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Blair Underwood
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Two-time Emmy Award-winner, Grammy Award-winner, Tony Award and Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood is quite busy on a number of fronts. He is gathering accolades from critics, as well as his co-stars and director, in the breakout summer 2024 hit feature, Longlegs, for director Oz Perkins.  He will next be seen co-starring in A Spoonful of Chocolate, an independent feature by director RZA.  Last year, Underwood co-starred in Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed feature, Origin.  He also is in postproduction on Viral, a feature film he directed and stars in opposite Sarah Silverman and Alfre Woodard.   

Underwood has several television projects in the works, including a co-starring role in the new UK comedy series, Smothered, which was produced by the team behind IT Crowd and The Office.  He also stars in the 2024 Starz series, Three Women, alongside Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise and Betty Gilpin. 

Past credits include Underwood’s portrayal of Vernon Jordan, opposite Clive Owen, Edie Falco and Beanie Feldstein, in megaproducer Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment for FX, as well as the role of William Jackson Harper’s father in the second season of Love Life on HBO Max.  Underwood also co-starred in the Netflix limited series, Self-Made, opposite Octavia Spencer.  His performance earned a nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series for the NAACP Image Awards, as well as a Black Reel Award.  In 2019 he recurred on the Netflix comedy series, Dear White People, and in Clark Johnson's Juanita, opposite Alfred Woodard, also for Netflix.  While audiences were streaming that performance, Underwood was onstage, starring on Broadway opposite David Allen Grier in the Roundabout Theatre revival of A Soldier’s Play at the American Airlines Theater.  His performance garnered accolades and was recently nominated for a Tony Award, as well as a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award.  He spent two years as a series regular on the ABC drama series, Quantico, while also recurring on another hit ABC drama, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  He also had a co-starring role in The After Party, from writer/director Ian Edelman, which Netflix released late in 2018.  He can be seen co-starring in Justin Simien’s horror comedy, Bad Hair, which premiered on Hulu in October 2020. 

Additional television credits include series regular roles on Dirty Sexy Money, The New Adventures of Old Christine, In Treatment, L.A. Law and The Event.  Film credits include Rules of Engagement, Madea's Family Reunion and Full Frontal, for director Steven Soderbergh. Underwood co-starred opposite the late Cicely Tyson in the Lifetime telefilm, A Trip To Bountiful, based on the Tony Award-winning play.  In 2012 he made his acclaimed Broadway debut in the iconic role of "Stanley" in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he earned a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nomination.