Clark Johnson

Clark Johnson (born September 10, 1954), is an American-Canadian actor and director who has worked in both television and film. He is best known for his roles as David Jefferson in ''Night Heat'' (1985–1988), Clark Roberts in ''E.N.G.'' (1989–1994), Meldrick Lewis in '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999) and Augustus Haynes in ''The Wire'' (2008).

Early years

Johnson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The family eventually moved to Canada. He has three siblings including jazz singer Molly Johnson and actress and singer Taborah Johnson.

Johnson attended Eastern Michigan University on a partial athletic scholarship for American football, but he was expelled after he was caught stealing food from the school cafeteria. He attended several other universities including the University of Ottawa and Loyola College/Concordia University, where he played Canadian football, before ending up at the Ontario College of Art as a film major. He was drafted by the Toronto Argonauts in the seventh round of the 1978 CFL Draft but ultimately did not play professionally.

Career

Johnson started in film doing special effects, including David Cronenberg's '' The Dead Zone''. This behind-the-scenes work often served as a "backup" for him during the early stages of his acting career.

He began performing in feature films in 1981, landing roles in the films ''Killing 'em Softly'', ''Colors'', '' Wild Thing'', ''Adventures in Babysitting'', and '' Nowhere to Hide''. He also acted in a number of television shows early in his career, including ''The Littlest Hobo'', ''Night Heat'', '' Hot Shots'' and ''E.N.G.'' He starred in the first episode of '' The Women of Brewster Place'' in 1989 as Butch Fuller.

''Homicide: Life on the Street''

In 1993, Johnson became part of the original cast of the television series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' playing Detective Meldrick Lewis for all seven seasons and the reunion movie, as well as directing several episodes. Johnson regularly improvised during filming and made up his own jokes and dialogue; writer and producer James Yoshimura called Clark the "king of the ad lib". Although the ensemble nature of the show meant that Johnson never played a minor role, he became an even larger presence after his character was paired with a new partner, Mike Kellerman (played by Reed Diamond). The two detectives became the central figures in a plot line surrounding a Baltimore drug lord whose financial resources and front as a devoted community servant make it nearly impossible for the police department to charge him. Johnson made the transition to director with the season four episode "Map of the Heart". He also directed "Betrayal", "Valentine's Day", "Full Court Press" and "The Twenty Percent Solution". David Simon, the author of the non-fiction book ''Homicide'' was based upon, as well as a writer and producer for the series, commented that the transition from actor to director was made easy by Johnson's familiarity with the show and that he was one of the better directors in terms of keeping the tone of the show consistent. In 2013, Johnson made a brief cameo as Lewis in the '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' episode "Wonderland Story" when the squad are at a retirement party for John Munch (Richard Belzer).

''The Wire''

Johnson worked on ''The Wire'', reuniting with writer David Simon. Johnson directed the pilot episode " The Target", second episode, fifth episode and the series finale. He plays Augustus Haynes, the dedicated and principled editor for ''The Baltimore Sun'' city desk.

''Alpha House''

In 2013, Johnson starred as Sen. Robert Bettencourt (R-PA) in Amazon's ''Alpha House'', a political comedy written by ''Doonesbury'' creator Garry Trudeau. Along with John Goodman, Johnson plays one of four Republican senators living together in a house on Capitol Hill. Johnson also directed the season finale for the show's first season. Johnson spent the summer of 2014 filming season two.

Directing

Johnson's other directing credits include the big-screen releases '' The Sentinel'' (2006) and ''S.W.A.T.'' (2003), and episodes of ''Third Watch'' as well as the HBO original production ''Boycott'' (2001), a project which he helmed and in which he also acted. He also directed the first episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 of the 2005 mini-series ''Sleeper Cell''. He also directed the first and last episodes of ''The Shield'', along with other episodes of that series.

Johnson directed the pilot episode of the FX drama '' Lights Out''. The series stars fellow ''The Wire'' cast members Pablo Schreiber and Reg E. Cathey and focuses on a retired heavyweight boxing champion.

Johnson is a guest instructor at HB Studio.

Selected filmography

Actor

*''Night Heat'' TV series as David Jefferson (recurring) (1985–1988)
* ''Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987) as Black Gang Leader
* ''Iron Eagle II'' (1988) as Graves
* '' Renegades'' (1989) as J.J.
*''E.N.G.'' TV series as Clarke Roberts (1989–94)
*'' Hammerman'' as Hammerman (1991)
*'' North of 60'' as Sonny Ross (1993)
*'' Homicide: Life on the Street'' TV series as Meldrick Lewis (1993–99)
*''Drop Zone'' (1994) as FBI Agent Bob Covington
*''Final Round'' (1994) as Trevon
*'' Soul Survivor'' as Busha (1995)
*'' The Planet of Junior Brown'' (1997)
*'' Deliberate Intent'' (2000)
*'' Homicide: The Movie'' as Meldrick Lewis (2000)
*''Love Come Down'' as Dean (2000)
*''S.W.A.T.'' as Deke's handsome partner (2003)
*''The Wire'' TV series as Gus Haynes (2008)
*''Nurse.Fighter.Boy'' as Silence (2008)
*''The Shield'' TV series as Handsome Marshal, Episode 7.13 "Family Meeting" (2008)
*''Defendor'' as Captain Fairbanks (2009)
*'' Unforgettable'' TV series as Clay Jacobs, Episode "Blind Alleys" (2012)
*'' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' TV series as Meldrick Lewis, Episode 15x05 "Wonderland Story" (2013)
*''Alpha House'' TV series as Senator Robert Bettencourt (2013–2014)
*'' Bird People'' (2014) as McCullan
*'' Hyena Road'' (2015) as General Rilmen
*''Magnum Opus'' as Robert Cochran (2017)
*''Brawl in Cell Block 99'' as Detective Watkins (2017)
*'' Bosch'' as Howard Elias (2018)
*'' Seven Seconds'' as KJ's father (2018)
*''222'' (Short) (completed) as The King of Hearts
*''Tammy's Always Dying'' (2019) as Doug
*''Evil'' (2019) as Father Amara

