Sterling K. Brown

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Sterling Kelby Brown (born April 5, 1976)[1] is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades including three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. He was included in Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.[2]

Brown portrayed Christopher Darden in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) earning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. For his role as Randall Pearson in the NBC drama series This Is Us (2016Template:Ndash2022) he earned the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He has also starred in the Amazon Prime Video comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019) and the Hulu thriller series Paradise (2025).

For his role in American Fiction (2023), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Brown had leading roles in films such as Hotel Artemis (2019), Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022), and Biosphere (2023); supporting roles in Marshall (2017), Black Panther (2018), and Waves (2019); and voice roles in the 2019 animated films The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Frozen II.

Early life and education

Brown was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Sterling Brown[1] and Aralean (Template:Nee) Brown. He has two sisters and two brothers.[3] His father died when he was 10 years old.[4]

As a child, he went by the name Kelby; when he turned 16, he adopted the name Sterling, explaining in 2016:

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I went by Kelby. My mom tells me this story — she was reiterating it the other day — in kindergarten I came home one day and said, 'Mom, Sterling is eight letters and Kelby is five. I'll just do Kelby and then when I turn 16, I will go by Sterling.' And I don't remember that. The impetus for me is that he had been gone for some time, and I was like, 'Kelby was a little boy's name.' I felt like I was ready to become Sterling.[4]

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Brown grew up in Olivette, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. He attended the private Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School.[5]

He graduated from Stanford University in 1998 with an acting degree. He had initially planned to major in economics with a focus on business, but fell in love with acting as a freshman.[6] He did post-graduate study at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree.[7]

Career

2002–2015: Early career

After college, Brown performed a series of roles in regional theater.[8][9][10][11][12] In the theater, Brown was cast in the 2002 production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui starring Al Pacino, Paul Giamatti, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman and Jacqueline McKenzie at the National Actors Theater.[13] That same year he played the sea captain Antonio in The Public Theatre's revival of the William Shakespeare play Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theatre. He acted alongside Zach Braff, Julia Stiles, David Harbour, Natalie Gold, Oliver Platt, and Christopher Lloyd.[14]

He appeared on hit tv show Nikita. (2012)S3 Ep3

He has also appeared on numerous television shows, including ER, NYPD Blue,[6] JAG, Boston Legal, Alias, Without a Trace, Supernatural,[15] and Third Watch.[16] He was a regular in the comedy Starved,[17] and has also appeared in numerous films, including Brown Sugar (2002) with Taye Diggs, Stay (2005) with Ewan McGregor, and Trust the Man (2005) with David Duchovny and Julianne Moore.[18][19] He had a recurring role on the television series Supernatural, as vampire hunter Gordon Walker.[20]

In 2006, he played Macduff in The Public Theatre's production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth at the Anspacher Theater. Brown acted opposite Liev Schreiber and Jennifer Ehle.[21] From 2007 to 2013, he played Dr. Roland Burton on the Lifetime drama series Army Wives.[22] In 2009, he acted in the Tarell Alvin McCraney play The Brother/Sister Plays at The Public Theater. The production had two parts and was directed by Robert O'Hara featuring performances from Andre Holland and Brian Tyree Henry.[23]

During this time, he guest starred in Eli Stone (2008), Medium (2010), The Good Wife (2011), and Masters of Sex (2014). He took the role as Detective Cal Beecher on Person of Interest from 2012 to 2013.[24] In 2014, he starred as Hero in Suzan-Lori Parks's Odyssey-inspired play Father Comes Home From the Wars at New York's Public Theater.[25][26]

2016–2022: Breakthrough and This is Us

In 2016, he starred in the FX miniseries The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story as Christopher Darden,[27] for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards.[28] From 2016 to 2022, Brown had a starring role in the television series This Is Us,[29] for which he won his second Primetime Emmy Award.[30] In 2018, it made him the first African-American actor to win a Golden Globe in the Best Actor in a Television Drama category,[31] and the first to win a Screen Actors Guild Award in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series category. He also won, with the rest of the cast, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.[32]

