Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata | |
|---|---|
| Born | Daniel Sunjata Condon December 30, 1971 Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | University of Louisiana, Lafayette (BA) New York University (MFA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Daniel Sunjata (born Daniel Sunjata Condon; December 30, 1971)[1] is an American actor. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series Rescue Me.[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Sunjata was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. He is the adopted son of Bill and Catherine Condon, a police dispatcher and a civil rights worker.[3] His adoptive parents are of Irish and Italian-German descent. He is named in honor of the Mandinka king Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire; the name means "hungry lion."[4] He was told his biological mother was a white teenager who had run away from home[5] and his father was African-American. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, where he played linebacker for two state championship football teams. After attending Florida A&M University, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Fine Arts from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[6] He is of African, German, and Irish descent.[7][8]
Career
[edit]Sunjata played the role of a sailor on shore leave on the first post-9/11 themed episode of Sex and the City.[9] He portrayed poet Langston Hughes in the film Brother to Brother (2004) and James Holt, a fashion designer, in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).[10]
He starred as firefighter Franco Rivera on the television program Rescue Me. During the summer of 2007, he also starred in the ESPN miniseries The Bronx is Burning as Reggie Jackson. He appeared as a Special Forces Operative in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012).[10]
In 2003, he won a Theatre World Award for his breakout Broadway performance as a gay Major League Baseball player who comes out to the public in Take Me Out, the Tony award-winning play, which also earned him nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.[10]
In 2010-2011, he played "Nurse Eli" on the TV series Grey's Anatomy and had a relationship with Dr. Miranda Bailey.[11][citation needed]
Beginning in 2013, he played FBI agent Paul Briggs on Graceland, which aired on USA Network. The show was canceled in 2015 after 3 seasons.[citation needed]
Views on the September 11 attacks
[edit]On April 30, 2009, Sunjata announced his participation as narrator in Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup.[12] This was the last in a series of documentaries, collectively known as Loose Change.[13]
Producers of Rescue Me, inspired by Sunjata's passion about his views on 9/11, created a subplot of the show that year (the show's fifth season) in which Sunjata's character, Franco Rivera, stirs up controversy in the firehouse when he tells these same views to a journalist. Peter Tolan said that "Look, obviously not all of us buy in, but we went: ‘Wow, that’s interesting, and he’s passionate about it. Let’s use that.’"[14]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | Valentine | TV movie |
| 2001 | The Feast of All Saints | Christophe Mercier | TV movie |
| 2002 | Bad Company | CIA Agent Carew | |
| 2004 | Brother to Brother | Langston Hughes | |
| Noel | Marco | ||
| Melinda and Melinda | Billy Wheeler | ||
| 2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | James Holt | |
| 2009 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | Brad | |
| Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup | The Narrator | ||
| 2010 | At Risk | Detective Win Garano | TV movie |
| The Front | Detective Win Garano | TV movie | |
| Weakness | Alejandro | ||
| 2012 | One for the Money | Ranger | |
| Gone | Powers | ||
| Generation Um... | Charles | ||
| The Dark Knight Rises | Captain Jones | ||
| 2014 | Lullaby | Officer Ramirez | |
| 2017 | Small Town Crime | Detective Whitman | |
| 2021 | Christmas...Again?! | Mike Clybourne | TV movie |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | D.C. | Lewis Freeman | Main Cast |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Bomb Squad Officer | Episode: "Remorse" | |
| 2001 | All My Children | Zachary Pell | Regular Cast |
| 2002 | Sex and the City | Louis Leroy, USN | Episode: "Anchors Away" |
| 2002–04 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | CSU Technician Burt Trevor | Recurring Cast: Seasons 3-5 |
| 2003 | Ed | Danny Martin | Episode: "The Case" |
| 2004–11 | Rescue Me | Franco Rivera | Main Cast |
| 2005 | Law & Order | Kenny Tremont | Episode: "Mammon" |
| 2006 | Love Monkey | Diego | Recurring Cast |
