Hill Harper

Hill Harper
Hill Harper at Left Bank Books in St. Louis, MO signing his book Letters to a Young Brother (May 22, 2007).
Born	Frank Eugene Harper (1966-05-17) May 17, 1966 Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Other names	F. Hill Harper
Alma mater	Brown University Harvard University
Occupation	Actor, author
Years active	1993–present

Frank Eugene Harper (born May 17, 1966), known professionally as Hill Harper, is an American film, television and stage actor, and author. He is best known for his nine-season role as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the CBS police procedural television series “CSI: NY”. He currently plays the role of Special Agent Spelman Boyle on Limitless.

Early life

Harper was born in Iowa City, Iowa, the son of Harry Harper, a psychiatrist, and Marilyn Hill, who was one of the first black practicing anesthesiologists in the United States. He has been acting since the age of 7. Harper graduated from Bella Vista High School in 1984. He then graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1988. In 1992 Harper graduated with a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. In addition, he also received his Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During his years at Harvard, he was a full-time member of Boston's Black Folks Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed black theater troupes in the country. While a student at Harvard, Harper befriended President Barack Obama. Harper and Obama met on the basketball court and became good friends during their first year as law students.

Although Harper earned three Ivy League degrees, he decided to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles. He has received honorary doctorates from both Westfield State College and Howard University. Born Francis Eugene Harper, he adopted the name "Hill" as a tribute to both his maternal and paternal ancestors.

Acting career

Harper's first roles in television began in 1993, doing recurring work on the Fox series Married... with Children while also making his film debut in the short Confessions of a Dog. He had his first substantial role in a feature in Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), which cast him as a UCLA film student riding a bus to the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. He went on to further demonstrate his versatility in such films as Christopher Scott Cherot's Hav Plenty (1997) and Lee's He Got Game (1998), the former of which featured him as an egotistical pop-soul singer.

His profile subsequently rose on both the mainstream and independent film circuits, thanks to roles in films ranging from Beloved (1998) to the independent romantic comedy Loving Jezebel (1999) to The Skulls (2000 - with his portrayal of Will Beckford), and for , an entry into the teen thriller genre. Harper did some of his most acclaimed work in Jordan Walker-Pearlman's The Visit (2000), an independent drama in which he starred as a prisoner dying of AIDS who tries to put his life back together.

His best-known role to date is that of coroner-turned-crime scene investigator Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the CBS crime drama CSI: NY. He worked in the series for nine seasons. He also portrayed Leshem in the 2010 Syfy original movie Stonehenge Apocalypse.

In February 2013 it was announced that CSI: NY would be ending and Harper would be joining the cast of Covert Affairs as a series regular.

Writing career and political advocacy

Harper is the author of several books: Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny, was published in 2006, Letters to a Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny, was published in 2008; The Conversation: How (Black) Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships, was published in 2010. His fourth book, The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place, was published in 2011, and his fifth book, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones was published in 2013. In January 2008, he participated in "Yes We Can", a music video supporting Barack Obama, produced by will.i.am. Harper is a member of the Obama for America National Finance Committee.

As of October 2009, Hill has made several contributions to political candidates, exclusively to Democrats. Harper endorsed the 10,000 Bookbags back to school backpack campaign to help local disadvantaged children with Urban Change Ministries founder Pastor Jay Cameron of the Life Center and R&B singer Ginuwine. Harper stated that he is a fiscal conservative when he appeared on the political talk show Hannity on September 10, 2009.

Awards and recognition

In the fall of 2008, Harper was initiated as a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity with his line brothers Dr. Naim Akbar of Florida State University and former NFL player Leo LeMarcus Newman.

Harper won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for three consecutive years (2008–2010) for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY. Previously he had been nominated for the award for three consecutive years (2005–2007), for the same character. In 2000, he had also been nominated for the award, for his role in the medical drama City of Angels. On January 9, 2014 his book Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction.

Personal life

While writing his fourth book, Hill was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After treatment, he was given a clean bill of health.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings	Peter
1996	Get on the Bus	Xavier
1997	Steel	Slats
1997	Hav Plenty	Michael Simmons
1998	The Nephew	Chad Egan-Washington
1998	Beloved	Halle
1998	He Got Game	Coleman 'Booger' Sykes
1998	Park Day	Steve Johnson
1999	In Too Deep	Breezy T.
1999	Loving Jezebel	Theodorous
1999	Slaves of Hollywood	Fisher Lovelace
2000	The Skulls	Will Beckford
2000	The Visit	Alex Waters	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
2003	Love, Sex and Eating the Bones	Michael Joseph
2005	Constellation	Errol Hickman
2006	Max and Josh	Josh	Short film
2006	The Breed	Noah
2006	Premium	Ed
2008	This Is Not a Test	Carl
2008	A Good Man Is Hard to Find	Damion Marshall
2010	For Colored Girls	Donald Watkins
2011	Mama, I Want to Sing!	Jeff Andrews
2013	Miss Dial	Political Nutcase
2013	The Volunteer	Phil
2013	1982	Tim Brown
2014	Parts Per Billion	Rick
2015	The Boy Next Door	Principal Edward Warren
2015	Concussion	Christopher Jones

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Life Goes On	Nurse #2	Episode: "Incident on Main"
1993–94	Married... with Children	Aaron Mitchell	5 episodes
1994	Renegade	Clarence 'Dex' Dexter	Episode: "South of 98"
1994	M.A.N.T.I.S.	N/A	Episode: "Tango Blue"
1994	Walker, Texas Ranger	B.J. Mays	Episode: "Badge of Honor"
1994	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Dana	Episode: "Will Steps Out"
1995	The Client	J-Top	Episode: "Them That Has..."
1995	Live Shot	Tommy Greer	13 episodes
1996	NYPD Blue	Bo-Bo Thomas	Episode: "The Blackboard Jungle"
1996	Dangerous Minds	Darryl	Episode: "Family Ties"
1997	ER	Mr. Jackson	Episode: "Obstruction of Justice"
1998	Cosby	Preston	Episode: "Men Are from Mars Women Are from Astoria"
1998	Mama Flora's Family	Don	Television movie
2000	City of Angels	Dr. Wesley Williams	24 episodes Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
2002	The Court	Christopher Bell	Unsold TV pilot
2002	The Twilight Zone	Professor John Woodrell	Episode: "Shades of Guilt"
2003–04	The Handler	Darnell	16 episodes Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television Series
2004	Soul Food	Kelvin Chadway	2 episodes
2004	The Sopranos	Stokley Davenport M.D.	Episode: "Irregular Around the Margins"
2004	CSI: Miami	Dr. Sheldon Hawkes	Episode: "MIA/NYC NonStop"
2004–13	CSI: NY	Dr. Sheldon Hawkes	197 episodes NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2008–10) Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2005–07, 2011–13)
2005	The 4400	Edwin Mayuya	Episode: "Rebirth"
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Ruben, Jr. (Adult)	Television movie
2009	The Game	Himself	Episode: "Hill Street Blues"
2010	Stonehenge Apocalypse	Joseph Lesham	Television movie
2013–14	Covert Affairs	Calder Michaels	32 episodes
2015	Madam Secretary	Aiden Humphrey	Episode: "The Kill List"
2015	Limitless	Spelman Boyle	12 episodes

External links

• Manifest Your Destiny
• Hill Harper at the Internet Movie Database
• Hill Harper – CSI: NY Cast at CBS
• Hill Harper at the CSI: NY Fan Wiki
• Hill Harper cast on Limitless at CBS