GBENGA AKINNAGBE – “Jack” / Executive Producer
Gbenga Akinnagbe is an award nominated performer and philanthropist.
Gbenga began his career as a series regular on Showtime’s fan favorite Barbershop, but is probably best known for his breakout role as “Chris Partlow” on HBO’s widely acclaimed series The Wire. He went on to pivotal recurring roles on the Emmy-winning shows, The Good Wife, playing “Pastor Isaiah Easton”, and Showtime’s hit comedy, Nurse Jackie, play “Nurse Kelly Slater”. Having reocccured in the final season of the acclaimed hit, Damages, Gbenga has moved on to USA Network’s new show, Graceland as ‘Jeremiah Bello’.
Gbenga made his feature film debut in the Oscar-nominated independent film, The Savages, where he starred alongside Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. Akinnagbe’s movie blockbusters include The Taking of Pelham 123 alongside John Travolta and Denzel Washington, The Edge of Darkness opposite Mel Gibson, and Warner Brother’s summer comedy Lottery Ticket, which included Terry Crews, Ice Cube and Bow Wow.
Akinnagbe has also graced some of the most-renowned stages including, the Intiman, The Flea, and The Public Theaters. After sharing the screen with Phillip Hoffman, Gbenga was invited to work with Hoffman’s theater company, the LAByrinth Theater Company. Though New York is his home, Gbenga’s career began in DC with such classic plays as Romeo and Juliet, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Sophocles’ Trilogy of Oedipus. In 2009 Akinnagbe originated, The Thin Place, a one-man-show at the Tony-award winning, Intiman Theater.
Currently splitting his time between Los Angeles and New York City, Gbenga remains close to his philanthropic interests. He’s been awarded the Trio Achiever Award by the Mid-Eastern Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel as distinguished alumni of the Upward Bound program. He sits on the board of such nonprofits as All for Africa, Rewired for Change and Shine on Sierra Leone. In his free time, Gbenga is a freelance writer, and has contributed articles to the New York Times, Israeli-news source Haaretz, and Russell Simmon’s digital media company, Global Grind.
ISIAH WHITLOCK, JR – Samuel
ISIAH WHITLOCK, JR. is a veteran theater, film and television actor. He has recently been seen in Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Gun Hill Road, Tony Kaye’s Detachment, and Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour and She Hate Me. His other film credits include Brooklyn’s Finest, Twelve, Main Street, Choke, Under New Management, 1408, Enchanted, Kettle of Fish, Pieces of April, Duane Hopwood, Jump Tomorrow, Harlem Aria, The Fish in the Bathtub, Everyone Says I Love You, The Spanish Prisoner, Eddie and Goodfellas.
On television, Mr. Whitlock starred as ‘Senator Clay Davis’ on HBO’s The Wire. Most recently, he has appeared on Smash, and The Unusuals as ‘Captain Leslie Morgan’. Mr. Whitlock has been featured numerous times in Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU. He has garnered guest leads on The Chappelle Show, and has also been seen on Comedy Central’s The Onion Sports Show, Rubicon, Meet the Browns, Human Giant, New Amsterdam, Madigan Men, Wonderland, New York Undercover and the PBS documentary Liberty, as well as Third Watch and Ed. He can next be seen on HBO’s Veep.
Mr. Whitlock was nominated in 2002 for a Lucille Lortel award as Best Featured Actor for his work in “Four,” that enjoyed a renowned off-Broadway run at the Manhattan Theatre Club. “The Iceman Cometh”, “Merchant of Venice”, and “Mastergate” are among his Broadway credits, while “Farragut North” (Atlantic Theatre Co., Geffen Playhouse), “The Cherry Orchard”, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”, “Up Against The Wind”, “A Lesson Before Dying”, “High Life”, “Edmond”, “The American Clock”, “White Panther”, and “The Illusion” comprise his off-Broadway credits. He was also part of the national tour of the play “The Piano Lesson”, in the title role of Boy Willie.
TAWNY CYPRESS – Laura
Tawny Cypress has most recently appeared as a regular on the series Unforgettable and recurring as Carly Heath on Netflix’s award-winning House of Cards. Tawny is also known for playing Simone Deveaux on NBC’s Heroes. Starring on FOX’s K-Ville as LoveTap, she has played recurring characters on NBC’s Third Watch and FX’s Rescue Me among other shows. Tawny has also guest starred on just about every procedural out there, so chances are you’ve seen her on tv.
