Claim: Dead Man Down stars an actor.

Terrence Dashon Howard -LRB- born March 11 , 1969 -RRB- is an American actor and singer . Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland 's Opus , Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles between 2004 and 2006 . He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow . Howard has had prominent roles in many other movies including Winnie , Ray , Lackawanna Blues , Crash , Four Brothers , Get Rich or Die Tryin ' , Idlewild , August Rush , The Brave One and Prisoners . Howard played James Rhodes in Iron Man and reprised the role in the video game adaptation . However , he was replaced by Don Cheadle for the future films . He currently stars as the lead character Lucious Lyon in the television series Empire . His debut album , Shine Through It , was released in September 2008 .