Russell Hornsby (born May 15, 1974) is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He is known for his roles as Edward "Eddie" Sutton on

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

's '' Lincoln Heights'', as Luke on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

drama ''

In Treatment ''In Treatment'' is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series '' BeTipul'' ( he, בטיפול), created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman. The series is about a ...

'', as Detective Hank Griffin on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

series ''

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

'', and as Lyons in the movie ''

Fences A fence is a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary. Fence or fences may also refer to: Entertainment Music * Fences (band), an Amer ...

''. He also played Carl Gatewood in the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

TV series '' The Affair''.

Early life and education

Hornsby was born in San Francisco, California. He was a football player at St. Mary’s College High School in Berkeley, California. He auditioned for a spring musical and got the role of the Scarecrow in ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

''. After that, he became very interested in theatre and acting and was highly involved with the rest of the school theatrical productions. After graduating, he studied theater at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

, from which he graduated with a degree in performance. After graduation, Hornsby continued his studies at the

British American Drama Academy The British American Drama Academy is a drama school in London, in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated with Sarah Lawrence College and Yale University. Background The British American Drama Academy (BADA) was founded in 1983 by Tony Branch and ...

Career

After finishing his studies at Oxford, Hornsby moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and was subsequently cast in leading roles in Off Broadway productions of ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

'' (as Atticus Finch), '' Joe Louis Blues'', and ''

Six Degrees of Separation Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also k ...

'' (as Paul). In the late 1990s, he decided to move to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in order to transition into television and film. He has appeared in several different television productions including appearing in

recurring Recurring means occurring repeatedly and can refer to several different things: Mathematics and finance *Recurring expense, an ongoing (continual) expenditure *Repeating decimal, or recurring decimal, a real number in the decimal numeral syste ...

roles in ''

Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

'' as Detective Marcus Bradshaw and ''

Gideon's Crossing ''Gideon's Crossing'' is an American medical drama starring Andre Braugher. The series is loosely based on the experience of real-life physician Jerome Groopman and his book '' The Measure of Our Days''. It premiered on October 10, 2000, and ra ...

'' as Chief Resident Dr. Aaron Boise. His other television credits include ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

'', ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'', and ''

In Justice ''In Justice'' is an American police procedural television series created by Michelle King and Robert King. The series began airing on Sunday, January 1, 2006, on ABC as a midseason replacement and assumed its regular night and time on Friday ...

'' among others. He also played running back Leon Taylor in

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's drama series ''

Playmakers ''Playmakers'' is an American drama series that aired on ESPN from August 26 to November 11, 2003. It depicted the lives of the Cougars, a fictional professional football team in an unidentified city. The show starred Omar Gooding, Marcello Th ...

''. On the big screen, he has appeared in such films as ''

After the Sunset ''After the Sunset'' is a 2004 American heist action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner and starring Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief caught in a pursuit with FBI agent Stan Lloyd, played by Woody Harrelson. It was shot in the Bah ...

'', ''

Big Fat Liar ''Big Fat Liar'' is a 2002 American comedy film, directed by Shawn Levy, adapted by Dan Schneider from a story by Schneider and Brian Robbins, and starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Donald Faison, Lee Majors, a ...

'', ''

Get Rich or Die Tryin' ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' is the debut studio album by American rapper 50 Cent. It was released on February 6, 2003, by Interscope Records, Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, Eminem's Shady Records, and 50 Cent's G-Unit Records. After signing wi ...

'', '' Keep the Faith, Baby'', '' Meet the Parents'', and '' Stuck'' among others. In 2000, Hornsby appeared in the Off-Broadway production of '' Jitney'' for which he won a

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

and an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

. He starred in the

fantasy drama ''

'' from 2011 to 2017. In 2018, he played Isaiah Butler in the Netflix crime drama '' Seven Seconds''. That same year, Hornsby joined the cast of the movie ''

Creed II ''Creed II'' is a 2018 American sports drama film directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone. The sequel to '' Creed'' (2015) and the eighth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise, the film stars Mich ...

''. In 2021, he went on to star in the Starz crime drama television series '' BMF'', with costars Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Da'Vinchi and Demetrius Flenory Jr., who played Demetrius Flenory Sr.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hornsby, Russell Male actors from Oakland, California American male television actors American male film actors American male stage actors American male voice actors Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni Drama Desk Award winners Obie Award recipients 1974 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American male actors 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people