Joshua, the eponymous character's troubled brother, in Jason's Lyric. He won a Black Reel Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for his role as Kansas City mob enforcer Mike Milligan in the second season of Fargo. Woodbine also portrayed Daniel in season 2 of the WGN series Underground, Herman Schultz/Shocker in the film Spider-Man: Homecoming, and saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman in the Oscar-winning Ray Charles biopic Ray.
Michael Andrew Jace is an American convicted murderer and former character actor, best known for his role as Los Angeles Police Officer Julien Lowe in the FX drama The Shield. He also played Andre Tibbs, an ex-convict mover accused of murder, in an episode of Cold Case.
Panther is a 1995 cinematic adaptation of Melvin Van Peebles's novel Panther, produced and directed by Mario Van Peebles. The drama film portrays the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, tracing the organization from its founding through its decline in a compressed timeframe. It was the first narrative feature-film to depict the Black Panther Party.
Michael Groo Massee was an American actor. Active on screen during a three decade career, he frequently portrayed villainous characters. His film roles include Funboy in the dark fantasy The Crow (1994), Newton in the horror anthology Tales from the Hood (1995), Andy in the neo-noir Lost Highway (1997), and the Gentleman in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and its 2014 sequel. Massee also voiced Bruce Banner in the first two entries of Marvel Animated Features in 2006. On television, he played Ira Gaines on the first season of the Fox action drama 24 (2001–2002), Isaiah Haden on the NBC fantasy mystery Revelations (2005), Dyson Frost on the ABC science fiction drama FlashForward (2009–2010), and sadistic serial killer "Dr." Charles Hoyt on the first two seasons of the TNT police procedural Rizzoli & Isles (2010–2013).
A Huey P. Newton Story is a 2001 American film adaptation directed by Spike Lee. The movie was created, written and performed, as a solo performance, by Roger Guenveur Smith at The Joseph Papp Public Theater. In this performance, Smith creates a representation of the activist Huey P. Newton's life and time as a person, a citizen and an activist. During the performance, images are shown up-stage from activist movement era. The simple arrangement of Smith sitting in a chair stage-center makes the audience focus on the dialogue of the performer. Smith captures the attention of the audience throughout the film by putting into play his solo performance skills. Smith's idea for the performance originated in 1989 and took root as a stage play in 1996. Smith's performance attempted to show a shy individual that Huey P. Newton believed himself to be. He did not consider himself a charismatic person, although he had made many contributions to his community. Smith shows Newton as a conservative individual who is disgusted by having microphones and cameras close to him.
Jamie Hector is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield on the HBO drama series The Wire and as Detective Jerry Edgar in the drama series Bosch.
Shawn Doyle is a Canadian actor known for his roles in The Expanse, The Eleventh Hour, Big Love, 24, Desperate Housewives, and Star Trek: Discovery.
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives is a 2003 American documentary film about the stories of former slaves interviewed during the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project and preserved in the WPA Slave Narrative Collection. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. The slave narratives may be the most accurate in terms of the everyday activities of the enslaved, serving as personal memoirs of more than two thousand former slaves. The documentary depicts the emotions of the slaves and what they endured. The "Master" had the opportunity to sell, trade, or kill the enslaved, for retribution should one slave not obey.
Jay Huguley is an American film, TV and theatre actor, best known for playing David on AMC's The Walking Dead, and Jimmy Ledoux on HBO's True Detective.
The following is a list of unproduced Spike Lee projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director and producer Spike Lee has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects, fell in development hell or are officially canceled.
Rodney King is a 2017 American one-man show directed by Spike Lee and written by and starring Roger Guenveur Smith. The film is a one-man show where Roger Guenveur Smith does a multiplicity of voices, alternately taking and opposing Rodney King's side.
The Big Cigar is an upcoming American biographical drama thriller miniseries developed by Jim Hecht, based on the 2012 Playboy article of the same name by Joshuah Bearman. The series willl premiere on Apple TV+ on May 17, 2024.