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Trai Byers

Highest Rated: 79% The 24th (2020)

Lowest Rated: 17% Americons (2015)

Birthday: Jul 19, 1983

Birthplace: Kansas City, Kansas, USA

Classically trained actor Trai Byers enjoyed a rapid rise in the entertainment industry, moving from relative obscurity to major roles in the film "Selma" and the TV drama "Empire" (Fox 2015- ) in just a few short years. Born July 19, 1983 in Kansas City, Kansas, Byers was raised in a military family and spent much of his childhood in transit, relocating to bases across the United States and throughout the world. He settled in Tucker, Georgia long enough to graduate from high school, and then earned his associate's degree in theater from Andrew College. From there, Byers transferred to the University of Kansas, where he received his bachelor's degree in communications, and then obtained his master's degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. He made his screen debut in the independent horror-comedy "Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre"(2009) before landing his first television role on the long-running daytime soap opera "All My Children" (ABC/Hulu/Oprah Winfrey Network, 1970-2013) in 2011. By 2014, Byers had graduated to supporting roles in the independent drama "Jayhawkers" and the Oscar-nominated drama "Selma," which cast him as civil rights leader James Forman. The following year, Byers was cast as a series regular in Lee Daniels' series "Empire." The drama, inspired in part by Shakespeare's "King Lear," starred Terrence Howard as the ailing CEO of a hip-hop record label and Byers as his eldest son, the company's CFO, whose desire to take over the label is tempered by his struggles with bipolar disorder.

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Highest rated movies

79% 84% The 24th Watchlist
17% 75% Americons
Watchlist
33% Jayhawkers
Watchlist
Destination Planet Negro
Watchlist
Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
79% 84% The 24th Boston (Character),
Screenwriter,
Producer
- 2020
17% 75% Americons Theo Jones (Character) $14.4K 2015
No Score Yet 33% Jayhawkers Nathan Davis (Character) - 2014
No Score Yet No Score Yet Destination Planet Negro B-12 (Character) - 2013
No Score Yet No Score Yet Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre Chip (Character) $22.8K 2009

TV

Credit
98% 89% Harlem Keith (Guest Star) 2023
No Score Yet No Score Yet Inside the Black Box Self 2022
84% 47% Empire Andre Lyon (Character) 2015-2020
No Score Yet No Score Yet Rachael Ray Guest 2016
No Score Yet No Score Yet Harry Guest 2016
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Ellen DeGeneres Show Guest 2015
No Score Yet 11% The View Guest 2015
No Score Yet 38% 90210 Alec Martin (Guest Star) 2012