During this time, he had high-profile supporting roles in several feature films. Brown portrayed Joseph Spell in the historical drama Marshall (2017), N'Jobu in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Panther, and Ronald Williams in the A24 independent film Waves (2019).[33] In June 2018, Brown gave the commencement address at his alma mater Stanford University.[34] He appeared as a guest star in the NYPD sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and earned critical acclaim for his role as Philip Davidson, a dentist under investigation for murdering his business partner. He was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 2018 for this performance.[35] The following year he had a recurring role in the third season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in 2019. He portrayed Reggie, the manager of the fictional singer Shy Baldwin (Leroy McClain). For his performance he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nomination. In August 2019, he was announced at D23 Expo and on Twitter as the voice of Lieutenant Destin Mattias in Frozen II.[36][37][38]

From 2019 to 2020, he narrated the Disney+ documentary series One Day at Disney. He portrayed Leo McGarry, replacing the late John Spencer in the HBO Max special A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote (2020).[39] Brown took a recurring voice role as Michael Angelo in the Netflix animated comedy series Big Mouth (2020). He continued playing voice roles in Hulu's animated science fiction series Solar Opposites and Apple TV+'s animated children's series Interrupting Chicken. In 2022, he starred in and produced the mockumentary comedy Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. acting opposite Regina Hall. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews.[40] Justin Chang of NPR wrote, "Brown and Hall give wonderfully complex performances as a disgraced Christian power couple trying to salvage what remains of their spiritual empire."[41]

2023–present: Rise to prominence

In 2023, he acted alongside Mark Duplass in the science fiction comedy film Biosphere (2023), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[42][43] That same year he played Randle P. McMurphy with Laura Benanti as Nurse Ratched for a reading for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.[44] He gained critical acclaim for his supporting role in the satirical comedy American Fiction (2023) directed by Cord Jefferson starring Jeffrey Wright. Peter Debruge of Variety described Brown as a "scene-stealer" playing the protagonist's gay brother, a plastic surgeon.[45] For his performance, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 96th Academy Awards.[46] Wright was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for American Fiction, and the nomination of Brown and Wright was the first time a Black lead actor and a Black supporting actor from the same film were both nominated for Academy Awards.[47] In 2024, Brown joined the film Double Booked which will be directed by Adam Scott.[48] He also took a supporting role in the Netflix science-fiction drama Atlas with Jennifer Lopez and Simu Liu.[49]

Personal life

Brown met actress Ryan Michelle Bathe as a college freshman at Stanford.[6] They eloped in March 2006,[50] but held a large ceremony in June 2007.[6] They have two sons, Andrew and Amaré.[51][52]

