Bio
Demetrius Grosse is an American actor best known for his starring role as Deputy Emmett Yawners, a deputy in the Banshee sheriff's department who is a strong, devoutly Christian man who can kick ass when he needs to, in the action drama television series Banshee.
He also had a recurring role as Ellston Limehouse's henchman Errol in the third season of the crime drama television series Justified, in 2012.
Born and raised in Washington, DC, his first television appearance was as a journalist of sorts. At age 10, Demetrius was selected to interview the then newly-inaugurated President Bill Clinton on a nationally televised, two-hour special "President Clinton Answering Children's Questions".
Showcased to the nation as one of "America's 50 young minds to watch," Demetrius caught the attention of someone very close to home, Lukie Tannenbaum. Lukie was not only a teacher at Georgetown Day School; she was also the assistant director of the District's premier youth theatre troupe, Summer Musical Theater Workshop (SMTW).
She encouraged Demetrius to audition for the program. As a young man who had explored almost every form of artistic expression, from painting to music, Demetrius had found his home in the expressive voice known as acting.
As a child actor he honed his craft on the stage starring in more than five plays with SMTW. Through training and performance, acting, singing, and dance were all elements of performance that were developed early on as Demetrius began to build his repertoire.
After what he refers to as a "basketball-jones hiatus," that lasted for about two and a half years, the acting bug caught up with him again and bit him square on the bat his sophomore year at Gonzaga College High School.
He made his star turn as the young Joe Hardy in the school's '97 production of Damn Yankees. Demetrius was introduced to the straight play when he performed the role of Henry Drummond in the courtroom drama, Inherit The Wind.
At the close of his high school career, Demetrius had achieved Eagle Scout, the highest rank in his Boy Scout troop 544. He had also performed and starred in five stage plays.
When not in class, doing community based activities, or on stage, he explored film; acting, producing, and editing broadcast pieces for the school's closed circuit television station, WZAG.
After becoming the first Black leading man in the school's 175 year history and experiencing a flourishing passion for the dramatic arts, Demetrius, now 17, had decided he wanted to pursue acting as a career.
So when the time rolled around for choosing a university, Demetrius headed to New York City to audition for the nation's top University for drama and musical theatre, Carnegie Mellon. Demetrius was accepted and awarded the coveted Andrew Carnegie Undergraduate Grant for artistic merit.
In 2002, Demetrius completed a visiting student program in which he finished two semesters of intensive study at the Howard University College of Fine Arts in his home of Washington D.C.
While gaining Dean's list honours, Demetrius was simultaneously busy building an impressive resume. He honed his film acting technique, starring in four independent films.
During the 2001-2002 academic year, while in school, he was employed at the Shakespeare Theatre and Arena Stage working alongside such well-known artists as Earle Hyman, Avery Brooks, Al Freeman Jr., and Haile Gerima.
During July, Demetrius took his craft to the international arena, studying and performing both classical and contemporary drama with the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England.
Demetrius is also an accomplished musician and writer. Since the age of 13 he has played the trombone with several bands and has began to focus more on his literary work.
He has collaborated on HIV/AIDS awareness arts projects, street theatre initiatives, mentoring programs, and children's theatre workshops.
In the summer of 2007, Demetrius joined Shakespeare Santa Monica. He had performed on the stages of Oxford, England with the BADA group, in Washington DC with The Shakespeare Theatre, and in Cape Town, South Africa with UCT. He was excited for the "adventure" of his roles as Buckingham and Sebastian.
In 2007 also meant Demetrius' first lead role in a feature film. Excited to reunite with creator Corey Grant, Demetrius had been featured on both network and cable programming, but had yet to help carry a feature.
An Alum of Howard and Carnegie Mellon Universities, Demetrius dedicated this performance to the life and legacy of Christopher Wallace and Tupac Amaru Shakur. The film, after doing well in several film festivals was signed for US and Canadian distribution through Warner Brothers Home Video.
Since his graduation from CMU Drama 2005, Demetrius has been seen on numerous network episodics: from CSI: Miami to The Unit. He has garnered pilots for both HBO and the FX networks, and has been featured on several national commercials. He was also seen in Bones in the episode entitled The Finger in the Nest, in 2008.
As a writer-director, Demetrius' first short film Do Not Disturb was webcast on YouTube and Myspace Video. Demetrius also recurred as Baron Samedi on Heroes and as Officer Newkirk on ER.
In 2010 he starred as Jermaine Jones and Fleetwood Morgan in Team Bondi's motion capture project LA Noire for Rockstar Games and in 2012 had a major recurring role in the modern Western series Justified.