Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata | |
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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 Condon (born December 30, 1971)[1] is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series Rescue Me.[2]
Early life and education[]
Sunjata was born and grew up in Chicago, 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 Black. 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 Black, German, and Irish descent.[7][8]
Career[]
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[]
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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, that argue that the September 11 attacks were planned by the United States government.[13]
Sunjata has said that he believes "absolutely, 100 percent" in this theory.[14] Producers of Rescue Me, inspired by Sunjata's views, 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.[14]
Filmography[]
Film[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Bad Company | Officer Carew | |
2004 | Melinda and Melinda | Billy Wheeler | |
2004 | Noel | Marco | |
2004 | Brother to Brother | Langston Hughes | |
2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | James Holt | |
2009 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | Brad | |
2009 | Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup | Narrator | |
2010 | Weakness | Alejandro | |
2012 | One for the Money | Ranger | |
2012 | Gone | Powers | |
2012 | The Dark Knight Rises | Captain Jones | |
2014 | Lullaby | Officer Ramirez | |
2017 | Small Town Crime | Detective Whitman |
Television[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | Valentine | Television movie |
2000 | D.C. | Lewis Freeman | 7 episodes |
2000 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Bomb Squad Officer | Episode: "Remorse" |
2001 | The Feast of All Saints | Christophe Mercier | Television movie |
2001 | All My Children | Zachary Pell | Unknown episodes |
2002 | Sex and the City | Louis Leroy, USN | Episode: "Anchors Away" |
2002–04 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | CSU Technician Burt Trevor | 15 episodes |
2003 | Ed | Danny Martin | Episode: "The Case" |
2004–11 | Rescue Me | Franco Rivera | 93 episodes Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series |
2005 | Law & Order | Kenny Tremont | Episode: "Mammon" |
2006 | Love Monkey | Diego | 4 episodes |
2007 | The Bronx is Burning | Reggie Jackson | 8 episodes Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor |
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 | At Risk | Detective Win Garano | Television movie |
2010 | The Front | Detective Win Garano | Television movie |
2010–11 | Grey's Anatomy | Nurse Eli | 8 episodes |
2012–13 | Smash | Peter Gillman | 4 episodes |
2013–15 | Graceland | Paul Briggs | 38 episodes |
2016 | Notorious | Jake Gregorian | 10 episodes |
2017 | Animal Kingdom | Smurf's Criminal Lawyer | Episode: "Betrayal" |
2018–20 | Manifest | Danny | 5 episodes |
2019 | Happy! | Simon | 3 episodes |
2020 | Prodigal Son | Quinton Vosler | Episode: "Internal Affairs" |
2020 | #FreeRayshawn | SWAT Commander Nick Alvarez | |
2020 | The Twilight Zone | Detective Frank Reece | Episode: "The Who of You" |
2020–2021 | The Stand | Cobb | 8 episodes |
2021 | Christmas Again | Television film | |
Power Book II: Ghost | Mecca | Main role |
Video games[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | TOCA Race Driver | Nick Landers/James Randall | Voice |
Theater[]
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 |
References[]
- ^ "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 2020-05-19.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
- ^ "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. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata: 'My Ambiguous Ethnicity has Helped Me' | EURweb". EURweb. 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata biography and filmography | Daniel Sunjata movies". Tribute.ca. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
- ^ "31 Famous Actors Who've Guest-Starred on 'Sex and the City'". www.backstage.com. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Daniel Sunjata at IMDb
- ^ "Daniel Sunjata to Join Cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy | TheaterMania". www.theatermania.com. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
- ^ "The Truth About Daniel Sunjata's Truther-ism". The Chicagoist. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Stelter, Brian. "The Political Suspicions of 9/11", The New York Times, February 1, 2009.
External links[]
- 1971 births
- Living people
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- African-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