Filmography

Template:Pending films key

Film

Year Title Role Director Notes
2002 Brown Sugar Co-Worker Rick Famuyiwa
2005 Trust the Man Rand Bart Freundlich
Stay Frederick / Devon Marc Forster
2008 Righteous Kill IA Detective Rogers Jon Avnet
2011 Our Idiot Brother Officer Omar Coleman Jesse Peretz
2013 The Suspect The Other Suspect Stuart Connelly
2015 Mojave Detective Fletcher William Monahan Uncredited
2016 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Sergeant Hurd Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Spaceman Rodney Scott Brett Rapkin
Split Shaw M. Night Shyamalan Deleted scenes
2017 Marshall Joseph Spell Reginald Hudlin
2018 Black Panther N'Jobu Ryan Coogler
Hotel Artemis Sherman / Waikiki Drew Pearce
The Predator Agent Will Traeger Shane Black
2019 The Angry Birds Movie 2 Garry Thurop Van Orman Voice[53]
Waves Ronald Williams Trey Edward Shults
Frozen II Lieutenant Destin Mattias Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee Voice[53]
2020 The Rhythm Section Marc Serra Reed Morano
2022 Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Lee-Curtis Childs Adamma Ebo Also producer
Biosphere Ray Mel Eslyn
2023 American Fiction Clifford "Cliff" Ellison Cord Jefferson
2024 Atlas Colonel Elias Banks Brad Peyton
2025 Template:Pending film — Joe Carnahan Producer only
TBA Template:Pending film Rawson Marshall Thurber Filming
Template:Pending film Aleshea Harris Post-production
Template:Pending film Cathy Yan Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2002–2004 Third Watch Officer Edward Dade 9 episodes
2003 Hack Rasheed Morgan Episode: "Hidden Agenda"
Tarzan Detective Carey 2 episodes
2004 ER Bob Harris Episode: "Get Carter"
NYPD Blue Kelvin George Episode: "Chatty Chatty Bang Bang"
JAG Sergeant Harry Smith Episode: "Coming Home"
2005 Boston Legal Zeke Borns Episode: "Death Be Not Proud"
Starved Adam Williams 7 episodes
2006 Alias Agent Rance Episode: "There's Only One Sidney Bristow"
Smith Mr. Corey Episode: "Three"
Without a Trace Thomas Biggs Episode: "Watch Over Me"
2006–2007 Supernatural Gordon Walker 4 episodes
2007 Shark Quenton North Episode: "Teacher's Pet"
Standoff Russell Marsh Episode: "Lie to Me"
2007–2013 Army Wives Roland Burton 107 episodes
2008 Eli Stone David Mosley Episode: "Patience"
2010 Medium Todd Gillis Episode: "The People in Your Neighborhood"
2011 Detroit 1-8-7 Cameron Jones Episode: "Ice Man/Malibu"
The Good Wife Andrew Boylan Episode: "Feeding the Rat"
Harry's Law Mr. Thomas Episode: "American Girl"
2012 Nikita Nick Anson Episode: "True Believer"
2012–2013 Person of Interest Detective Cal Beecher 6 episodes
2013 NCIS Elijah Banner Episode: "Devil's Triad"
2014 The Mentalist Agent Higgins Episode: "White Lines"
Masters of Sex Marcus Episode: "Story of My Life"
2015 Castle Ed Redley Episode: "The Wrong Stuff"
Criminal Minds Fitz Episode: "Beyond Borders"
2016 The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story Christopher Darden 10 episodes
2016–2022 This Is Us Randall Pearson Main role
2017 Insecure Lionel 2 episodes
Running Wild with Bear Grylls Himself Episode: "Sterling K. Brown"
2018 Saturday Night Live Himself (host) Episode: "Sterling K. Brown/James Bay"
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Philip Davidson Episode: "The Box"
Black Love Himself 2 episodes
Robot Chicken Various voices Episode: "Shall I Visit the Dinosaurs?"
2019 The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience Sia TV special
Sesame Street Himself Episode: "Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration"
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Reggie 4 episodes
2019–2020 One Day at Disney Narrator 52 episodes
2020 Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts Lio Oak Voice, main role[53]
A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote Leo McGarry Recreation of "Hartsfield's Landing"
Big Mouth Michael Angelo Voice, recurring role (season 4)
2021–2022 Solar Opposites Halk Voice, 10 episodes
2022–2023 Interrupting Chicken Papa Voice, 12 episodes
2023–present Invincible Angstrom Levy Voice, 9 episodes[54][53]
2025– present Paradise Xavier Collins Main role, also executive producer[55]
2025 Washington Black Medwin Harris Main role, also executive producer[56]

Theatre

Year Show Role Playwright Theater Ref.
2002 Twelfth Night Antonio William Shakespeare Public Theater Delacorte Theater [57]
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Goodwill Bertolt Brecht National Actor's Theatre [58]
2006 Macbeth Macduff William Shakespeare Public Theater Delacorte Theater [59]
2009 The Brother/Sister Plays Part 1 & 2 Shango / Shua Tarell Alvin McCraney Public Theater Anspacher Theater [60]
2014 Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) Hero/Ulysses Suzan-Lori Parks [61]

Music videos

Year Artist Title Role Ref.
2019 The Lonely Island (feat. Sia) "Oakland Nights" Sia [62]

Awards and nominations

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In 2016, Brown earned his first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his breakout portrayal of attorney Christopher Darden in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Brown also won a Critics' Choice TV Award, along with Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and NAACP Image Award nominations.

