Delroy George Lindo (born 18 November 1952) is a British-American actor.[1] He is the recipient of such accolades as a NAACP Image Award, a Satellite Award, and nominations for a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Tony Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Lindo has played prominent roles in four Spike Lee films: West Indian Archie in Malcolm X (1992), Woody Carmichael in Crooklyn (1994), Rodney Little in Clockers (1995), and Paul in Da 5 Bloods (2020); he received universal acclaim for his performance in Da 5 Bloods as a Vietnam War veteran, winning the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. Lindo also played Bo Catlett in Get Shorty (1995), Arthur Rose in The Cider House Rules (1999), and Detective Castlebeck in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000). Lindo starred as Alderman Ronin Gibbons in the TV series The Chicago Code (2011), as Winter on the series Believe (2014), and as Adrian Boseman in The Good Fight (2017–2021).
Delroy Lindo was born in 1952 in Lewisham, south-east London,[2] the son of Jamaican parents. His mother had immigrated to the UK in 1951 from Jamaica to work as a nurse,[3] and his father worked in various jobs.[4] Lindo grew up in nearby Eltham and attended Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys. He became interested in acting as a child when he appeared in a nativity play at school. As a teenager, Lindo and his mother moved to Toronto, Ontario. When he was 16, they moved to San Francisco.[5] At the age of 24, Lindo began his studies in acting at the American Conservatory Theater, graduating in 1979.[6]
Lindo's film debut came in 1976 with the Canadian John Candy comedy Find the Lady, followed by two other roles in films, including an army sergeant in More American Graffiti (1979).[7]
For a decade from the early 1980s Lindo's career was more focused on theatre acting than film, although he has said this was not a conscious decision.[7] In 1982 he debuted on Broadway in "Master Harold"...and the Boys, directed by the play's South African author Athol Fugard. By 1988, Lindo had earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Herald Loomis in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone.[8][9]
Lindo returned to film in the science fiction film Salute of the Jugger (1990), which has become a cult classic. Although he had turned down Spike Lee for a role in Do the Right Thing, Lee cast him as Woody Carmichael in the drama Crooklyn (1994), which brought Lindo notice. His other roles with Lee include West Indian Archie, a psychotic gangster, in Malcolm X and a starring role as a neighborhood drug dealer in Clockers.
Other films in which he has starring roles are Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty (1995), Ron Howard's Ransom (1996) and Soul of the Game (1996), as the baseball player Satchel Paige.
In 1998 Lindo co-starred as African-American explorer Matthew Henson, in the TV film Glory & Honor, directed by Kevin Hooks. It portrayed Henson's nearly 20-year partnership with Commander Robert Peary in Arctic exploration and their effort to find the Geographic North Pole in 1909. Lindo received a Satellite Award for best actor for his portrayal of Henson. Lindo has continued to work in television, and in 2006 was seen on the short-lived NBC drama Kidnapped.[10]
Lindo had a small role in the 1995 film Congo, playing the corrupt Captain Wanta.[11] Lindo was not credited for the role. He played an angel in the comedy film A Life Less Ordinary (1997).
He guest-starred on The Simpsons in the episode "Brawl in the Family", playing a character named Gabriel.
