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Biography
pp-move-indefBLP IMDB refimprove|date=January 2011Infobox person|image=Omar Epps.jpg|caption=L.A. Confidential/Belvedere/Water Club/Sapporo Emmy Party, September 20, 2008|birth_name=Omar Hashim Epps|birth_date=Birth date and age|mf=yes|1973|7|20|birth_place= Brooklyn, New York , U.S.|yearactive=1989-present|spouse=Keisha Epps (2006–present)|death_date=|death_place=|other_names=|website=Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His film roles include Major League II , Juice (film)|Juice , Higher Learning , Scream 2 , The Wood , In Too Deep (film)|In Too Deep , and Love and Basketball . Epps' television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis Gant on the US medical drama series ER (TV series)|ER , and since 2004 Dr. Eric Foreman on the Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox medical drama series House (TV series)|House .
Personal life
Epps was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents divorced during his childhood and he was raised by his mother, Bonnie Maria Epps, an elementary school principal.cite news| url= http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1999/08/26/1999-08-26_omar_epps_ deep focus_inte.html | location=New York | work=Daily News | title=Elliptical vs. treadmill: Which will give you the better workout? | deadurl=yesDead link|date=January 2012|bot=RjwilmsiBotcite news| url= http://articles.nydailynews.com/2000-04-12/entertainment/18137657_1_film-love-and-basketball-movie-star-hoop-star/2 | location=New York | work=Daily News | title=Virginia girl found eating herself in cage in mobile home; parents Brian and Shannon Gore charged | first=Bart | last=Mills | date=2000-04-12 He lived in several neighborhoods while growing up ( Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn|Bedford-Stuyvesant , East New York, Brooklyn|East New York and Flatbush, Brooklyn|Flatbush ). Before he started acting, he belonged to a hip hop music|rap group called Wolfpack which he formed with his cousin in 1991. He began writing poetry, short stories and songs at the age of ten and attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts .
Epps has a daughter, Aiyanna, from a previous relationship. He married Keisha Spivey from the R& B group Total_(band)|Total in 2006. They live in California with daughter K'mari Mae (born July 2004) and son Amir (born 25 December 2007).
Career
Early in Epps's career, he was most often cast in the roles of troubled teens and/or athletes. He made his feature film debut with rapper Tupac Shakur as the star of cinematographer Ernest Dickerson 's directorial film debut Juice (film)|Juice . The film is the violent and tragic story of four young men growing up in Harlem .
Epps followed up his performance in Juice as a running back in the college american football|football drama The Program alongside James Caan (actor)|James Caan .
Epps starred in the film "Deadly Voyage" produced by John Goldschmidt for HBO Pictures and BBC Films, and won the best actor award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival for portraying Kingsley Ofusu in this true story about African stowaways.
The following year, he switched to baseball as co-star of Major League II , taking over the role of Willie Mays Hayes from originator Wesley Snipes . His next athletic endeavor was playing a track and field star in John Singleton|John Singleton's Higher Learning , a look at the politics and racial tensions of college life.
Epps landed a role on the hit television drama ER (TV series)|ER for several episodes portraying Dr. Dennis Gant , a troubled surgical intern. After his television work on ER (TV series)|ER , Epps returned to the big screen in 1997 with a brief turn as a giddy moviegoer on a date with a woman played by Jada Pinkett , who ends up an early victim of a Psychopathy|psycho slasher film|slasher in the blockbuster sequel Scream 2 . Also in 1997 Epps was the star of the fact-based HBO movie First Time Felon . Epps played a small-time criminal who goes through Chicago's boot camp reform system and undertakes a heroic flood rescue, only to then be faced with the adjustment of re-entering society with the mark of ex-con. In 1999 Epps was cast as Linc in The Mod Squad (film)|The Mod Squad .
