| Avery Brooks | |
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| Born | Avery Franklin Brooks October 2, 1948 Evansville, Indiana, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Vicki Bowen (1976-present) |
Avery Franklin Brooks (born October 2, 1948) is an American stage and television actor, and jazz and opera singer. Events 1187 - Siege of Jerusalem: Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Evansville (ˈɛvənzˌvɪl is the third-largest city in the U The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1187 - Siege of Jerusalem: Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works Brooks is known for his television roles as Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and as Hawk on Spenser: For Hire and its spinoff A Man Called Hawk. Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the Television series Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Spenser For Hire was a mystery television series based on Robert B A Man Called Hawk is a Prime time television series that ran on the ABC television network between January 1989 and May
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Early life
Brooks was born in Evansville, Indiana to Samuel Leon Brooks (a tool and die maker and singer) and Eva Lydia Crawford (a pianist, organist, and choir director). Evansville (ˈɛvənzˌvɪl is the third-largest city in the U At age eight, his family later moved to Gary, Indiana when Samuel Brooks was laid off from International Harvester. International Harvester Company ( IHC or IH; now Navistar International Corporation) was an agricultural machinery construction equipment Of Gary, Brooks has said "I was born in Evansville . . . but it was Gary, Indiana, that made me" (Gary Civic Celebration; Nov. 2006).
The Brooks household was filled with music. His mother, who was among the first African-American women to earn a master's degree in music at Northwestern University, taught music wherever the family lived. [1] His father was in the choir Wings Over Jordan on CBS radio from 1937 to 1947 and his maternal uncle Samuel Travis Crawford, was a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys. CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Delta Rhythm Boys were an American vocal group active for over 50 years in the 20th century "Music is all around me and in me, as I am in it", Brooks has said. [2]
Brooks attended Indiana University and Oberlin College and later received a B. Indiana University, founded in 1820, is a nine-campus University system in the state of Indiana. Oberlin College is a private Liberal arts college in Oberlin Ohio. A. and M. F. A. from Rutgers University in 1976, becoming the first African-American to receive an MFA in acting and directing from Rutgers. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University) is the largest institution for higher education in the state of New Jersey Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. [3]
Non-television career
Teaching and cultural work
Brooks has been a tenured professor of theatre at the Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University for more than three decades. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University) is the largest institution for higher education in the state of New Jersey He has also taught at Oberlin College and Case Western Reserve University. Oberlin College is a private Liberal arts college in Oberlin Ohio. Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland Ohio, United States, with some residence halls on the south end of campus
From 1993 to 1996, Brooks was Artistic Director for the National Black Arts Festival in association with Rutgers University. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) The National Black Arts Festival was founded in 1987 after the Fulton County Arts Council (in Atlanta Georgia) commissioned a study to explore the feasibility of Held biannually since 1988 in Atlanta, Georgia, the internationally renowned festival celebrates African-American culture and people of African descent. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) He was also inducted into the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1993. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) In addition, Brooks has done extensive work with the Smithsonian Institution's Program in Black American Culture. The Smithsonian Institution (smɪθsoʊnɪən is an educational and research institute and associated Museum complex administered and funded by the Government of
Music
A deep baritone singer, Brooks has performed on stage with Butch Morris, Lester Bowie, and Jon Hendricks. Lawrence D "Butch" Morris (b Long Beach, California, February 10, 1947) is an American Jazz Cornetist Lester Bowie ( 11 October 1941 &ndash 8 November 1999) was an American Jazz Trumpet player and Composer. For the television executive see John Hendricks For the Australian swimmer see Jon Henricks Jon Hendricks (born He also recorded an album with saxophone player James Spaulding as a tribute to Duke Ellington. James Spaulding (born July 30, 1937 in Indianapolis Indiana) is a jazz alto saxophonist and flautist Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29 1899 &ndash May 24 1974 was an American Composer, Pianist, and Bandleader. Brooks had the lead role in the 1985 Anthony Davis opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) Anthony Davis may refer to Anthony Davis (composer (born 1951 American composer and jazz pianist Anthony Davis (running back (born 1952 More recently, he performed at the Paris Banlieues Bleues Festival in 2005. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Theater
Brooks received critical acclaim in Phillip Hayes Dean's play Paul Robeson. Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson ( April 9, 1898 &ndash January 23, 1976) was a multi-lingual American Actor, athlete Brooks paid tribute to his culture by portraying the life of the famous singer, actor, and civil rights activist in a one-man, critically-acclaimed biographical drama. He has performed the role since 1982 at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles, and also at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Longacre Theater on Broadway. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (on the building itself called the John F Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located He also portrayed Robeson in "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?," both on and off-Broadway. Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City.
