Boris Kodjoe
Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe (; born March 8, 1973) is an Austrian-born American actor, producer, and former model best 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 Anatomy" spin-off, "Station 19" as 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 6 years old. He grew up in the vicinity of Freiburg im Breisgau. He has a brother named Patrick and two sisters named Nadja and Lara. Career. Kodjoe attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a tennis scholarship, 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 7 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 film "The 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". He had a supporting role in the 2009 science fiction film "Surrogates". Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw starred as a husband-and-wife secret agent team in the 2010 J. J. Abrams-produced NBC TV series "Undercovers", but the show lasted less than one season. That year, he also appeared as Luther in the film "". He had a guest appearance on the TV show "Franklin & Bash" in 2012. From 2013 to 2016, Kodjoe starred as a fictional version of himself in the BET comedy parody series "Real Husbands of Hollywood". In 2014 he  was cast as a regular on the ABC primetime soap opera "Members Only" created by Susannah Grant, but the show never aired. In 2015, Kodjoe began a recurring guest role on 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. 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". Kodjoe is fluent in German, English, Russian, French and Italian, he also speaks a little Spanish. Boris Kodjoe Boris