# Eriq La Salle

Erik Ki La Salle (born July 23, 1962), professionally known as Eriq La Salle, is an American actor, director, writer and producer. La Salle is known for his performance as Dr. Peter Benton in the NBC medical drama ER (1994–2002; 2008–2009) which earned him three NAACP Image Awards and nominations for a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.

## Early life

La Salle, one of four children, was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, by his mother, Ada Haynes. He is an alumnus of Weaver High School and the Artists Collective, Inc. in Hartford. He attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division for two years as a member of Group 13 (1980–1984), then attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Graduate Acting Program in 1984.

## Career

At the time of his graduation from NYU, La Salle was cast in Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park production of Henry V. Soon after, he found continuous acting work on Broadway, off-Broadway, and on several daytime TV dramas including One Life to Live, where he played the reporter Mike Rivers.
In 1988, La Salle co-starred as Darryl Jenks in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America.
In 1994, the medical drama ER premiered on NBC with La Salle starring as Dr. Peter Benton. He held the role until leaving during the eighth season. He returned to ER for three episodes during its 15th and final season, including an uncredited appearance as himself in the opening of "Heal Thyself" to tell the audience of the death of the show's creator Michael Crichton. During season 15, he returned to direct an episode.
On January 31, 2003, he made a cameo appearance in Biker Boyz as Slick Will, a mechanic. He played a Jamaican gangster in the independent film Johnny Was opposite Vinnie Jones, Samantha Mumba, Lennox Lewis, and Roger Daltrey. La Salle lived in Belfast for four weeks while filming the movie, which he supported at the premiere of the film during the 2006 American Black Film Festival in Miami.
La Salle starred in the Hallmark Channel original movie, Relative Stranger, which premiered on March 14, 2009. Also in the movie were Cicely Tyson and La Salle's former ER castmates Michael Michele (Dr. Cleo Finch) and Michael Beach (Al Boulet).
In 2010, La Salle played the United Nations Secretary General in the series finale of 24, and guest-starred in an episode of Covert Affairs in August of the same year. In 2011, he played two recurring roles: first as a Caribbean community leader who rallied against the product Rasta Monsta in HBO's How to Make it in America, the second as the neuropsychiatrist E-Mo in CBS' A Gifted Man.
In 1996, La Salle began his directorial career with his debut in the HBO made-for-TV movie Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault, starring Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones and Forest Whitaker. Shortly after that, La Salle directed the pilot for Soul Food: The Series on Showtime.
In 2002, he produced the feature film The Salton Sea. That same year, he produced, directed and starred in the movie Crazy as Hell. In 2003 he wrote, directed and starred in "Memphis", an episode of The Twilight Zone. He directed the 2012 Hallmark Channel movie Playing Father, and multiple episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: NY, Ringer, and NBC’s spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime.
La Salle's first novel, Laws of Depravity, was published in 2012.
In 2015, La Salle returned to television with a role in Under the Dome's third season, after directing one episode of the second season. He also directed an episode in the third season. He both acted in and directed episodes of CSI: Cyber. He performed in other series, such as The Night Shift and Madam Secretary.
In 2016, La Salle directed the episode "Wingman" in the Fox series Lucifer and the episode "Black and Blue" of TNT's Murder in the First. He co-starred as Will Munson in the 2017 superhero film Logan. La Salle also directed and produced multiple episodes of Chicago P.D. throughout its many seasons.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1985 | Rappin' | Ice | |
| 1985 | Cut and Run | Fargas | |
| 1985 | Out of the Darkness | Bobby | Television film |
| 1986 | Where Are the Children? | Deputy Bernie Miles | |
| 1987 | Five Corners | Samuel Kemp | |
| 1988 | What Price Victory | Trumayne James | Television film |
| 1988 | Coming to America | Darryl Jenks | |
| 1989 | Magic Moments | Dancing Guy | Television film |
| 1989 | When We Were Young | Virgil Hawkins | Television film |
| 1990 | Jacob's Ladder | Frank | |
| 1990 | Hammer, Slammer, & Slade | Jack Spade | Television film |
| 1991 | Eyes of a Witness | Mchumbo | Television film |
| 1993 | Empty Cradle | Detective Knoll | Television film |
| 1994 | Color of Night | Anderson | |
| 1994 | Drop Squad | Bruford Jamison Jr | |
| 1996 | Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault | Diego | |
| 1999 | Mind Prey | Lucas Davenport | Television film |
| 2002 | One Hour Photo | Det. James Van Der Zee | |
| 2002 | Crazy as Hell | Barnett | |
| 2003 | Biker Boyz | Tariq 'Slick Will' | Uncredited |
| 2005 | The Seat Filler | Alonso Grant | Uncredited |
| 2005 | Inside Out | Doctor Peoples | |
| 2005 | Conviction | Peter Seidman | |
| 2006 | Johnny Was | Julius | |
| 2009 | Relative Stranger | Walter Clemons | Television film |
| 2009 | MegaFault | Charley 'Boomer' Baxter | Television film |
| 2017 | Logan | Will Munson | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Spenser: For Hire | Jeffrey Miller | Episode 1.19: "Angel of Desolation" |
| 1986 | One Life to Live | Mike Rivers | 1 episode |
| 1986 | ABC Afterschool Special | Charlie | Episode 15.3: "Teen Father" |
| 1987 | Another World | Charles Thompson | 1 episode |
| 1987 | Mariah | | Episode 1.1: "Equations" |
| 1987 | Vietnam War Story II | K.C. | Episode 1.1: "The Mine" |
| 1987 | Leg Work | Goro Asato | Episode 1.8: "Mystery Woman" |
| 1988 | Knightwatch | Derek D. | Episode 1.3: "Codes" |
| 1989 | Gideon Oliver | Ezra | Episode 1.4: "By the Waters of Babylon" |
| 1990 | B.L. Stryker | Mark Hastings Jr | Episode 2.3: "Winner Takes All" |
| 1990 | A Different World | Prof. Paul Mann | Episode 3.13: "The Power of the Pen" |
| 1991 | L.A. Law | Kenny Webster | Episode 5.19: "Speak, Lawyers, for Me" |
| 1991 | Screenplay | Eric | Episode 6.5: "Murder in Oakland" |
| 1992 | Quantum Leap | Bobby Lee | Episode 4.15: "A Song for the Soul" |
| 1992 | The Human Factor | Michael Stoven | 5 episodes |
| 1994 | Under Suspicion | Det. LeBlanc | Episode 1.1: "Pilot" |
| 1994–2002, 2009 | ER | Dr. Peter Benton | 171 episodes |
| 1998 | Adventures from the Book of Virtues | King Menelaus | Episode 2.2: "Determination" |
| 1998 | The Larry Sanders Show | Himself | Episode 6.7: "Beverly's Secret" |
| 2003 | The Twilight Zone | Ray Ellison | Episode: "Memphis" |
| 2003 | The System | Andrew Evans | 9 episodes |
| 2006 | Without a Trace | Aaron Gibbs | Episode 5.6: "The Calm Before" |
| 2010 | 24 | UN Secretary General | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Covert Affairs | Christopher McAuley | Episode 1.5: "In the Light" |
| 2011 | How to Make It in America | Everton Thompson | 3 episodes |
| 2011–2012 | A Gifted Man | Evan 'E-Mo' Morris | 5 episodes |
| 2012 | Blackout | George Lumas | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | We Need Help | Police Officer |
| 2014, 2015 | Under the Dome | Hektor Martin | 5 episodes |
| 2025 | On Call | Sergeant Lasman | 8 episodes |