Brooks' early theater credits include The Offering, A PHOTOGRAPH: A Study of Cruelty, and Are You Now or Have You Ever Been in the 1970s. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. He first started to gain recognition after his appearance in Spell #7 at the Public/Anspache Theater in New York City in 1979. The City of New York Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) He subsequently starred in Othello at the Folger Shakespeare Festival (1985) and Fences at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Missouri (1990). Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) Fences is a 1983 play by American Playwright, August Wilson. Set in the 1950s it is the sixth in Wilson's ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) He reprised the role of Othello at the Washington Shakespeare Theater in 1990-1991. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.
More recently, Brooks appeared in the title role of The Oedipus Plays, a production that traveled to the 2003 Athens Festival in Greece. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία He also appeared in the title role of King Lear at Yale's Repertory Theatre. King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606 and is considered one of his greatest works In 2005, Brooks again starred as Othello, this time at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in a production directed by the renowned Michael Kahn. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a Regional theatre company located in Washington D Michael Kahn is currently the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D Brooks was one of 15 Shakespeare Theatre Company company actors in Washington to be honored with the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre in 2007. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. [4] He returned to the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Fall 2007 to play the title role in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine. Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe.
Television career
Spenser For Hire: Hawk
In 1985, Brooks landed the role of Hawk on the ABC television detective series Spenser: For Hire. Spenser For Hire was a mystery television series based on Robert B Hawk became a popular character and, after four seasons, Brooks in 1989 received his own, short-lived spinoff series, A Man Called Hawk . A Man Called Hawk is a Prime time television series that ran on the ABC television network between January 1989 and May
Brooks said of his role as Hawk: "I never thought of myself as the sidekick. . . I've never been the side of anything. I just assumed that I was equal".
Brooks returned to play Hawk in four Spenser television movies: Spenser: Ceremony, Spenser: Pale Kings and Princes, Spenser: The Judas Goat and Spenser: A Savage Place.
Star Trek: Benjamin Sisko
Brooks is best known in popular culture for his role as Captain Benjamin Sisko on the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which ran for seven seasons from 1993 to 1999. Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, is the main character of the Television series Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Brooks won the right to play Commander Benjamin Sisko by beating 100 other actors from all racial backgrounds to become the first African-American captain to lead a Star Trek series. What appealed to Brooks about the role was the opportunity to give hope to young people. "Today, many of our children, especially males, do not project that they will live past the age of 19 or 20," he told Michael Logan of TV Guide. TV Guide is the name of a North American weekly magazine about television programming "Star Trek allows our children the chance to see something they might never otherwise imagine.
He directed nine episodes of the series, including "Far Beyond the Stars", an episode focusing on racial injustice that is held by many fans to be one of Star Trek's best episodes. " Far Beyond the Stars " is a season six episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Series producer Ronald D. Moore said of Brooks: "Avery, like his character (Sisko), is a very complex man. Ronald Dowl Moore (born 5 July 1964 in Chowchilla California) is a two-time Emmy Award -nominated American Screenwriter He is not a demanding or ego-driven actor, rather he is a thoughtful and intelligent man who sometimes has insights into the character that no one else has thought about. He has also been unfailingly polite and a classy guy in all my dealings with him. "[5]
Other roles
Brooks was able to use his work as an actor to highlight and honor his African-American heritage. In 1984, he received critical praise for his role in PBS's American Playhouse production of Half Slave, Half Free: Solomon Northrup's Odyssey. The story chronicled the life of a free man, played by Brooks, kidnapped into slavery during the 1840s.
The role of Uncle Tom in the 1986 Showtime production of Uncle Tom's Cabin was another project that allowed Brooks to highlight the history of his people, as did his appearance in the 1988 television movie Roots: The Gift. Showtime is a subscription television Brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United A number of film adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin has been made over the years
He has also appeared in the 1985 television movie adaptation of Finnegan Begin Again and the 1998 motion picture American History X. American History X is an Academy Award -nominated 1998 film directed by Tony Kaye. He also played the role of Paris in the 1998 film The Big Hit.
