Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata | |
---|---|
Born |
Daniel Sunjata Condon December 30, 1971 Evanston, Illinois |
Alma mater | |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1998–present |
Home town | Chicago, Illinois |
Daniel Sunjata (born Daniel Sunjata Condon;[1] December 30, 1971) is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is best known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series Rescue Me.
Personal life
Sunjata was born and grew up in Chicago, the adopted son of Bill and Catherine Condon, a police dispatcher and a civil rights worker. His parents are of Irish and Italian-German descent. He is named in honor of the African king Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire; the name means "hungry lion."[2] He was told his biological mother was a white teenage runaway and his father was black.[3] He graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, where he played linebacker for two state championship football teams. He completed his undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He received a master's degree in fine arts from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[4]
Career
Sunjata played the role of a sailor on shore leave on the first post-9/11 themed episode of Sex and The City. He has portrayed Langston Hughes in the film Brother to Brother and James Holt, a fashion designer in The Devil Wears Prada.[5]
He starred as firefighter Franco Rivera on the television program Rescue Me. During the summer of 2007, he also starred in the ESPN miniseries The Bronx is Burning as Reggie Jackson. He appeared as a Special Forces Operative in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012).[5]
In 2003, he won a Theatre World Award for his breakout Broadway performance as a gay Major League Baseball player who comes out to the public in Take Me Out, the Tony award-winning play, which also earned him nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.[5]
Views on the September 11 attacks
On April 30, 2009, Sunjata announced his participation as narrator in Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, which was the last in a series of documentaries, collectively known as Loose Change, that argue that the September 11 attacks were planned by the United States government.[6]
Sunjata has stated that he believes "absolutely, 100 percent" in this theory.[7] Producers of Rescue Me, inspired by Sunjata's views, created a subplot of the show that year (the show's fifth season) in which Sunjata's character, Franco Rivera, stirs up controversy in the firehouse when he announces these same views to a journalist.[7]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | Valentine | Television movie |
2001 | The Feast of All Saints | Christophe Mercier | Television movie |
2002 | Bad Company | Officer Carew | |
2004 | Melinda and Melinda | Billy Wheeler | |
2004 | Noel | Marco | |
2004 | Brother to Brother | Langston Hughes | |
2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | James Holt | |
2009 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | Brad | |
2009 | Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup | Narrator | |
2010 | At Risk | Detective Win Garano | Television movie |
2010 | The Front | Detective Win Garano | Television movie |
2010 | Weakness | Alejandro | |
2012 | One for the Money | Ranger | |
2012 | Gone | Powers | |
2012 | The Dark Knight Rises | Captain Jones | |
2014 | Lullaby | Officer Ramirez |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | D.C. | Lewis Freeman | 7 episodes |
2000 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Bomb Squad Officer | Episode: "Remorse" |
2001 | All My Children | Zachary Pell | Unknown episodes |
2002 | Sex and the City | Louis Leroy, USN | Episode: "Anchors Away" |
2002–04 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | CSU Technician Burt Trevor | 15 episodes |
2003 | Ed | Danny Martin | Episode: "The Case" |
2004–11 | Rescue Me | Franco Rivera | 93 episodes Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series |
2005 | Law & Order | Kenny Tremont | Episode: "Mammon" |
2006 | Love Monkey | Diego | 4 episodes |
2007 | The Bronx is Burning | Reggie Jackson | 8 episodes Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special |
2008 | Great Performances | Christian de Neuvillette | Episode: "Cyrano de Bergerac" |
2009 | Lie to Me | Andrew Jenkins | Episode: "Blinded" |
2010 | 30 Rock | Chris | Episode: "College" |
2010–11 | Grey's Anatomy | Nurse Eli | 8 episodes |
2012–13 | Smash | Peter Gillman | 4 episodes |
2013–15 | Graceland | Paul Briggs | 38 episodes |
2016 | Notorious | Jake Gregorian | Main Cast |
Video games
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | TOCA Race Driver | Nick Landers/James Randall | Voice |
Theater
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Twelfth Night | Valentine | |
2003 | Take Me Out | Darren Lemming | Theatre World Award Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Nominated – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play |
2007 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Christian De Neuvillette | |
2013 | Macbeth | Macduff | |
2014 | The Country House | Michael Astor |
References
- ↑ "Daniel Sunjata profile". Filmreference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
- ↑ "Daniel Sunjata". www.skiddnet.com. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
- ↑ Finn, Robin (May 28, 2003). "PUBLIC LIVES; Such a Realistic Portrayal, the Guys Ask Him Out". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
- ↑ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". Gradacting.tisch.nyu.edu. 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- 1 2 3 Daniel Sunjata at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Gil, Billy. "Microcinema Gets Rights to 'Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup'", Home Media Magazine, May 4, 2009.
- 1 2 Stelter, Brian. "The Political Suspicions of 9/11", The New York Times, February 1, 2009.
External links
- Daniel Sunjata at the Internet Movie Database
- Daniel Sunjata at the Internet Broadway Database
- Philly
- Variety
- Audio Interview on 9/11
- Audio Interview on 9/11