Vondie Curtis-Hall
A versatile character actor, Vondie Curtis-Hall moved from the Broadway stage to features and television, including Emmy-nominated stints on "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) and in films like "Romeo + Juliet" (1996), and later, as a director on several features and for episodic television. Born September 30, 1950 in Detroit, Michigan, Hall and his siblings - brother and future fashion designer Kevan Hall and sister Sherrie - attended elementary and high school in the city's educational system before Vondie pursued studies in performance at Julliard and Richmond College in London, England. He began his professional acting career in stage musicals, performing as a member of the ensemble in shows like "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music" in 1981 before earning his breakout role as Marty, manager of soul singer James "Early" Thunder in the original Broadway production of "Dreamgirls" (1981). In the late 1980s, Hall began appearing in off-Broadway plays, which led to minor or supporting roles in features and on television, including "Coming to America" (1988), Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" (1989) and men of authority on both sides of the law in Ridley Scott's "Black Rain" (1989) and "Die Hard 2" (1990). He also parlayed his stage experience into various music-related projects, including a singing police commander on Steven Bochco's "Cop Rock" (ABC, 1990) and as the pianist Miguel Montoya in "The Mambo Kings" (1992). By the midpoint of the 1990s, Hall was in demand as a character actor in features and on episodic TV: the former included work with John Sayles in "Passion Fish" (1992), Spike Lee ("Crooklyn," 1994), John Woo ("Broken Arrow," 1996) and Baz Luhrmann, who cast him as the Captain of the Verona guard in "Romeo + Juliet" (1996), and "Eve's Bayou" (1997), directed by his wife, actress Kasi Lemmons. Notable work on the small screen included appearances on "ER" in two roles - he earned an Emmy nomination as a drag queen who commits suicide in a 1994 episode, and then in a recurring role as the husband of ill-fated Carla Reece (Lisa Nicole Carson) from 1996 to 2001- and series regular work on CBS's hospital series, "Chicago Hope" (1994-2000), which earned him three Screen Actors Guild nominations as part of an ensemble cast. But "ER" also served in part as the launching pad for Hall's successful second career as a director; Hall made his debut in this capacity with the cult drama "Gridlock'd" (1997), with Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth, and would move between features like a remake of "Glitter" (2001) with Mariah Carey, and numerous television episodes, including two turns behind the camera at "ER" and episodes of "The Shield" (FX, 2002-2006), among others. He continued to act during this period, including appearances and recurring turns on "The Sopranos" (HBO, 1999-2007), "Soul Food" (Showtime, 2000-2004), and in features like Lemmons' "Talk to Me" (2007) and "Black Nativity (2013). In 2015, he enjoyed simultaneous recurring roles as tough journalist Ben Urich on Marvel's "Daredevil" (2015- ) and as Morris Chestnut's father on "Rosewood" (Fox, 2015- 2017), and returned to series work in 2018 as a district court judge on ABC's "For the People" (2018- ), produced by Shonda Rhimes. That same year, "Faith Under Fire" (2018), a drama starring singer Toni Braxton for Lifetime, was named the top original movie on cable in all key demographics.
