|
Lost Michael
Background:
A former dancer, actor Harold Perrineau began his professional
acting career in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions,
performing in such hit musicals as “Dream Girls,”
“Godspell” and “Fame.” He subsequently became
popular on television while playing wheelchair-bound
prisoner/narrator Augustus Hill (1997-2003) on HBO critically
acclaimed one-hour dramatic series "Oz" and as Michael
Dawson (2004-2006), a construction worker who had only just reclaimed
custody of his young son on ABC’s award-winning adventure drama
"Lost." On the big screen, he was best remembered as
Mercutio, Romeo’s free spirited friend in Baz Luhrmann's
acclaimed adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996),
and as Link in the Matrix films (2003).
Next, the 5' 10½" actor will star in the upcoming
films Your Name Here, Gardens of the Night, and 28 Weeks Later...
Brooklyn Boy
Childhood and Family:
In Brooklyn, New York, Harold Williams was born on August 7, 1968.
He studied music and theater at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music
in Winchester, Virginia and received a dance scholarship to the
prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York. He also
studied Kung Fu Wu-Su for five years.
On August 27, 2002, Harold married model/actress Brittany
Perrineau and they have one daughter together, Aurora Robinson
Perrineau.
Augustus Hill of Oz
Career:
A former dancer with the Alvin Ailey Company for a year and a
half, Harold Perrineau shifted to acting and began his professional
career in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions, performing in
such hit musicals as “Dream Girls,” “Godspell”
and “Fame,” in which he originated the stage role of
Tyrone Jackson, the hip-hop dancer who finds love in Iris, a
classically trained ballet dancer. During that time, he also began
appearing on TV, guest starring in an episode of NBC long-running
sitcom "The Cosby Show" and in two episodes of NBC police
procedural and legal drama "Law & Order."
Harold’s first major television break arrived in 1990 when
he was cast in a recurring role of Robert Evans (1991-1993) on the
NBC series “I’ll Fly Away.” Afterward, he made his
feature debut in Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's critically acclaimed
independent drama/comedy Smoke (1995), alongside Harvey Keitel and
William Hurt. Playing Thomas 'Rashid' Cole, a young man searching for
his long-absent father (played by Forest Whitaker), Harold was
nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.
The next year, Harold joined Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in
Baz Luhrmann's Academy Award-nominated, BAFTA-winning film adaptation
of William Shakespeare's famous play, Romeo + Juliet (1996), playing
Mercutio, Romeo’s free spirited friend who was stabbed when
Romeo attempts to stop his swordfight with Tybalt. He also returned
to the small screen to play the regular role of the wheelchair-bound
prisoner/narrator Augustus Hill (1997-2003), a former drug dealer and
ex-junkie on HBO critically acclaimed one-hour dramatic series "Oz."
During hid “Oz” stint, Harold continued acting in
feature film. He reunited with writer-director Paul Auster in his
romantic mystery drama film Lulu on the Bridge (1998; with Harvey
Keitel and Mira Sorvino) and appeared in Malcolm D. Lee's first film,
the romantic comedy/drama The Best Man (1999; starring Taye Diggs and
Nia Long). He also played Penelope Cruz’s drag queen best
friend in Fina Torres' fantasy romantic comedy film Woman on Top
(2000) and played Link in the Wachowski brothers' summer blockbuster
The Matrix Reloaded (2003; starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence
Fishburne), a role which he reprised in its sequel, The Matrix
Revolutions (also in 2003).
In 2004, Harold returned to series TV when he was cast as Michael
Dawson (2004-2006), a construction worker who had only just reclaimed
custody of his young son (played by Malcolm David Kelley) when the
two are among the 48 plane crash survivors on ABC’s Emmy and
Golden Globe award-winning adventure drama created by J.J. Abrams,
"Lost."
As for his upcoming projects, Harold will soon wrap
writer-director Matthew Wilder's biographical drama Your Name Here
(with Bill Pullman and Taryn Manning), Damian Harris' drama Gardens
of the Night, and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's sci-fi horror/thriller 28
Weeks Later...
Awards:
|
