|
|
|
|
|
|
A handsome young leading man of American TV and, to a lesser extent, film,
Blair Underwood got his start playing clean-cut and often decidedly middle
class African Americans, notably his six seasons as Jonathan Rollins, the
brash associate of "L.A. Law" (NBC, 1987-93), then branched out to playing
sleazoids of the first degree, then saw the pendulum swing back as he
returned to more upstanding TV characters.
*
*
An Army brat, Underwood grew up near bases around the globe. He studied
acting at Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before heading to New
York hoping for a career in show business. He appeared in two episodes of
NBC's "The Cosby Show": the first practically as an extra in an episode
which really featured dancer Judith Jameson; then as boyfriend of Denise in
a subsequent episode. The latter was the role that helped to bring him to
the attention of Hollywood casting directors. Underwood first starred in a
feature film in 1985, with "Krush Groove", the rap comedy in which he was
the record producer trying to launch his own label, then played on the ABC
daytime drama "One Life to Live" for a brief spell in 1986 as street kid
Bobby Blue, before landing his first primetime series, playing Terry Corsaro,
a paroled pickpocket, in the short-lived CBS venture "Downtown" (1986-87).
The exposure from "L.A. Law" helped Underwood break into TV-movies as well.
His first was "The Cover Girl and the Cop" (NBC, 1989), but he is better
recalled for playing Bob Richardson, a young man who has just moved to L.A.
and finds himself in the midst of the Watts riots in "Heat Wave" (TNT,
1990). That same year, he played Civil Rights martyr James Chaney in NBC's "Murder
in Mississippi", which tried, after so many outrageous fictions, to tell the
true story of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, the trio who were murdered
while working for integration in Philadelphia, Mississippi. With his brother
Frank, Underwood formed a production company in the 90s and he also directed
a short film, "The Second Coming" (1992), in which he played a Christ-like
character. Underwood played a convicted criminal who meets his father (Louis
Gossett Jr) for the first time behind bars, and then finds himself paroled
alongside pop in "Father & Son: Dangerous Relations" (NBC, 1993). Also in
1993, he returned to the big screen was the sheriff in Mario Van Peebles' "Posse."
In a less heroic mold was his convicted child rapist whom Sean Connery
believes innocent in "Just Cause" (1995).
He was well-cast as Jackie Robinson in the 1996 HBO original film "Soul of
the Game", which purported to tell the story of the bridge between the Negro
Leagues and the Major Leagues. A string of supporting roles in major motion
pictures followed, including the uban crime drama "Set It Off" (1996), the
sci-fi conundrum "Gattaca" (1997), the big-budget disaster film "Deep Impact"
(1998) and the military legal thriller "Rules of Engagement" (2000). He also
kept a steady hand in television, joining the cast of ABC's short-lived
police drama "High Incident" (1996-97), starring in the ensemble of the
telepic adaptation of Alex Haley's familial novel "Mama Flora's Family"
(1998) and took the lead in the ratings-challenged CBS medical drama "City
of Angels" (2000).
In 2002 Underwood was cast in the high-profile ensemble of director Steven
Soderbergh's muddled "Full Frontal" (2002), Soderbergh's attempt to return
to indie sensibility after his mainstream Hollywood successes; The actor
appeared opposite Julia Roberts, both in a movie-within-a-movie and as the
actors playing their characters. In a sillier departure, Underwood joined
the cast of "Malibu's Most Wanted" (2003), playing the campaign manager to a
senator with a privileged, wannabe rapper son who acts and talks like he's
straight out of the 'hood (Jamie Kennedy). That same year he began a series
of recurring appearances on the hit HBO comedy "Sex and the City," playing
Miranda's hunky physician neighbor and eventual paramour Robert Leeds. After
being tapped by series creator Bill Cosby to provide the voice of the Cliff
Huxtable-esque Dr. Arthur Bindlebeep in the animated Nick-At-Night series "Fatherhood"
(2004 - ), Underwood returned to live action primetime network TV opposite
Heather Locklear on the airport-set drama "LAX" (2004 - ), playing an
ambitious airport executive overseeing the busy Los Angeles airport. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BLAIR UNDERWOOD PICTURES |
|
|
|
MOST POPULAR
Angelina Jolie
Jessica Alba
Paris Hilton
Scarlett Johansson
Jessica Simpson
Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera
Lindsay Lohan
Shakira
Beyonce
Hilary Duff
ADDITIONS
Miley Cyrus
Rihanna
Hayden Panettiere
Miranda Cosgrove
Selena Gomez
Demi Lovato
Vanessa Hudgens
Ashley Tisdale
|