In the British film Wondrous Oblivion (2003), directed by Paul Morrison, Lindo starred as Dennis Samuels, the father of a Jamaican immigrant family in London in the 1950s. Lindo said he made the film in honor of his parents, who had similarly moved to London in those years.[5]
In 2007, Lindo began an association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California, when he directed Tanya Barfield's play The Blue Door. In the autumn of 2008, Lindo revisited August Wilson's play Joe Turner's Come and Gone, directing a production at the Berkeley Rep.[12] In 2010, he played the role of elderly seer Bynum in David Lan's production of Joe Turner at the Young Vic Theatre in London.[13]
Lindo was in the main cast of the Fox crime drama The Chicago Code (2011), the NBC fantasy series Believe, and the ABC soap Blood & Oil (2015). In 2017, Lindo began playing Adrian Boseman in the CBS legal drama The Good Fight, a role he would star in for the series' first four seasons and reprise as a guest star in its fifth season.[14][15]
Lindo appeared in the action film Point Break (2015), the horror film Malicious (2018), the drama Battlecreek, Da 5 Bloods (2020), another collaboration with Spike Lee, and The Harder They Fall (2021) as Bass Reeves. For his role in Da 5 Bloods, Lindo received critical acclaim and a number of accolades.[16][17]
In 2015, Lindo was expected to play Marcus Garvey in a biopic of the black nationalist historical figure that had been in pre-production for several years.[18][19][20] Lindo was cast as the lead in an ABC drama pilot Harlem's Kitchen in March 2020.[21]
It was announced in July 2021 that Lindo would star as Mr Nancy in the British Amazon Prime miniseries adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys alongside Malachi Kirby.[22] In November, Lindo officially joined the cast of the upcoming Marvel Studios film Blade in an undisclosed role.[23]
Lindo married his wife Nashormeh Lindo in 1990. They settled down in Oakland, California, in 1996, having moved from New York City and preferring the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles. Their son Damiri was born in 2001.[24][25]
In 2014, Lindo graduated with a master's degree in fine arts from New York University's Gallatin School. In addition, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts and Humanities from Virginia Union University.[26]
Lindo is a supporter of Manchester United F.C.[27]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1976 | Find the Lady | Sam | |
1979 | More American Graffiti | Army Sergeant | |
1990 | The Blood of Heroes | Mbulu | |
Mountains of the Moon | Mabruki | ||
Bright Angel | Harley | ||
1991 | The Hard Way | Captain Brix | |
1992 | Malcolm X | West Indian Archie | |
1993 | Blood In Blood Out | "Bonafide" | |
Mr. Jones | Howard | ||
1994 | L'exil du roi Behanzin | Behanzin | |
Crooklyn | Woody Carmichael | ||
1995 | Clockers | Rodney Little | |
Congo | Captain Wanta | Uncredited | |
Get Shorty | Bo Catlett | ||
1996 | Ransom | FBI Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins | |
Broken Arrow | Colonel Max Wilkins | ||
Feeling Minnesota | "Red" | ||
1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Jackson | |
The Devil's Advocate | Phillipe Moyez | Uncredited | |
1999 | Pros & Cons | Kyle Pettibone | |
The Cider House Rules | Arthur Rose | ||
2000 | The Book of Stars | Professor | |
Gone in 60 Seconds | Detective Roland Castlebeck | ||
Romeo Must Die | Isaak O'Day | ||
2001 | The One | Agent Harry Roedecker | |
Heist | Bobby Blane | ||
The Last Castle | Brigadier General Jim Wheeler | ||
2003 | The Core | Dr. Ed "Braz" Brazzleton | |
Wondrous Oblivion | Dennis Samuel | ||
2005 | Domino | Claremont Williams | |
Sahara | Carl | ||
2007 | This Christmas | Joe Black | |
2009 | Up | Beta (voice) | |
2011 | The Big Bang | Skeres | |
2014 | Cymbeline | Belarius | |
2015 | Do You Believe? | Malachi | |
Point Break | FBI Instructor Hall | ||
2017 | Battlecreek | Arthur | |
2018 | Malicious | Dr. Clark | |
2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Paul | |
2021 | The Harder They Fall | Bass Reeves | |
2023 | Blade | TBA | Upcoming |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Beauty and the Beast | Isaac Stubbs | 2 episodes |
1989 | A Man Called Hawk | Mark Slater | Episode: "Vendetta" |
Perfect Witness | Berger | Television film | |
1991 | Against the Law | Ben | Episode: "Hoops" |
1996 | Soul of the Game | Satchel Paige | Television film |