### As director or producer

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault | Director | Film |
| 1996 | Psalms from the Underground | Director | Short film |
| 1999 | Mind Prey | Producer | Television film |
| 2000 | Soul Food | Director | Episode 1.1: "The More Things Change" |
| 2002 | The Salton Sea | Producer | Film |
| 2002 | Crazy as Hell | Director and producer | Film |
| 2003 | The Twilight Zone | Director | Episode: "Memphis" |
| 2007 | Without a Trace | Director | Episode 5.15: "Desert Springs" |
| 2007, 2008 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Director | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | ER | Director | Episode 15.15: "Family Man" |
| 2009 | Old Skool | Executive producer | Television special |
| 2010 | CSI: NY | Director | Episode 6.17: "Pot of Gold" |
| 2011, 2012 | Ringer | Director | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | A Gifted Man | Director | Episode 1.14: "In Case of Co-Dependants" |
| 2013 | Playing Father | Director | Television film |
| 2014 | Crisis | Director | Episode 1.11: "Best Laid Plans" |
| 2014 | Madam Secretary | Director | Episode 1.5: "Blame Canada" |
| 2014, 2015 | The Night Shift | Director | 5 episodes |
| 2014, 2015 | Under the Dome | Director | 2 episodes |
| 2015, 2016 | CSI: Cyber | Director | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | The Messengers | Director | Episode 1.5: "Eye in the Sky" |
| 2015 | Rosewood | Director | Episode 1.4: "Vitamins and Vandals" |
| 2015 | Battle Creek | Director | Episode 1.9: "Gingerbread Man" |
| 2016 | Lucifer | Director | Episode 1.7: "Wingman" |
| 2016 | Once Upon a Time | Director | Episode 5.18: "Ruby Slippers" |
| 2016 | Murder in the First | Director | Episode 3.3: "Black and Blue" |
| 2016–2021 | Chicago P.D. | Director, executive producer and co-executive producer | |
| 2016, 2017 | Chicago Med | Director | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Chicago Justice | Director | Episode: 1.6: "Dead Meat" |
| 2017 | APB | Director | Episode 1.8: "Fueling Fires" |
| 2017 | The Quad | Director | Episode 1.8: "#TheCagedBirdSings" |
| 2017 | Training Day | Director | Episode 1.13: "Elegy: Part 2" |
| 2017 | The Librarians | Director | Episode 4.2: "And the Steal of Fortune" |
| 2021 | Law & Order: Organized Crime | Director | Episode #5: "An Inferior Product" |
| 2022, 2024, 2025 | Law & Order | Director | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | FBI | Director | Episode: "Monumental" |
| 2025 | On Call | Director and executive producer | |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
| 1995 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1995 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1996 | Magnolia Stage Award | Best Supporting Actor | ER | Won |
| 1996 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1996 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1997 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film | ER | Nominated |
| 1997 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1997 | Online Film & Television Association | Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1997 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1997 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1997 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | Online Film & Television Association | Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1999 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1999 | Online Film & Television Association | Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1999 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 2000 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 2000 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 2001 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 2001 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 2002 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 2003 | Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Independent Actor | Crazy as Hell | Won |
| 2003 | Black Reel Awards | Outstanding Independent Film | Crazy as Hell | Nominated |
| 2009 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Episode: PTSD | Nominated |
| 2010 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special | Relative Stranger | Nominated |