| 2007 | The Bronx is Burning | Reggie Jackson | Main Cast |
| 2008 | Great Performances | Christian de Neuvillette | Episode: "Cyrano de Bergerac" |
| 2009 | Lie to Me | Andrew Jenkins | Episode: "Blinded" |
| 2010 | 30 Rock | Chris | Episode: "College" |
| 2010–11 | Grey's Anatomy | Nurse Eli | Recurring Cast: Seasons 7-8 |
| 2012–13 | Smash | Peter Gillman | Recurring Cast: Season 2 |
| 2013–15 | Graceland | FBI Senior Agent Paul Briggs | Main Cast |
| 2016 | Notorious | Jake Gregorian | Main Cast |
| 2017 | Animal Kingdom | Smurf's Criminal Lawyer | Episode: "Betrayal" |
| 2018–20 | Manifest | Danny | Recurring Cast: Season 1, Guest: Season 2 |
| 2019 | Happy! | Simon | Recurring Cast: Season 2 |
| 2020 | Prodigal Son | Quinton Vosler | Episode: "Internal Affairs" |
| #FreeRayshawn | SWAT Commander Nick Alvarez | Main Cast | |
| The Twilight Zone | Detective Peter Reece | Episode: "The Who of You" | |
| The Stand | Cobb | Episode: "The End" | |
| 2021–24 | Power Book II: Ghost | Dante "Mecca" Spears | Main Cast: Season 2, Guest: Season 4 |
| 2022 | Echoes | Charles "Charlie" Davenport | Main Cast |
| 2023 | The Company You Keep | Robert Renway | Episode: "All In" |
| 2024 | High Potential | Karadec[15] | Main Cast |
Video Games
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | TOCA Race Driver | Nick Landers/James Randall | Voice |
Theater
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Twelfth Night | Valentine | |
| 2003 | Take Me Out | Darren Lemming | Theatre World Award Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Nominated – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play |
| 2007 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Christian De Neuvillette | |
| 2013 | Macbeth | Macduff | |
| 2014 | The Country House | Michael Astor | |
| 2018 | Saint Joan | Dunois, Bastard of Orleans |
Awards and nominations
[edit]| Year | Awards | Category | Recipient | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Satellite Award | Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series | "Rescue Me" | Won |
| 2008 | NAACP Image Awards | NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special | "The Bronx Is Burning" | Nominated |
References
[edit]- ^ "Daniel Sunjata profile". Filmreference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
- ^ "Thanks to his darker side, Sunjata shines in 'Rescue Me' | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata". IMDb. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata". www.skiddnet.com. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
- ^ Finn, Robin (May 28, 2003). "PUBLIC LIVES; Such a Realistic Portrayal, the Guys Ask Him Out". The New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
- ^ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". Gradacting.tisch.nyu.edu. 2011. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata: 'My Ambiguous Ethnicity has Helped Me' | EURweb". EURweb. February 14, 2013. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata biography and filmography | Daniel Sunjata movies". Tribute.ca. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
- ^ "31 Famous Actors Who've Guest-Starred on 'Sex and the City'". www.backstage.com. October 6, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ a b c Daniel Sunjata at IMDb
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata to Join Cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy | TheaterMania". www.theatermania.com. November 15, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
- ^ "The Truth About Daniel Sunjata's Truther-ism". The Chicagoist. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
- ^ Gil, Billy. "Microcinema Gets Rights to 'Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup'" (Archived 2009-08-29 at the Wayback Machine), Home Media Magazine, May 4, 2009.
- ^ "The Sinister Theory of 9/11 on 'Rescue Me' - NYTimes.com". web.archive.org. March 10, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
- ^ Cordero, Rosy; Andreeva, Nellie (May 16, 2023). "ABC Picks Up Kaitlin Olson-Led 'High Potential' Series From Drew Goddard". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
External links
[edit]- Daniel Sunjata at IMDb
- Daniel Sunjata at the Internet Broadway Database
- Daniel Sunjata at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1971 births
- Living people
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- 21st-century African-American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Male actors from Chicago
- Tisch School of the Arts alumni
- Male actors from Evanston, Illinois
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni
- American adoptees
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of German descent
- 9/11 conspiracy theorists
- Theatre World Award winners