Bio
Andre Braugher was an American actor best known for his starring role as detective Frank Pembleton on the police procedural television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street, from 1993-1998.
He also starred on the series Men of a Certain Age, receiving Emmy Award nominations in 2011 and 2010; and starred as Captain Marcus Chaplin, who refuses an order to use nuclear weapons, laying himself and his senior officers open to charges of mutiny and treason, in the action thriller television series Last Resort, from 2012-2013.
In 2010, Braugher co-starred in the feature film Salt opposite Angelina Jolie for director Phillip Noyce. Prior to that he co-starred in Passengers (2008) opposite Anne Hathaway, in the Frank Darabont film The Mist (2007) based on the novel by Stephen King and in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).
He also starred in the sci-fi mini-series The Andromeda Strain (2008) alongside Benjamin Bratt and Eric McCormack.
In 2006, Braugher won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Mini-Series and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his starring role in the mini-series Thief, which aired on FX.
In 2004, Braugher starred in the original four hour mini-series Salem's Lot based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King. Prior to that film, he starred in the film A Soldier's Girl.
In 2002, he starred in the critically acclaimed series Hack opposite David Morse and in the film 10,000 Black Men Named George with Charles Dutton and Mario Van Peebles for director Robert Townsend.
Braugher served as Executive Producer on the later film and he received an NAACP Award nomination for his role as A. Philip Randolph.
Between 2000 and 2001, Braugher starred in the critically acclaimed drama series Gideon's Crossing. He received an Emmy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Dr. Ben Gideon in Gideon's Crossing.
In 1999, Braugher made his directorial debut with one vignette of the trilogy Love Songs, in which he also starred, and he starred in the telefilm Passing Glory, for director Steve James (Hoop Dreams), garnering critical acclaim for his performance.
But it is his riveting portrayal of Detective Frank Pembleton on the series Homicide: Life on the Street (1992-98) which brought Braugher breakout success and garnered him two Emmy Award nominations, an Emmy Award win in 1998 as well as two Television Critics Association Awards in 1997 and 1998 for Best Actor in a Drama Series.
Braugher received a second Emmy Award nomination in 1996 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Mini-Series for his work in the Peabody Award-winning production The Tuskegee Airmen.
Braugher's other television credits include him reprising his Emmy Award-winning role of Detective Frank Pembleton in the two-hour special Homicide: The Movie (2000), the title role in The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990), Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture (1990) and Murder in Mississippi (1990).
He began his television career as sidekick to the late Telly Savalas in television movies based on the original Kojak series.
In addition to Braugher's success on the small screen, audiences have seen him star in a variety of feature film roles. He co-starred in Poseidon (2006), in Duets (2000) opposite Gwyneth Paltrow for director Bruce Paltrow, in the independent feature A Better Way to Die (2000) and alongside Dennis Quaid in the critically praised film Frequency (2000).
Before that he starred with Alec Baldwin in the independent film Thick As Thieves (1999), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later aired on cable, he was a part of an ensemble cast, which included Jeff Daniels, Gary Sinise, Joan Allen and Anna Paquin, in director Jim Stern's All The Rage (1999) and starred in City of Angels (1998) with Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan and Dennis Franz.
Other notable feature film credits include Primal Fear (1996) with Richard Gere, which marked his first collaboration with Frequency director Gregory Hoblit, Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), and Glory (1989), the Oscar winning story of America's first unit of black soldiers during the Civil War.
He can also be seen in Baytown Outlaws, which was released in 2012.
He also had a starring role as Captain Ray Holt, the 99th Precinct's strict new Commanding Officer who finds himself in his first command despite many years of outstanding service, something he attributed to prejudice against him being gay, in the television sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
A versatile performer, Braugher appeared on stage with the New York Shakespeare Festival in Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, in the title role of Henry V, which earned him an Obie Award, and in As You like It.
At Joseph Papp's Public Theater, Braugher performed in The Way of the World and Shakespeare's Richard II and Coriolanus. He played Iago in the Folger Shakespeare Festival production of Othello and performed the title role in Macbeth for the Philadelphia Drama Guild.
Braugher also starred in the Manhattan Theatre Club's New York premiere of The Whipping Man.
Braugher, who was born and raised in Chicago, earned a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.F.A. from Juilliard.
He died on Monday, 11 December 2023, at the age of 61. According to his publicist, it happened after a brief illness.