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Hill Harper (born Francis Harper on May 17, 1966) is an American film, television and stage actor. Hill Harper, an accomplished film, television and stage actor, stars in the hit CBS drama series, CSI: NY. He portrays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, a reclusive coroner who walked away from a promising surgical career after the traumatic loss of two patients. This February, he will star in the HBO movie, Lackawanna Blues, which is based on the critically acclaimed stage play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Recently, People magazine selected Harper as one of their "Sexiest Men Alive" (2004). Prior to CSI: NY, Harper co-starred as an ambitious undercover FBI operative on the CBS series, The Handler, alongside Emmy Award nominee Joe Pantoliano. The role earned him a 2004 Golden Satellite Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He has also been recognized by the NAACP Image Awards with a nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the CBS series, City of Angels. Handsome, charismatic, stage-trained Hill Harper first came to prominence as the student filmmaker with the ubiquitous videocamera documenting the Million Man March in Spike Lee's "Get on the Bus" (1996). While attending Harvard, the Sacramento native began his stage career working with the Black Folks' Theatre Company. In 1992, he appeared in the short "Confessions of a Dog" and made his primetime debut as a nurse in an episode of the ABC family drama "Life Goes On". Harper displayed his comedic abilities in the recurring role of a football prodigy who becomes Al Bundy's protege as a shoe salesman in the Fox sitcom "Married...With Children" (during the 1993-94 season). While he made his feature debut in the forgettable sequel "Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings" (1994), the actor fared better as Louis Gossett Jr's teenaged son in the acclaimed Showtime drama "Zooman" (1995). Numerous guest appearances and a regular role as a daredevil cameraman on the short-lived series "Live Shot" (UPN, 1995-96) preceded his breakthrough role as an aspiring moviemaker in "Get on the Bus". He proved effective as a philandering rapper and romantic rival to Christopher Scott Cherot in the comedy "Hav Plenty" (1997) and reteamed with Lee to play the cousin and overshadowed teammate of an NBA prospect in "He Got Game" (1998). Harper also delivered a delicately nuanced turn as the titular "The Nephew" (1998), a biracial American who visits his ancestral homeland and encounters his crusty uncle (Donal McCann). With his career still ascending, Harper signed to co-star as a medical resident in the Stephen Bochco-produced "City of Angels", a CBS' 1999-2000 midseason replacement. Harper was born in Iowa City, Iowa to Henry Harper, a psychiatrist, and Marilyn Hill, who was one of the first practicing black anesthesiologists in the United States. Acting since the age of 7, Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University (A.B. 1988) and also graduated with a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During his years at Harvard, he was a full-time member of Boston's Black Folks Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed black theater troupes in the country. Harper broke into both film and television in 1993, doing recurring work on the Fox series Married...with Children and making his film debut in the short Confessions of a Dog. He had his first substantial role in a feature in Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), which cast him as a UCLA film student riding a bus to the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. He went on to further demonstrate his versatility in such films as Lee's He Got Game (1998) and Christopher Scott Cherot's Hav Plenty (1997), the latter of which featured him as an egotistical pop-soul singer. His profile subsequently rose on both the mainstream and independent film circuits, thanks to roles in films ranging from Beloved (1998) to the independent romantic comedy Loving Jezebel (1999) to The Skulls (2000), an entry into the teen thriller/horror genre. Harper also did some of his most acclaimed work in Jordan Walker Pearlman's The Visit (2000), an independent drama in which he starred as a prisoner dying of AIDS who tries to put his life back together. His best-known role to date is that of coroner-turned-crime-scene-investigator Sheldon Hawkes on the American TV show CSI:NY, the second spin-off from the very successful CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise. Harper received critical acclaim for his performance in the independent film, The Visit, directed by Jordan Walker-Pearlman, which tells the story of two brothers who are forced to come together when the younger sibling (played by Harper), who is HIV positive, is sentenced to death row for a crime he seemingly did not commit. His performance, which Daily Variety called "riveting," earned him a Best Actor nomination by the Independent Spirit Awards. He re-teams with Walker-Pearlman in the upcoming independent feature, Constellation, which chronicles the lives and loves of a family in the deep South. His recent film roles include the lead in the independent film, Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, which was accepted into the Toronto International, Palm Springs, and Pan African film festivals. This intriguing film won "Best Canadian First Feature Film" in the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival and both "Best Feature" and "Audience Favorite" in the 2004 Pan African Film Festival. He has also completed work on the independent film America Brown, which was accepted into the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. Harper's other screen credits include: Loving Jezebel, The Nephew (with Pierce Brosnan), The Skulls (with Joshua Jackson), In Too Deep (with Omar Epps, L.L. Cool J and Nia Long), Beloved, Hav' Plenty, He Got Game (with Denzel Washington), and Get on the Bus. Other films include Zooman (with Louis Gossett Jr., Charles S. Dutton and CCH Pounder), Full Court Press (with Ellen Burstyn and Taye Diggs) and One Red Rose, which he also co-wrote, for Showtime. As a television actor, Harper has had numerous guest starring roles. He recently appeared on recurring episodes of Showtime's Soul Food and guest starred on HBO's The Sopranos. He also starred in the CBS mini-series Mama Flora's Family and the UPN Network comedy/drama Live Shot. Other guest appearances include: ER, NYPD Blue, Murder One, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Married....With Children. Harper's stage credits include appearances in off-Broadway productions of Your Handsome Captain, Freeman, and David Mamet's American Buffalo. He completed a starring run of Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theatre. Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduated with a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, as well as with a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. He is a full-time member of Boston's Black Folk's Theater Company, one of the nation's oldest and most respected African American traveling theater troupes. Harper's Bazaar wrote, "You might expect Hill Harper to be the next actor vying for the presidency... but he has other things on his agenda." In 2006, Harper wrote Letters to a Young Brother. He also starred in Geretta Geretta's Whitepaddy, along with Sherilyn Fenn, Lisa Bonet, Debra Wilson, Karen Black and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University (A.B. 1988) and also graduated with a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a member of Boston's Black Folk's Theater Company. He is also a good friend of actress Gabrielle Union and presidential hopeful, Barack Obama. Was a part of "The New Harmony Project" in the summer of 1997. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduated with a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, as well as with a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. The 13th Annual Inner City Awards honored him with the W.E.B. DuBois Scholar Award. Appears with William Petersen in The Skulls (2000). He is currently one of the stars of "CSI: NY" (2004), the spin-off of Petersen's series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000). Author of a book of advice for teens, Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny. The book won the American Library Association's 2007 prize for Best Book for Young Adults. He and presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), were classmates at Harvard Law School. In January, 2008, he participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by Will.I.Am called Yes We Can. Harper has noted in interviews that he and costar Gary Sinise have very different political views but get along very well by not discussing those viewpoints with each other. |
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