KK MOGGIE – Denise
K.K. Moggie’s extensive theatre credits include: The Golden Dragon (The Studio, Washington D.C), Bottom of the World (Atlantic Theater Company), The Bereaved (Partial Comfort), Grace (MCC), Richard III (CSC), A Peddlers Tale (Womenʼs Project),The Proust Project (CSC Monday Nights), The Tempest (CSC Monday Night Tempest), Fetes de la Nuit, Love: A Tragic Etude, Cleansed, Uncle Vanya, The Vagina Monologues, Our Countryʼs Good, Agamemnon.
Her most recent film and TV credits include Anna and the King, The Sleeping Dictionary, CBSʼs The Good Wife, NBCʼs Mercy, MTVʼs Gamekillers.
K.K. trained in Columbia University’s M.F.A acting program and currently serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Acting Department at Columbia University’s School of the Arts Program.
JAMES MCDANIEL – Dr. Parker
James McDaniel’s career has spanned over three decades. He is a veteran of more than a hundred theater pieces. Most notably CJ in A Soldiers play, Before it Hits Home–for which he won the Obie award–and Six Degrees of Separation, originating the role of “Paul”; the charming, chameleon like con-man (Clarence Derwent award). He appeared on Broadway and London’s West end in the three character play Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me opposite Stephen Rhea and Sir Alec McCowan. James has also worked consistently in film and television. From his early days on Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law to mini-series such as Alex Haley’s Queen and Steven Spielberg’s Taken. Films such as John Sayles’ Sunshine state, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, and The Road to Galveston opposite Cicely Tyson. He received an Emmy and Peabody award for his work in Edge of America (a film he produced and starred in), and another Peabody and Screen actor’s Guild award for his role as Lt. Arthur Fancy on the legendary ABC show NYPD Blue.
James has returned to the stage in New York, and recently finished a successful run of an adaptation of Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. And a new play by the Pulitzer prize winning author Suzan-Lori Parks Father Comes Home from the wars. Last season James starred as detective Jessie Longford in the abc series Detroit 187
VICTOR WILLIAMS – Hamilton
Victor Williams has appeared in a wide range of television shows which include the award winning ER, The Practice, Law & Order, and Girlfriends. Most recently, he has appeared in Blue Bloods, Fringe and Delocated. Williams is most known for his nine seasons of work on the hugely successful television series, The King of Queens in the role of ‘Deacon Palmer’. Film credits include Copland, The Preacher’s Wife, Me and Mrs. Jones and Single Hills.
DANNY HOCH – Dundee
Danny Hoch’s acting and writing credits for television and film include Nurse Jackie, Bored To Death, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, Blackhawk Down, American Splendor, War Of The Worlds, Lucky You, We Own The Night, Bamboozled, Washington Heights, Prison Song, Subway Stories, Thin Red Line, Whiteboys, HBO Def Poetry. Most recently he can be seen alongside Keanu Reeves and James Caan in Henry’s Crime. As a playwright his plays Some People, Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop, Taking Over, and Till The Break Of Dawn have garnered awards including a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship for Drama, 2 OBIE Awards, and was most recently named a USA Ford Fellow for his contributions to the American Theatre. His plays have toured to over 50 U.S. cities and 15 countries. His writing has also appeared in The Village Voice, New York Times, Harper’s, The Nation, American Theatre, and various books: Out Of Character, Extreme Exposure, Creating Your Own Monologue and Total Chaos and his own Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop by Villard/Random House.
JOE MORTON – Donald Hall
Joe Morton’s career spans over forty years. He has appeared in over 200 movies and episodic television shows, and over 50 stage productions.
Film audiences perhaps best know him as The Brother From Another Planet or as the ill-fated scientist, ‘Miles Dyson’, in James Cameron’s Terminator 2 – Judgment Day. Some of his other films include: American Gangster, Ali, Lone Star, City of Hope, Speed, Executive Decision, The Astronaut’s Wife, Paycheck, Blues Brothers 2000, and Gary Sinese’s Of Mice And Men in which he portrayed ‘Crooks.’
Television audiences have enjoyed Mr. Morton’s standout appearances in The X-Files, Law & Order: SVU, House, Boston Legal, and a recurring role on Smallville. He has turned in noteworthy performances as ‘Malcolm X’ in Ali: An American Hero, and the award-winning cable feature Miss Evers’ Boys. Most recently, Mr. Morton was seen as Daniel Golden on NBC’s The Good Wife, and has just concluded five seasons of Eureka as ‘Henry Deacon’ on the Syfy channel.
