# Vondie Curtis-Hall

Vondie Curtis-Hall (born September 30, 1950) is an American actor, film director, and television director. As an actor, he is known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope created by David E. Kelley and as Ben Urich in the Netflix TV series Daredevil. He wrote and directed the cult film Gridlock'd.

## Early life

Curtis-Hall was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Angeline, a nurse, and Curtis Hall, a construction company owner.
Designer Kevan Hall is the brother of Vondie. They also have a sister, Sherrie. All of them attended Presentation Our Lady of Victory grade school in Detroit where they were taught by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first and oldest Catholic order of African American religious sisters in the United States.

## Career

Initially a stage actor, Curtis-Hall was a member of the original cast of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. He originated the role of Marty, James "Thunder" Early's original manager. Curtis-Hall has appeared in numerous films including One Good Cop, Passion Fish, Sugar Hill, Coming To America, Crooklyn, Drop Squad, Eve's Bayou, Turn It Up and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. His credits as a director include the films Gridlock'd, Glitter, Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, Waist Deep, as well as episodes of television shows The Shield, Firefly, Chicago Hope, and MDs. In 2000, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Danny Glover (who later portrayed Marty in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls) both appeared in the TNT made-for-television movie Freedom Song. In 2019 Curtis-Hall appeared in the film Harriet, where, according to one reviewer, "Vondie Curtis-Hall gives one of the finest performances of his long career as Reverend Green."
He has had recurring roles on TV series such as Soul Food, I'll Fly Away, and ER. His one-time role as a suicide patient on ER earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series; later in that series he appeared in a recurring role as Roger McGrath.
His most prominent television role as an actor to date is as supporting character Dennis Hancock on the medical drama Chicago Hope. Curtis-Hall portrayed Ben Urich in the Netflix series Daredevil. He also appeared in an episode of The Sopranos.

## Personal life

Curtis-Hall is a full-time arts professor at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

## Filmography
### Actor
#### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | Shakedown | Speaker (voice) | |
| 1988 | Coming to America | Basketball Game Vendor | |
| 1989 | Mystery Train | Ed | Segment: "Lost in Space" |
| 1989 | Black Rain | Detective | |
| 1990 | Die Hard 2 | Miller | |
| 1991 | One Good Cop | Father Wills | |
| 1991 | Healing Hurts | | |
| 1992 | The Mambo Kings | Miguel Montoya | |
| 1992 | Passion Fish | Sugar LeDoux | |
| 1993 | Falling Down | Not Economically Viable Man | |
| 1993 | Sugar Hill | Mark Doby | |
| 1994 | Crooklyn | Uncle Brown | |
| 1994 | Clear and Present Danger | Voice-Print Analyst | |
| 1994 | Drop Squad | Rocky Seavers | |
| 1995 | Tuesday Morning Ride | Carver | Short film |
| 1996 | Broken Arrow | Chief Sam Rhodes | |
| 1996 | Heaven's Prisoners | Minos P. Dautrieve | |
| 1996 | Romeo + Juliet | Captain Prince | |
| 1996 | Dr. Hugo | Dr. Hugo | Short film |
| 1997 | Gridlock'd | D-Reper | |
| 1997 | Eve's Bayou | Julian Grayraven | |
| 2000 | Turn It Up | Cliff | |
| 2007 | Talk to Me | Sunny Jim Kelsey | |
| 2007 | Honeydripper | Slick | |
| 2008 | Crenshaw Nights | Frank "Jupiter" Johnson | Short film |
| 2009 | Life Is Hot in Cracktown | Dixon | |
| 2009 | Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans | James Brasser | |
| 2013 | Black Nativity | Pawnbroker | |
| 2015 | Cymbeline | Caius Lucius | |
| 2015 | Experimenter | Thomas Shine | |
| 2018 | Come Sunday | J.D. Ellis | |
| 2018 | The Row | | Short film |
| 2018 | Breaking Brooklyn | Greg Bryant | |
| 2019 | Harriet | Reverend Green | |
| 2020 | The Night House | Mel | |
| 2021 | Residue | Reverend Washington | |
| 2021 | Blue Bayou | Barry Boucher | |
| 2021 | 18½ | Samuel | |
| 2022 | Raymond & Ray | Reverend West | |
| 2024 | The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat | Lester |

#### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1989 | A Man Called Hawk | Tracton | Episode: "The Master's Mirror" |
| 1990 | Heat Wave | Clifford Turpin | TV movie |
| 1990 | Cop Rock | Cmdr. Warren Osborne | Main cast; 10 episodes |
| 1991 | China Beach | Bill | Episode: "Through and Through" |
| 1991 | ...And Then She Was Gone | Det. Gary Hopkins | TV movie |
| 1991 | The Trials of Rosie O'Neill | Dr. Varrick | Episode: "For Love or Money" |
| 1992 | Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story | C. Yernon Mason | TV movie |
| 1992 | What She Doesn't Know | Vinnie | TV movie |
| 1992 | Nightmare Cafe | Thomas | Episode: "Sanctuary for a Child" |
| 1992 | Civil Wars | Jack Turrentine | Episode: "The Old Man and the 'C'" |
| 1992–1993 | I'll Fly Away | Joe Clay | 6 episodes |
| 1993 | There Was a Little Boy | Danforth | TV movie |
| 1993 | Fallen Angels | David O'Connor | Episode: "Dead-End for Delia" |
| 1994 | L.A. Law | Eugene Clay | Episode: "Three on a Patch" |
| 1994 | South Central | James Mosely | Episode: "Dad" |
| 1994 | Dead Man's Revenge | Jessup Bush | TV movie |
| 1994 | Keys | Louche Amarant | TV movie |
| 1994 | Zooman | Davis | TV movie |
| 1994-2001 | ER | Henry Colton / Rena / Roger McGrath | 8 episodes |
| 1995–1999 | Chicago Hope | Dr. Dennis Hancock | Main cast; 104 episodes |
| 1997 | Don King: Only in America | Lloyd Price | TV movie |
| 1999 | Sirens | Vincent Morgan | TV movie |
| 2000 | Freedom Song | Daniel Wall | TV movie |
| 2000 | Ali: An American Hero | Drew "Bundini" Brown | TV movie |
| 2001 | ER | Roger McGrath | 7 episodes |
| 2002 | The Sopranos | Maurice Tiffen | Episode: "Watching Too Much Television" |
| 2002–2003 | Fastlane | Andre Hayes | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | 1-800-Missing | Agent Vic Martinsen | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2004 | Deceit | Detective Hal Kazin | TV movie |
| 2004 | Dense | Ross | TV short |
| 2004 | Soul Food | Charles Miller | 6 episodes |
| 2005 | LAX | Dele Ekoku | Episode: "Cease & Assist" |
| 2006 | Law & Order | Dr. Andrew Copelan | Episode: "Positive" |
| 2007 | Medium | Scanlon's Friend | Episode: "Second Opinion" |
| 2009 | Fear Itself | Walter Markham | Episode: "Chance" |
| 2009 | Criminal Minds | Stanley Usher | Episode: "Cold Comfort" |
| 2010 | Lens on Talent | | Episode: "Taking on Different Hats" |
| 2011 | Law & Order: SVU | Dwight Talcott | Episode: "Reparations" |
| 2011 | A Gifted Man | Dennis Jones | Episode: "In Case of Missed Communication" |
| 2012 | NYC 22 | Fred Wheeler | Episode: "Self Cleaning Oven" |
| 2014 | Chasing Life | Lawrence | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | Tin Man | Jack Garrison | TV movie |
| 2015 | Daredevil | Benjamin "Ben" Urich | Main cast (season 1); 9 episodes |
| 2015–2017 | Rosewood | Beaumont Rosewood Sr. | 3 episodes |
| 2016 | Spark | Philippe Lavelle | 1 episode |
| 2018–2019 | For the People | Chief Judge Nicholas Byrne | Main cast; 20 episodes |
| 2019 | Evil | Leon Acosta | Episode: "2 Fathers" |
| 2022-2025 | The Recruit | Walter Nyland | Main cast; 14 episodes |
| 2023 | Justified: City Primeval | Marcus "Sweety" Sweeton | Main cast; 8 episodes |
| TBA | Death by Lightning † | Frederick Douglass | Upcoming miniseries |

### Director

Film
* Gridlock'd (1997)
* Glitter (2001)
* Waist Deep (2006)
Music video
* "Never Too Far", for Mariah Carey
TV series
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2001-2002 | ER | Episodes "Start All Over Again" and "It's All in Your Head" |
| 2002 | Firefly | Episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" |
| 2002 | MDs | Episode "Cruel and Unusual" |
| 2005 | The Shield | Episode "Insurgents" |
| 2006 | Sleeper Cell | Episode "Torture" |
| 2008 | Boston Legal | Episode "Glow in the Dark" |
| 2008 | Gossip Girl | Episode "Pret-a-Poor-J" |
| 2008 | The Starter Wife | Episode "Das Booty Call" |
TV movies
* Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
* Abducted: The Carlina White Story (2012)
* Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart (2016)
* Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story (2018)