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Vondie Curtis-Hall
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
67% |
|
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat | Lester (Character) | - | 2024 |
48% |
|
Raymond & Ray | Unknown (Character) | - | 2022 |
77% |
|
18 1/2 | Samuel (Character) | - | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Blue Bayou | Parker Nguyen (Character) | - | 2021 |
88% |
|
The Night House | Mel (Character) | $7.1M | 2020 |
74% |
|
Harriet | Reverend Green (Character) | $43.0M | 2019 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Faith Under Fire | Director | - | 2018 |
No Score Yet |
|
Breaking Brooklyn | Greg Bryant (Character) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart | Director | - | 2016 |
85% |
|
Experimenter | Curtis (Character) | $155.1K | 2015 |
32% |
|
Cymbeline | Caius Lucius (Character) | - | 2014 |
51% |
|
Black Nativity | Pawnbroker (Character) | $7.0M | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
Abducted: The Carlina White Story | Director | - | 2012 |
86% |
|
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans | Capt. James Brasser (Character) | $1.7M | 2009 |
50% |
|
Life Is Hot in Cracktown | Dixon (Character) | - | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Crenshaw Nights | Frank "Jupiter" Johnson (Character) | - | 2008 |
69% |
|
Honeydripper | Slick (Character) | $267.9K | 2007 |
28% |
|
Waist Deep |
Director, Writer |
$21.3M | 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Deceit | Detective Hal Kazin (Character) | - | 2004 |
No Score Yet |
|
Redemption | Director | - | 2004 |
6% |
|
Glitter | Director | $4.3M | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Ali: An American Hero | Drew "Bundini" Brown (Character) | - | 2000 |
No Score Yet |
|
Freedom Song | Daniel Wall (Character) | - | 2000 |
10% |
|
Turn It Up | Cliff (Character) | $1.2M | 2000 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sirens | Vincent Morgan (Character) | - | 1999 |
88% |
|
Gridlock'd |
Director, Writer |
$5.5M | 1997 |
No Score Yet |
|
Don King: Only in America | Lloyd Price (Character) | - | 1997 |
84% |
|
Eve's Bayou | Julian Grayraven (Character) | $14.8M | 1997 |
16% |
|
Heaven's Prisoners | Minos P. Dautrieve (Character) | $5.0M | 1996 |
53% |
|
Broken Arrow | Lt. Col. Sam Rhodes (Character) | $70.6M | 1996 |
74% |
|
William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet | Captain Prince (Character) | $46.4M | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Stories From the Edge | Unknown (Character) | - | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tuesday Morning Ride | Carver (Character) | - | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dead Man's Revenge | Jessup Bush (Character) | - | 1994 |
17% |
|
Drop Squad | Rocky Seavers (Character) | $595.7K | 1994 |
79% |
|
Crooklyn | Uncle Brown (Character) | $12.8M | 1994 |
20% |
|
Sugar Hill | Mark Doby (Character) | $18.3M | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 112th & Central: Through the Eyes of the Children | Producer | - | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | There Was a Little Boy | Danforth (Character) | - | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story | C. Yernon Mason (Character) | - | 1992 |
82% |
|
The Mambo Kings | Miguel Montoya (Character) | $6.5M | 1992 |
100% |
|
Passion Fish | Sugar LeDoux (Character) | $2.4M | 1992 |
No Score Yet |
|
... And Then She Was Gone | Det. Gary Hopkins (Character) | - | 1991 |
70% |
|
Shakedown | Speaker Voice (Voice) | $9.3M | 1988 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
92% | 47% | Justified: City Primeval | Marcus "Sweety" Sweeton (Character) | 2023 |
68% | 84% | The Recruit | Walter Nyland (Character) | 2022 |
96% | 86% | Evil | Leon Acosta (Guest Star) | 2019 |
69% | 91% | For the People | Judge Nicholas Byrne (Character) | 2018-2019 |
9% | 76% | Rosewood | Beaumont Rosewood Sr. (Guest Star) | 2015 2017 |
92% | 89% | Marvel's Daredevil | Ben Urich (Character) | 2015 |
75% | 86% | Chasing Life | Lawrence (Guest Star) | 2014 |
43% | No Score Yet | NYC 22 | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2012 |
66% | 75% | A Gifted Man | Dennis Jones (Guest Star) | 2011 |
78% | 83% | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Dwight Talcott (Guest Star) | 2011 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Criminal Minds | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fear Itself | Walter Markham (Character) | 2009 |
84% | 79% | Gossip Girl | Director | 2008 |
86% | 90% | Boston Legal | Director | 2008 |
76% | 88% | Sleeper Cell | Director | 2006 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Law & Order | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2006 |
47% | No Score Yet | Fastlane | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2002-2003 |
92% | 96% | The Sopranos | Maurice Tiffen (Guest Star) | 2002 |
25% | No Score Yet | MDs | Director | 2002 |
No Score Yet | 85% | ER | Roger McGrath (Guest Star) | 1994 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chicago Hope | Dr. Dennis Hancock (Character) | 1995-1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fallen Angels | David O'Connor (Character) | 1993 |
53% | No Score Yet | Cop Rock | Cdr. Warren Osborne (Character) | 1990 |