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The West Wing
Background:
An American actor of Jamaican ancestry, Dulé Hill has made a name for himself as
a talented supporting performer with his role as presidential aide Charlie Young
on NBC’s series “The West Wing” (1999-2006), in which he took home two Screen
Actors Guild Awards, as well as received an Emmy and Image nominations. More
recently, he is known as the star of the television dramedy “Psych” (2006-?),
playing Burton Guster.
On the big screen, the 5’ 10” tall actor has had roles in many films, including
Sugar Hill (1994), She’s All That (1999), Men of Honor (2000), Holes (2003),
Edmond (2005), The Guardian (2006), and the forthcoming Whisper and Remarkable
Power (both 2007). He has also performed on numerous stage productions, most
notably Savion Glover’s Broadway plays “The Tap Dance Kid” and “Bring in Da’
Noise, Bring in Da’ Funk.”
On a more personal note, Hill is friends with She’s All That co-star Freddie
Prinze Jr. and in 2002, he attended Prinze Jr.’s and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s
wedding. He is married to actress Nicole Lyn.
Jamaican Lineage
Childhood and Family:
Karim Dulé Hill was born on May 3, 1974, in Orange, New Jersey to Jamaican
parents. The second of two children of Bert, an investment banker, and Jennifer,
a teacher, was raised in nearby Sayreville, along side his brother Bert Jr. His
parents signed him up in tap dance classes when Hill was only three years old.
He graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School, in Parlin, New Jersey, in
1993 and then studied business finance in South Orange’s Seton Hall University.
Hill was married to actress Nicole Lyn on July 10, 2004.
Psych
Career:
Dulé Hill started attending dance school at age of three and was rewarded for
his skills by landing understudy to the tap dance savant, Savion Glover, in the
Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre performance of “The Tap Dance Kid.” He continued to
perform the lead role in the show’s 16-month national tour. Before graduating
from high school, he participated in some other major musicals like “Little
Rascals,” “Little Rascals” and “Black and Blue,” as well as had a few small
parts in film and television, including playing Wesley Snipes’ 17-year-old
embodiment in 1994’s thriller Sugar Hill.
Hill went on to act throughout his college years, most remarkably in national
commercials and in the critically acclaimed, but very short lived, Saturday
morning show “CityKids,” in which he was a cast member from 1993 to 1994. During
his senior year, he reunited with Glover for the much-admired Broadway
production of “Bring in Da’ Noise, Bring in Da’ Funk” and spent two-and-a-half
year hoofing on the show. This led to guest spots in such TV shows as CBS’s
“Cosby” and WB’s “Smart Guy” (both 1998).
Following a supporting role in the hit comedy/romance film She’s All That
(1999), starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, Hill got his first
big break when he was cast as Charles Young, personal assistant to Martin
Sheen’s President Josiah Bartlet, on the NBC drama series “The West Wing”
(1999-2006), created by Aaron Sorkin. Debuting in 1999, the role brought the
actor a 2002 Emmy nod as well as four Image nominations in 2001, 2002, 2004 and
2005, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He also won Screen
Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in
2001 and 2002.
While costarring on the show, Hill made many films. He teamed up with Robert De
Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Charlize Theron for the biopic Men of Honor (2000),
appeared in the Sigourney Weaver vehicle Holes (2003) and costarred in the
made-for-TV 10.5 (2004), opposite Beau Bridges, Kim Delaney and Fred Ward. 2005
saw the actor act in David Mamet’s Edmond, director-writer Ken Kwapis’ comedy
Sexual Life and the short The Numbers.
At the beginning of seventh season (September 2005), Hill decided to leave “The
West Wing” to star in a pilot for a new series on the USA Network, “Psych,”
which premiered on July 2006. Cast as Burton “Gus” Guster, the comedy/crime show
featured Hill and his faux-psychic co-worker Shawn Spencer (James Roday) as
investigators who toil with the police to solve crimes. “Psych” earned generally
good reviews early on and found its niche viewers. Meanwhile, when the statement
was made that “The West Wing” would end its run in May of 2006, Hill returned
for the show’s last episodes to finish out the storyline of Charlie Young.
After The West Wing departed the airwaves, Hill could be seen as Ken Weatherly
in Kevin Costner/Ashton Kutcher U.S. Coast Guard vehicle, The Guardian (2006).
He will be cast as a detective in the drama/thriller feature Whisper (2007),
helmed by Stewart Hendler and written by Christopher Borrelli. He is also
scheduled to play supporting role Reggie in the comedy Remarkable Power, also
for 2007 release. Among his costars in the upcoming project are Tom Arnold, Kip
Pardue, Kevin Nealon, Evan Peters, Nora Zehetner and Whitney Able.
Awards:
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama
Series, “The West Wing,” 2002
- Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama
Series, “The West Wing,” 2001
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