Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe, better known as Boris Kodjoe, is an Austrian-born American actor of mixed German and Ghanaian descent known for his roles as Kelby in the 2002 film Brown Sugar, the sports-courier agent Damon Carter on the Showtime drama series Soul Food, and a recurring character on FOX's The Last Man on Earth. He co-stars on BET's Real Husbands of Hollywood and the Grey's Anatomyspin-off, Station 19 as Battalion Chief Robert Sullivan.
Early life
Kodjoe was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Ursula, a German psychologist of partial Jewish descent, and Eric Kodjoe, a Ghanaian physician who is of the Ga-Adangbe people. His namesake is the Russian poet and writer Boris Pasternak. Kodjoe's matrilineal great-grandmother was Jewish and was murdered in the Holocaust; his maternal grandmother survived the war in hiding. Kodjoe's parents divorced when he was six years old. He grew up in the vicinity of Freiburg im Breisgau. Kodjoe speaks fluently in different languages such as German, English, and French, and speaks a little Spanish. He has a brother named Patrick and two sisters named Nadja and Lara.
Career
Kodjoe attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a tennisscholarship, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1996. A four-year letterman on the Rams' men's tennis team, he is currently ninth in school history with 75 career singles wins. Tied for third in doubles victories with 66, he was paired with Jonas Elmblad on 37 of them, also third all-time. His brother Patrick Kodjoe played for VCU's basketball team. A back injury ended Boris' tennis aspirations, but he was quickly signed as a model and soon after entered acting. In 1995, he was featured in TLC's music video for "Red Light Special." Named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine in 2002, Kodjoe is perhaps best known as one of the seven regular cast members from the Showtime drama Soul Food, which aired from 2000 to 2004. He appeared in the 2002 film Brown Sugar and starred in the short-lived sitcom Second Time Around with his Soul Food co-star Nicole Ari Parker, whom he eventually married. He played the role of David Taylor, the wayward son of Pastor Fred Taylor, in the October 2005 filmThe Gospel. He performed in a play called Whatever She Wants, starring Vivica A. Fox, and made an appearance on the fifth season of Nip/Tuck. His most recent role was in the 2009 science fiction filmSurrogates. On December 16, 2009, it was announced that Kodjoe had been cast as the male lead, Steven Bloom, in the new J. J. Abrams television series Undercovers; the show premiered in September and was subsequently cancelled in November 2010 on NBC. Also that year, he appeared as Luther in the film . He appeared on Franklin & Bash in 2010. In 2013, Kodjoe began starring in the BET comedy parody series Real Husbands of Hollywood. In 2014 he was cast as regular on the ABC primetime soap operaMembers Only created by Susannah Grant. In 2015, Kodjoe began a recurring guest-star role in Fox's The Last Man on Earth television series. In July 2018, Kodjoe landed a recurring role in second season of the Grey's Anatomy spin-off series, Station 19. In October, he was promoted to a series regular after his appearance in the season premiere as the new fire captain, Robert Sullivan. In "Eulogy", he is promoted to Battalion Chief. Kodjoe will portray O.J. Simpson in the upcoming film Nicole and O.J..
Personal life
Kodjoe married his co-star Nicole Ari Parker on May 21, 2005, in Gundelfingen, Germany. She gave birth to their first child, a girl, in March 2005. She has spina bifida, which was diagnosed at birth. Parker gave birth to the couple's second child, a boy, in October 2006. Kodjoe and his wife are members of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The family resides in Los Angeles, California. Parker and Kodjoe competed against one another on a February 2019 episode of Lip Sync Battle.
