James Richard Black (born April 3, 1962) is an American actor and former professional football player.

Early life

Black was born in Lima, Ohio. He attended Dover High School in

Dover, Ohio Dover is a city in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States, along the Tuscarawas River. The population was 13,112 at the 2020 census. It is located approximately south of Cleveland, west of Pittsburgh, and northeast of the state capital of Col ...

, where he was a star athlete. He graduated in 1980.

College career

Black played college football for

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

. He was named the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Cham ...

Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 1983 after leading the conference in rushing with 1,568 yards. In a November 5, 1983, game against

Youngstown State Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges an ...

, Black set the Akron school record for rushing yards in a game when he rushed 40 times for 246 yards. In his final college game, on November 19, he set conference and school records for most rushing attempts in a game with 52. He was named an ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

'' honorable mention Division I-AA All-American after the season, and finished his college career as Akron's all-time rushing leader with 3,054 yards.

Professional career

Black signed with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on May 5, 1984, after also receiving interest from the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and New York Jets. He was waived before the start of the regular season during final roster cuts on August 20, 1984, but was re-signed on November 7, 1984. He played in two games for the Browns in 1984, becoming the first Akron football player to play in the NFL. He was waived by the Browns on November 24, 1984. He re-signed with the Browns after the season, but was waived during training camp on August 5, 1985.

Acting career

Black may be best known for his leading role as Agent Michael Hailey on the

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

science fiction drama ''

The Burning Zone ''The Burning Zone'' is an American Science fiction on television, science fiction Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Coleman Luck that originally aired for one season on United Paramount Network (UPN) from ...

''. He has also had roles in numerous other television series and films. His television appearances include '' V.I.P.'', ''

Fashion House Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer create ...

'', ''

Anger Management Anger management is a psycho-therapeutic program for anger prevention and control. It has been described as deploying anger successfully.Schwarts, Gil. July 2006. Anger Management', July 2006 The Office Politic. Men's Health magazine. Emmaus, PA: ...

'', ''

All of Us ''All of Us'' is an American sitcom television series that premiered on the UPN network in the United States on September 16, 2003, where it aired for its first three seasons. On October 1, 2006, the show moved to The CW, a new network formed ...

'', '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', '' Strong Medicine'', ''

Tyler Perry's House of Payne ''House of Payne'' is an American sitcom television series created and produced by Tyler Perry that premiered in syndication on June 21, 2006. The series revolves around a multi-generational family living under one roof in Atlanta led by patriarc ...

'', '' Six Feet Under'', '' Burn Notice'' and ''Murder in Mexico: The Bruce Beresford-Redman Story'' In motion pictures, he had the leading role of Victor Erickson in the 1998

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

film ''Cappuccino'', the screenplay of which was based upon a story by author

Eric Jerome Dickey Eric Jerome Dickey (July 7, 1961January 3, 2021) was an American author. He wrote several crime novels involving grifters, ex cons, and assassins, the latter novels having more diverse settings, moving from Los Angeles to the United Kingdom to ...

. Black has also appeared in '' The Replacements'', ''

Out of Sight ''Out of Sight'' is a 1998 American crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Scott Frank, adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1996 novel of the same name. The first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and actor Georg ...

'', ''Love and a Bullet'', and '' Universal Soldier: The Return''. He portrayed boxer

Earnie Shavers Earnie Dee Shaver (August 31, 1944 – September 1, 2022), best known as Earnie Shavers, was an American professional boxer who competed between 1969 and 1995. A two-time world heavyweight championship challenger, he is known as one of the harde ...

in the HBO TV movie '' Don King: Only in America''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
James Black
on

TV.com TV.com was a website owned by Red Ventures that covered television series and episodes with a focus on English-language shows made or broadcast in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Origin ...