In 2023, Brown delivered the commencement speech for the graduating class at Washington University in St. Louis and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the university.[63][64]

References

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  1. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ "Sterling K. Brown Biography". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b Stone, Natalie (September 21, 2016). "Sterling K. Brown Reveals Why He Changed His Name As a Teenager Template:Webarchive". People. Time Inc. Retrieved on October 8, 2016.
  5. ↑ Pennington, Gail (February 2, 2016). "St. Louisan relives Simpson trial in 'People v. O.J.' Template:Webarchive", St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Lee Enterprises. Retrieved on October 25, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Template:Subscription required
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Template:Subscription required
  9. ↑ Otten, Ted (September 19, 2001). "McCarter courts with 'Romeo and Juliet'". The Times. (Trenton, New Jersey).
  10. ↑ Kilpatrick, Gloria M. (June 3, 2002). "Hangar Opens Season with Powerful 'Topdog': The Play Explores the Relationship of Two Brothers Struggling to Get By". The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York). p. 18.
  11. ↑ Gerteiny, Elizabeth (July 1, 2004). "'Someone' brings intensity, brilliance to stage". The Weston Forum (Weston, Connecticut). p. A15.
  12. ↑ De La Vina, Mark (September 9, 1997). "Survival and the Blues in Drama of 1930 Harlem". The Mercury News (San Jose, California). p.1E.
  13. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (October 21, 2002). "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Template:Webarchive". Variety.
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ "Best Bets". American Press (Lake Charles, Louisiana). October 6, 2006. p. 63.
  16. ↑ "'Starved' finds comedy in eating disorders". The York Dispatch (York, Pennsylvania). August 3, 2005.
  17. ↑ Moore, Frazier (August 2, 2005). "'Starved' Finds Laughs in Eating Disorders". Associated Press.
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Template:Subscription required
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Template:Subscription required
  20. ↑ "TV Watch". Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Massachusetts). October 12, 2006.
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ "Lifetime to deploy ‘Army Wives'". Ventura County Star (Ventura, California). December 7, 2006.
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ "Review: Reese and Finch find The Person of Interest 'In Extremis'". Columbus Examiner (Columbus, Ohio). April 26, 2013.
  25. ↑ Green, Jesse (October 28, 2014). "Theater Review: Father Comes Home From the Wars Template:Webarchive". New York.
  26. ↑ Feldberg, Robert (October 29, 2014). "A Slave's Odyssey in Three Acts". Herald News (Woodland Park, New Jersey). p. D1.
  27. ↑ "In the Spotlight: FX's 'American Crime Story'. Dramatizes the O.J. Simpson Trial". The Newport Daily Express (Newport, Vermont). p. 11.
  28. ↑ "People v. O.J. Simpson Star Sterling K. Brown Chokes Up While Dedicating Emmy to His Late Father Template:Webarchive. People. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  29. ↑ Pennington, Gail (May 15, 2016). "NBC finalizes fall schedule with three new series". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Respers, Lisa (2018). "Golden Globes 2018: A night of firsts Template:Webarchive". CNN. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  32. ↑ "SAG Awards 2018: 'Veep,' 'This Is Us' and 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' win big Template:Webarchive". ABC News. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  33. ↑ "SAG Awards 2018: Sterling K. Brown makes history again Template:Webarchive". ABC News. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  34. ↑ "'This is Us' star Sterling K. Brown delivers Stanford University commencement Template:Webarchive". USA Today. June 17, 2018.
  35. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
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  38. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  40. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  41. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  42. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  43. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  45. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  46. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  49. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  50. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  51. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  52. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  53. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  54. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  55. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  57. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  58. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  59. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  60. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  61. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  62. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  63. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  64. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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