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Sterling K. Brown
Sterling K. Brown by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Brown at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born
Sterling Kelby Brown

(1976-04-05) April 5, 1976 (age 48)
Education
Occupation Actor
Years active 2001–present
Spouse(s)
(m. 2006)
Children 2
Awards Full list

Sterling Kelby Brown (born April 5, 1976) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. He was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.

Brown has portrayed Christopher Darden in the FX limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) and starred as Randall Pearson in the NBC drama series This Is Us (2016–2022). Both roles earned him Primetime Emmy Awards. He was Emmy-nominated for his roles in the NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2018) and the Amazon Prime comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019).

Brown is also known for his leading roles in the drama film Hotel Artemis (2019) and the mockumentary comedy Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022) as well as his supporting roles in several critically acclaimed films such as Marshall (2017), Black Panther (2018), Waves (2019), and American Fiction (2023). He has voiced 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 and Aralean (Banks) Brown. He has two sisters and two brothers. His father died when he was 10 years old.

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

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.

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

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. He did post-graduate study at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree.

Career

After college, Brown performed a series of roles in regional theater. 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.

He has also appeared on numerous television shows including ER, NYPD Blue, JAG, Boston Legal, Alias, Without a Trace, Supernatural, and Third Watch. He was a regular in the comedy Starved, 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. He had a recurring role on the television series Supernatural, as vampire hunter Gordon Walker. He played Dr. Roland Burton on Army Wives and Detective Cal Beecher on Person of Interest, and appeared on Medium. In 2008, he played David Mosley on the "Patience" episode of Eli Stone. In 2014, he starred as Hero in Suzan-Lori Parks' Odyssey-inspired play Father Comes Home From the Wars at New York's Public Theater. He also starred in the 2014 film The Suspect with Mekhi Phifer.

In 2016, he starred in the FX miniseries The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story as Christopher Darden, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. From 2016 to 2022, Brown had a starring role in the television series This Is Us. In 2018, it made him the first African-American actor to win a Golden Globe in the Best Actor in a Television Drama category, 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.

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). In June 2018, Brown gave the commencement address at his alma mater Stanford University. 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. 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.

From 2019 to 2020 he narrated the Disney+ documentary series One Day at Disney. He portrayed Leo McGarry in the HBO special A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote (2020). Brown took a recurring voice role as Michael Angelo in the Netflix animated comedy series Big Mouth (2020). He continued taking voice roles for 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. The following year he acted alongside Mark Duplass in the science fiction comedy film Biosphere (2023) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. That same year he gained critical acclaim for his supporting role in the satirical comedy American Fiction (2023).

Personal life

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

Filmography

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
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
Waves Ronald Williams Trey Edward Shults
Frozen II Lieutenant Destin Mattias Jennifer Lee
Chris Buck
Voice
2020 The Rhythm Section Marc Serra Reed Morano
2022 Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Lee-Curtis Childs Adamma Ebo
2023 Biosphere Ray Mel Eslyn
American Fiction Clifford "Cliff" Ellison Cord Jefferson
TBA The Psalm of Howard Thurman Narrator Arleigh Prelow Post-production
Atlas TBA Brad Peyton 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 ... 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
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–present Interrupting Chicken Papa Voice, 12 episodes
2023 Invincible Angstrom Levy Voice

Music videos

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

Theatre

Year Show Role Theater
2002 Twelfth Night Antonio Public Theater Delacorte Theater
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Goodwill National Actor's Theatre
2006 Macbeth Macduff Public Theater Delacorte Theater
2009 The Brother/Sister Plays Part 1: In The Red and Brown Water Shango Public Theater Anspacher Theater
The Brother/Sister Plays Part 2: The Brothers Size and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet Shua
2014 Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) Hero/Ulysses

Awards and nominations

See also

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