Director

*'' Homicide: Life on the Street'' TV series (1996–98)
**Episodes "Map of the Heart" (1996), "Betrayal" (1997), "Valentine's Day" (1997), "Full Court Press" (1998), "The Twenty Percent Solution" (1998)
*''Fast Track'' TV series (1997)
*''Welcome to Paradox'' TV series (1998)
*'' La Femme Nikita'' TV series (1998)
*'' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' TV series (1999)
**Episode "Sophomore Jinx" (1999)
*''NYPD Blue'' TV series (2000)
**Episode "Lucky Luciano" (2000)
*''The West Wing'' TV series (2000)
**Episode "Six Meetings Before Lunch" (2000)
*'' The Beat'' TV series (2000)
*''Third Watch'' TV series (2000)
**Episode "Nature or Nurture?" (2000)
*'' City of Angels'' TV series (2000)
*''The City'' TV series (2000)
*''Boycott'' (2001)
*''The Wire'' TV series (2002–08)
**Episodes 1.01 " The Target", 1.02 "The Detail", 1.05 "The Pager" (2002); Episode 5.10 "–30–" (2008)
*''The Shield'' TV series (2002–08)
**Episodes 1.01 "Pilot", 1.03 "The Spread", 1.05 "Blowback" (2002), 3.01 "Playing Tight", 3.02 "Blood and Water" (2004); 6.04 "The New Guy" (2007), 7.13 "Family Meeting" (2008)
*''S.W.A.T.'' (2003)
*''The Secret Service'' (2004)
*'' The Jury'' (2004)
**"Lamentation on the Reservation" (2004)
*''N.Y.-70'' (2005)
*''Sleeper Cell'' TV series (2005–06)
**Episode "Al-Faitha" (2005), "Al-Bagara" (2006)
*'' The Sentinel'' (2006)
*''Memphis Beat'' TV series (2010–11)
**Episode 1.01 "It's All Right Mama"
*''King'' TV series (2011)
**Episodes 1.01 "Lori Gilbert", 1.02 "T-Bone"
*''Homeland'' TV series (2011)
**Episodes 1.05 " Blind Spot", 1.11 " The Vest", 3.03 "Tower of David", 3.05 " The Yoga Play", 4.11 "Krieg Nicht Lieb"
*'' The Walking Dead''
**Episode 2.08 "Nebraska"
*''Alpha House'' TV series (2013)
**"In the Saddle" (2013)
*'' Black Sails'' TV series (2015)
** Episodes "X" (2015), "XII" (2015)
*''American Odyssey'' TV series (2015)
** Episodes "Bug Out" (2015), "Real World" (2015)
* ''Hell on Wheels'' TV series (2014–2015)
** Episodes "Bear Man (2014), "Struck" (2015)
* '' Mad Dogs'' TV series (2016)
** Episode "Flares" (2016)
* ''Luke Cage'' TV series (2016)
** Episode "You Know My Steez" (2016)
* ''Shut Eye'' TV series (2016)
** Episode "The Tower - Reversed" (2016)
* ''Six'' TV miniseries (2017)
** Episode "Confession" (2017)
* '' Taken'' TV series (2017)
** Episode "A Clockwork Swiss" (2017)
* ''The Purge'' TV series (2018)
** Episode "Release The Beast" (2018)
* '' Juanita'' (2019)
* ‘’ City on a Hill’’ TV series (2019-2021)
** Episode “High on the Looming Gallows Tree” (2019)
**Episode "Apophasis" (2021)
**Episode "Pax Bostonia" (2021)
* ''Percy'' (2020)
* '' Your Honor'' TV miniseries (2020)
** ''Part Four'' (2020)
* ''Mayor of Kingstown'' TV series (2021)
**Episode: "Along Came a Spider"
**Episode: "The Devil Is Us"
* '' Alaska Daily'' TV series (2022)
**Episode: "It's Not Personal"

References

External links

*
2008 interview
on ''Fresh Air''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Clark
1954 births
Living people
Concordia University alumni
Male actors from Toronto
Black Canadian male actors
University of Ottawa alumni
20th-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male actors
American emigrants to Canada
American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent
Canadian people of African-American descent
Canadian people of Trinidad and Tobago descent
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male television actors
Film directors from Toronto
Canadian television directors