1997 | First Time Felon | Calhoun | Television film |
1998 | Glory & Honor | Mathew Henson | Television film |
2002 | The Simpsons | Gabriel | Voice; episode: "Brawl in the Family" |
2003 | Profoundly Normal | Ricardo Thornton | Television film |
2005 | Lackawanna Blues | Mr. Lucious | Television film |
2006–2007 | Kidnapped | Latimer King | Main cast; 13 episodes |
2009 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Detective Victor Moran | Episode: "Baggage" |
Mercy | Dr. Alfred Parks | Episode: "Can We Get That Drink Now?" | |
2011 | The Chicago Code | Alderman Ronin Gibbons | Main cast; 11 episodes |
2013 | Robot Chicken | Dopey Smurf / Scorpion Cashier | Voice; episode: "Papercut to Aorta" |
2014 | Believe | Dr. Milton Winter | Main cast; 13 episodes |
2015 | Blood & Oil | "Tip" Harrison | Main cast; 10 episodes |
2016 | Marvel's Most Wanted | Dominic Fortune | Unaired pilot |
2017–2021 | The Good Fight | Adrian Boseman | Main cast; 40 episodes |
2017 | This Is Us | Judge Ernest Bradley | Episode: "The Most Disappointed Man" |
TBA | Anansi Boys | Mr Nancy | Upcoming |
Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
---|---|---|---|
1975–76 | Of Mice and Men | Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre | |
1979 | Spell Number 7 | Performer | Negro Ensemble Company |
1981–82 | Macbeth | Performer | Cincinnati Playhouse |
1982–83 | "Master Harold"...and the Boys | Willie | Lyceum Theatre |
1983–84 | Home | Cephus Miles | Hartford Stage Company |
A Lesson from Aloes | Performer | Virginia Stage Company | |
1983–86 | A Raisin in the Sun | Walter Lee Younger | Yale Repertory Theatre[28] Roundabout Theatre Company[29] |
1984–85 | The Black Branch | Eli Crooner | Actors Theatre of Louisville |
Advice to the Players | Robert Obosa | ||
1985 | Much Ado About Nothing | Friar Francis | Shakespeare & Company |
1985–86 | Union Boys | Performer | Yale Repertory Theatre |
1986–88 | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Herald Loomis | Huntington Theatre Company Old Globe Theatre Ethel Barrymore Theatre |
1988–89 | Cobb | Oscar Charleston | Yale Repertory Theatre |
1989–90 | Miss Evers' Boys | Caleb Humphries | Center Stage |
1990–91 | Julius Caesar | Caius Cassius | Center Theatre Group |
1992–93 | Othello | Othello | Great Lakes Theater |
1993 | The Heliotrope Bouqet by Scott Joplin & Louis Chauvin |
Scott Joplin | Playwrights Horizons' Theatre |
1998 | Othello | Othello | Actors Theatre of Louisville |
2008 | Agamemnon | Agamemnon | Getty Villa |
2009 | Things of Dry Hours | Tice Hogan | New York Theatre Workshop |
2012 | The Exonerated | Delbert Tibbs | Bleecker Street Theater |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | Tony Award | Best Featured Actor in a Play | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Nominated |
Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Nominated | ||
1992 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Malcolm X | Nominated |
National Society of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated | ||
1995 | Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Supporting Actor | Clockers | Nominated |
National Society of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated | ||
Get Shorty | Nominated | |||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
1996 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Ransom | Nominated |
Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie | Soul of the Game | Nominated | ||
1998 | Satellite Award | Best Actor - Miniseries of Television Movie | Glory & Honor | Won |
1999 | Las Vegas Film Critics Society | Best Supporting Actor | The Cider House Rules | Nominated |
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
2009 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Law and Order: SVU | Won |
2017 | Critics' Choice Television Award | Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | The Good Fight | Nominated |
2020 | Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | Da 5 Bloods | Nominated |
Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Award | Best Actor | Won | ||
New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Won | ||
National Society of Film Critics | Best Actor | Won | ||
Critics' Choice Super Awards | Best Actor in an Action Movie | Won | ||
Satellite Award | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
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