While The Mod Squad proved a critical and box office bust, Epps's later 1999 effort The Wood offered him a serious and multi-dimensional role. Following a group of middle-class African-Americans from youth to adulthood, The Wood , the debut effort from film director|director - screenwriter Rick Famuyiwa , co-starred Richard T. Jones and Taye Diggs and received a push from co-producers MTV Films that ensured turnout of a sizable youth audience. Also in 1999, Epps was featured alongside Stanley Tucci and LL Cool J , playing an undercover detective who finds himself dangerously caught up in the illegal goings-on he is investigating in In Too Deep (film)|In Too Deep . 1999 also saw him lens the 1950s set murder mystery When Willows Touch , with James Earl Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith .
In 2000, Epps starred in Love and Basketball|Love & Basketball , featuring Alfre Woodard and Sanaa Lathan . He portrayed Quincy, the NBA hopeful who has a stormy relationship with an equally adept female basketball star Monica (Sanaa Lathan). The actor held supporting roles in a series of films including Dracula 2000 , Big Trouble (2002 film)|Big Trouble , and the telepic Conviction . In this year he also had a leading role as a gangster in Brother (2000 film)|Brother , a movie by acclaimed Japanese actor/director Takeshi Kitano .
In 2004, Epps landed the role of drug-dealer-turned-prizefighter Luther Shaw who falls under the tutelage of boxing promoter Jackie Kallen ( Meg Ryan ) in the biopic Against the Ropes .
Epps was a character in the video game Def Jam Fight for NY in 2004.
Also in 2004, Epps returned to television medical drama with his role as Eric Foreman|Dr. Eric Foreman on the US Fox television series House (TV series)|House . The role earned him a NAACP Image Award in 2007 and 2008 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series .
valign="top"nominated for the Black Reel Awards|Black Reel award for best theatrical actor nominated for the MTV Movie Awards|MTV Movie award for MTV Movie Award for Best Performance#2001|best male performance nominated for the NAACP Image Awards|NAACP Image award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture|outstanding actor in a motion picture nominated for the Teen Choice Awards|Teen Choice award for choice film actor nominated for the Teen Choice Awards|Teen Choice award for choice film chemistry with Sanaa Lathan
valign="top"nominated for the 2005 NAACP Image Awards|NAACP Image award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series|outstanding supporting actor in a drama series nominated for the 2006 NAACP Image Awards|NAACP Image award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series|outstanding actor in a drama series won the 2007 NAACP Image Awards|NAACP Image award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series|outstanding supporting actor in a drama series won the 2008 NAACP Image Awards|NAACP Image award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series|outstanding supporting actor in a drama series nominated for the 2009 NAACP Image Awards|NAACP Image award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series|outstanding actor in a drama series nominated for the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards|2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards|Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series with Lisa Edelstein , Peter Jacobson , Hugh Laurie , Robert Sean Leonard , Jennifer Morrison , Kal Penn , Jesse Spencer , and Olivia Wilde
reflist|refs=Cite web |title=Awards for Omar Epps |url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004898/awards |work= IMDb |accessdate=2010-08-29 Cite web |title=Juice (1992) |url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104573/ |work= IMDb |accessdate=2010-08-28 Cite web |title=Omar Epps |url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004898/ |work= IMDb |accessdate=2010-08-29 Cite news |title=Omar Epps |url= http://movies.nytimes.com/person/530856/Omar-Epps/biography |work= The New York Times |accessdate=2010-08-28 cite journal |year=2009 |month=January |title=The Big M: Mike in the House |journal= Playboy |volume=56 |issue=1 |page=19 |publisher=Playboy |quote=I grew up all over Brooklyn - Bed Stuy, East New York, Flatbush... cite web |url= http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Epps,_Omar/Discography/album/P332524/R754015/ |title=Omar Epps Discography |publisher=starpulse.com |accessdate=2010-04-20
External links
Commons category
IMDb name|0004898
twitter|omarepps
Persondata|NAME= Epps, Omar |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Epps, Omar Hashim |SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actor, musician, Football Coach |DATE OF BIRTH= July 20, 1973 |PLACE OF BIRTH= Brooklyn, New York |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH=
DEFAULTSORT:Epps, Omar Category:1973 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:African American film actors Category:African American television actors Category:Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Rappers from New York City
