Wood Harris

Wood Harris landed his most well-known role playing drug kingpin Avon Barksdale in the critically acclaimed crime series "The Wire" (HBO, 2002-08). It was hardly his first major performance, however. In 1994 Harris made his feature film debut playing Motaw in "Above the Rim," starring Tupac Shakur. He subsequently picked up small parts in several television programs such as the cop show "NYPD Blue" (ABC, 1993-2005) and the prison drama "Oz" (HBO, 1997-2003). He also starred as groundbreaking guitarist Jimi Hendrix in the Showtime movie "Hendrix" (2000) and appeared in a dramatically meaty role opposite Denzel Washington in the football drama "Remember the Titans" (2000). Both performances brought him considerable attention, leading to his major part on "The Wire." Although none of Harris' post-"Wire" work managed to capitalize on that breakthrough performance in terms of visibility, he nevertheless continued to star in small features like "Dough Boys" (2009), "Next Day Air" (2009) and "Just Another Day" (2009), and popped up in several high-profile television series.