Mr. Morton made his Broadway debut in Hair and was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of ‘Walter Lee Younger’ in Raisin. Included in his many theatre credits: ‘Serge’ in the hit play Art on Broadway and London’s West End, with Judd Hirsch and George Wendt, and ‘Colin Powell’ at the National Theatre in London in the critically acclaimed Stuff Happens by David Hare.
Mr. Morton also directs for the stage, film and television. He has directed Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi for Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, for the Public Theatre, Heliotrope Bouquet for Playwright’s Horizon in New York City, by Eric Overmeyer, about the last days of Scott Joplin, and History of the Word, an original play written by Ben Snyder, for the Vineyard Theatre, also in New York City. His film credits as a director include three episodes of Eureka, an episode of Tribeca, and an independent feature entitled Sunday on the Rocks.
He is working with The Public Theater in New York City on an adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and, independently, on a biopic entitled The Black Swallow, based on Eugene Jacques Bullard, the first black combat aviator. He is also developing a “hip-hopera” of Athol Fugard’s Tsotsi, and Love In Vain, a blues piece on the life of Robert Johnson.
Additionally, Mr. Morton has written and performed songs for film and television, including Eureka, Badland, Lifelines, and The Mulberry Tree.
Currently, Mr. Morton is co-producing a feature film with writer/director Francesco Lucente (Badland), titled, Starbright, and is in development on a television pilot XtremeChef with South African Chef, Mark Farmer.
Gbenga Akinnagbe | . . . . . . . . | Jack Hall | |
Frank Harts | . . . . . . . . | Smitty | |
Eric T. Miller | . . . . . . . . | Mike | |
Tisa Key | . . . . . . . . | Sanchez | |
Tawny Cypress | . . . . . . . . | Laura | |
Judah Bellamy | . . . . . . . . | John | |
Victor Williams | . . . . . . . . | Hamilton | |
K.K. Moggie | . . . . . . . . | Denise | |
Mike Haber | . . . . . . . . | Resident | |
Deborah Offner | . . . . . . . . | Sondra | |
Theo Stockman | . . . . . . . . | Charles | |
Isiah Whitlock Jr. | . . . . . . . . | Samuel | |
David Fierro | . . . . . . . . | Resident | |
Zakiya Cook | . . . . . . . . | Food Server | |
Elena Hurst | . . . . . . . . | Melissa | |
Marilyn Torres | . . . . . . . . | Vivica | |
Danny Hoch | . . . . . . . . | Dundee | |
Yung-I Chang | . . . . . . . . | Fat Hop | |
Eddie R. Brown III | . . . . . . . . | Travis | |
Grizz Chapman | . . . . . . . . | Big G | |
Hassan Manning | . . . . . . . . | Ced | |
Nick Choksi | . . . . . . . . | Max | |
Alexander Flores | . . . . . . . . | Thomas | |
Venida Evans | . . . . . . . . | Ginnie | |
Ananias Dixon | . . . . . . . . | Leo | |
James McDaniel | . . . . . . . . | Dr. Parker | |
Alexis Suarez | . . . . . . . . | Myron | |
Adrian Martinez | . . . . . . . . | Hector | |
Vivian Oliver | . . . . . . . . | Unhappy Delivery Customer | |
Tara Ann Culp | . . . . . . . . | Real Estate Agent 1 | |
Joe Morton | . . . . . . . . | Donald Hall | |
Luis Moreno | . . . . . . . . | Waiter | |
Gabriel Sickel | . . . . . . . . | Bus Boy | |
Racine Russell | . . . . . . . . | Officer Jen | |
Gary Hilborn | . . . . . . . . | Officer Don | |
Nora Paller | . . . . . . . . | Child in Church | |
Evie Paller | . . . . . . . . | Child in Church | |
Matthew DeCapua | . . . . . . . . | Doctor | |
Catherine Pena | . . . . . . . . | Nurse | |
Doreen Galagher Wall | . . . . . . . . | Hospital Psychologist | |
Mark Rossignol | . . . . . . . . | Guard | |
Carolyn Johnson | . . . . . . . . | Anchorwoman | |
Ajaye Brewington | . . . . . . . . | Hanging Out Guy | |
Robert Berlin | . . . . . . . . | Drug Guy | |
Tonya Pinkins | . . . . . . . . | Esmin | |
Melody Garcia | . . . . . . . . | Frustrated Pedestrian | |
John Sterling | . . . . . . . . | Himself |