In 2001, he was the voice-over spokesman for a series of IBM commercials comparing the depicted and/or predicted technology of 2001 with actual current technology. The term voice-over refers to a production technique where a non-diagetic voice is broadcast live or pre-recorded in Radio, Television, Film, International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. [6]
Documentary work
Brooks has also hosted several documentaries and served as narrator in such features as the IMAX film Africa's Elephant Kingdom. His other documentary credits include narrating A Passion for Faith (the history of black Catholics in America), Eyes on the Prize (dedicated to legendary singer Marian Anderson), Walking with Dinosaurs, Jesus: The Complete Story, Land of the Mammoth: Ancient Evidence, The Ballad of Big Al, The Science of Big Al, Engineering the Impossible (The Colosseum), and Greatest Places and Echoes from the White House. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Marian Anderson (February 27 1897 – April 8 1993 was an American
In May 2007, Brooks recorded the narration for the documentary The Better Hour, which is about the life of William Wilberforce, the man who led the campaign for the end of slavery in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th centuries. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833 was a British Politician, a Philanthropist As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar [7]
Latest projects
Brooks was part of a directors panel at a festival celebrating the work of Ntozake Shange at the New Federal Theatre on February 11, 2007. Ntozake Shange (pronounced En-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay (born October 18 1948) is an African American Playwright, dancer actor director Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Brooks has directed Shange's Boogie Woogie Landscapes at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in London's West End. The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (on the building itself called the John F London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland" [8]
In 2006, Trekweb and TrekToday announced that Avery Brooks would take a role in the upcoming film John Rambo. Rambo (also known as Rambo IV or John Rambo) is a 2008 Action film starring Sylvester Stallone Brooks himself later said this was not the case. He said "I've met Mr. Stallone, many years ago — I have great respect for Mr. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter. Stallone, always did. However, Rambo is not in my future". [9]
In March 2007, it was confirmed that Brooks would appear in a new production of Christopher Marlowe's play Tamburlaine. Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. [10]
As part of BBC Audiobooks America's entry into the US market, Brooks narrated an audiobook of Alex Haley's novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. BBC America is an American Television network owned and operated by BBC Worldwide Americas, and available on both cable and satellite Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11 1921–February 10 1992 was an American Writer. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Roots The Saga of an American Family is a Novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. It is the first time the novel has received an audio adaptation. Brooks himself had starred in the 1988 television film based on the book, Roots: The Gift. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) Roots The Gift is a 1988 Television film. It is the third installment of the Roots series which traces the maternal family history of [11]
Brooks has also completed work on his long-awaited CD. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio It contains "a selection of ballads and love songs. . . I speak of my respect for my father, and for artists that I have listened to all my life. "[12]
Brooks also periodically attends Star Trek conventions around the world.
Personal life
Since 1976 Brooks has been married to Vicki Lenora, an assistant dean at Rutgers University where she has worked for more than 30 years. The couple have three children: Ayana, Cabral, and Asante. He is also a distant cousin of Rev. Adrian M. Brooks, Sr. , Senior Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church in Evansville, Indiana.
References
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n12_v19/ai_7473501|http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n12_v19/ai_7473501
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n12_v19/ai_7473501|http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_n12_v19/ai_7473501
- ^ http://www.masongross.rutgers.edu/runy/runy02_moreinfo.html|http://www.masongross.rutgers.edu/runy/runy02_moreinfo.html
- ^ http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2007/0167.html|http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2007/0167.html
- ^ http://trekweb.com/RonDMoore/Ron_Moore_3_19_97.txt Trekweb. com
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrFgRAcr0jg Youtube. com
- ^ http://www.philcooke.com/avery_brooks Philcooke. com
- ^ http://www.playbill.com/news/article/105532.html Playbill. com
- ^ http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/27695.html?page=1 Startrek. com
- ^ http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/10230 Theatermania. com
- ^ http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/publisher/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003569911 Thebookstandard. com
- ^ http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB19&Number=7597884 Trekbbs. com
External links
- Avery Brooks at the Internet Movie Database
- Avery Brooks article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
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