Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe (; born March 8, 1973) is a German

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 (), lit ...

, producer, and former

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

best known for his roles as Kelby in the 2002 film ''

Brown Sugar Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar. Brown Sugar may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul * ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...

'', the sports-courier agent Damon Carter on the Showtime drama series ''

Soul Food Soul food is an ethnic cuisine traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans, originating in the Southern United States.Soul Food originated with the foods that were given to enslaved Black people by their white owners on Souther ...

'', Dr. Will Campbell on CBS's '' Code Black'' and a recurring character on FOX's '' The Last Man on Earth''. He co-stars on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

's ''

Real Husbands of Hollywood ''Real Husbands of Hollywood'' (abbreviated ''RHOH'') is an American reality television parody that originally aired on BET from January 15, 2013 to December 13, 2016. A revival series produced for streaming service BET+ premiered on February ...

'' and the ''

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 s ...

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

, ''

Station 19 ''Station 19'' is an American action- drama television series created by Stacy McKee for ABC that premiered on March 22, 2018. It is the second spin-off of '' Grey's Anatomy'' (after '' Private Practice''). Set in Seattle, the series focuses on ...

'' as Robert Sullivan.

Early life

Kodjoe was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the son of Ursula, a German psychologist of partially Jewish descent, and Eric Kodjoe, a Ghanaian physician who is of the Nzema people. His namesake is the Russian poet and writer

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

. Kodjoe's

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

great-grandmother was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and was murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

; his maternal grandmother survived the war in hiding. Kodjoe's parents divorced when he was six years old. He grew up in the vicinity of

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. He has a brother named Patrick and two sisters named Nadja and Lara.

Career

Kodjoe attended

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

on a tennis scholarship and graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1996. A four-year letterman on the Rams' men's tennis team, he is currently ninth in school history with 75 career singles wins. Tied for third in doubles victories with 66, he was paired with Jonas Elmblad on 37 of them, also third all-time. His brother Patrick Kodjoe played for VCU's basketball team. A back injury ended Boris' tennis aspirations, but he was quickly signed as a model and, soon after, entered acting. In 1995, he was featured in TLC's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "

Red Light Special "Red Light Special" is a song by American vocal girl group TLC for their second studio album, ''CrazySexyCool'' (1994). Written and produced by Babyface, LaFace and Arista Records released the song as the second single from the album on Februa ...

." Named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' magazine in 2002, Kodjoe is perhaps best known as one of the 7 regular cast members from the Showtime drama ''

'', which aired from 2000 to 2004. He appeared in the 2002 film ''

'' and starred in the short-lived sitcom '' Second Time Around'' with his ''Soul Food'' co-star

Nicole Ari Parker Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film '' The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went o ...

, whom he eventually married. He played the role of David Taylor, the wayward son of Pastor Fred Taylor, in the October 2005 film ''The Gospel''. He performed in a play called ''Whatever She Wants'', starring Vivica A. Fox, and made an appearance on the fifth season of ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

''. He had a supporting role in the 2009 science fiction film ''

Surrogates ''Surrogates'' is a 2009 American science fiction action film based on the 2005–2006 comic book series '' The Surrogates''. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, it stars Bruce Willis as Tom Greer, an FBI agent who ventures out into the real world to ...

''. Kodjoe and

Gugu Mbatha-Raw Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw (; born 21 April 1983) is a British actress who is known for her performances on stage and screen. In 2017 she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama ...

starred as a husband-and-wife secret agent team in 2010 J. J. Abrams-produced the NBC TV series '' Undercovers'', but the show lasted less than one season. That year, he also appeared as Luther in the film '' Resident Evil: Afterlife''. He had a guest appearance on the TV show ''

Franklin & Bash ''Franklin & Bash'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Kevin Falls and Bill Chais. The series starred Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as unconventional lawyers and longtime friends. A Turner Broadcasting executive r ...

'' in 2012. From 2013 to 2016, Kodjoe starred as a fictional version of himself in the BET comedy parody series ''

''. In 2014 he was cast as a regular on the ABC primetime soap opera '' Members Only'' created by

Susannah Grant Susannah Grant (born January 4, 1963) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Life and career Grant was born in New York City. She studied at Amherst College and attended the AFI Conservatory. From 1994 to 1997 she worked on televi ...

, but the show never aired. In 2015, Kodjoe began a recurring guest role on Fox's '' The Last Man on Earth'' television series. Kodjoe was part of the ensemble cast for all three seasons of the CBS medical drama '' Code Black'' playing surgeon Dr. Will Campbell from 2016 to 2018. In July 2018, Kodjoe landed a recurring role in the second season of the ''

'' spin-off series ''

''. In October, he was promoted to a series regular after his appearance in the season premiere as the new fire captain, Robert Sullivan. In "Eulogy", he is promoted to Battalion Chief.

Personal life

Kodjoe married his '' Soul Food: The Series'' co-star

on May 21, 2005, in

Gundelfingen Gundelfingen im Breisgau ( Low Alemannic: ''Gundelfinge im Brisgau'') is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarz ...

. She gave birth to their first child, a girl, in March 2005. She has

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...

, which was diagnosed at birth. Parker gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy, in October 2006. Kodjoe and his wife are members of Cascade United Methodist Church in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

.Rhone, Nedra; and Gracie Bonds Staples
"In Atlanta’s churches, prayers for president-elect"
, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', 9 November 2008. The family resides in

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 ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Parker and Kodjoe competed against one another on a February 2019 episode of ''

Lip Sync Battle ''Lip Sync Battle'' is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on April 2, 2015, on the American cable network Spike, later known as Paramount Network. The show is based on an idea by Stephen Merchant and Joh ...

''. Kodjoe is fluent in German, English, Russian, French, and Italian; he also speaks a little Spanish.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Boris Kodjoe
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodjoe, Boris 1973 births Living people Male actors from Virginia American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Ghanaian descent American people of German-Jewish descent Virginia Commonwealth University alumni Actors from Baden-Württemberg American United Methodists German expatriate male actors in the United States German male film actors German male television actors German male voice actors German emigrants to the United States German Methodists People from Freiburg im Breisgau Male actors from Vienna 20th-century German people