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Delroy George Lindo (born 18 November 1952) is an English–American actor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He is the recipient of such accolades as an NAACP Image Award, a Satellite Award, and nominations for a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Tony Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
He moved with his mother to San Francisco when he was 16, after they had left London and lived in Canada for a few years. Here he completed his education and entered acting. Lindo has played prominent roles in four Spike Lee films: West Indian Archie in Malcolm X (1992), Woody Carmichael in Crooklyn (1994), Rodney Little in Clockers (1995), and Paul in Da 5 Bloods (2020). He was praised for his performance in Da 5 Bloods as a Vietnam War veteran, winning the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor.
Lindo also played Bo Catlett in Get Shorty (1995), Arthur Rose in The Cider House Rules (1999), Detective Castlebeck in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), and Delta Slim in Sinners (2025). Lindo starred as Alderman Ronin Gibbons in the TV series The Chicago Code (2011), as Winter on the series Believe (2014), and as Adrian Boseman in The Good Fight (2017–2021).
Early lifeEdit
Delroy Lindo was born in 1952 in Lewisham,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> the son of Jamaican parents who were part of the Windrush generation. His mother had immigrated to the UK in 1951 to work as a nurse,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and his father worked in various jobs.<ref>Zondra Hughes (August 2002), "Are these the 5 best actors in America? - under rated - Entertainment - Don Cheadle, Delroy Lindo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ving Rhames And Jeffrey Wright", Ebony.</ref> Lindo grew up in nearby Eltham and attended Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys. He became interested in acting as a child when he appeared in a nativity play at school.
When he was a teenager, Lindo moved with his mother to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When he was 16, they moved to the United States, to San Francisco.<ref name="cricket"/> At the age of 24, Lindo began his studies in acting at the American Conservatory Theater, graduating in 1979.<ref>"Delroy Lindo Biography", TV Guide.</ref>
CareerEdit
Lindo made his film debut in 1976 with the Canadian John Candy comedy Find the Lady. He played an army sergeant in More American Graffiti (1979).<ref name="Rotten Tomatoes 10 March 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
For a decade from the early 1980s, Lindo's career was more focused on theatre acting than film, although he has said this was not a conscious decision.<ref name="Rotten Tomatoes 10 March 2021" /> In 1982 he debuted on Broadway in "Master Harold"...and the Boys, directed by the play's South African author Athol Fugard. By 1988, Lindo had earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Herald Loomis in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Lindo returned to film in the science fiction film Salute of the Jugger (1990), which has become a cult classic. Although he had turned down Spike Lee for a role in Do the Right Thing, Lee cast him as Woody Carmichael in the drama Crooklyn (1994), which brought Lindo notice. His other roles with Lee include West Indian Archie, a psychotic gangster, in Malcolm X, and a starring role as a neighborhood drug dealer in Clockers.
Other films in which he has starring roles are Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty (1995), Ron Howard's Ransom (1996), and Soul of the Game (1996), as the baseball player Satchel Paige.
In 1998 Lindo co-starred as African-American explorer Matthew Henson, in the TV film Glory & Honor, directed by Kevin Hooks. It portrayed Henson's nearly 20-year partnership with Commander Robert Peary in Arctic exploration, and their effort to find the Geographic North Pole in 1909. Lindo received a Satellite Award for best actor for his portrayal of Henson. Lindo has continued to work in television, and in 2006 was seen on the short-lived NBC drama Kidnapped.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lindo had a small role in the 1995 film Congo, playing the corrupt Captain Wanta.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lindo was not credited for the role. He played an angel in the comedy film A Life Less Ordinary (1997).
He guest-starred on The Simpsons in the episode "Brawl in the Family", playing a character named Gabriel.
In the British film Wondrous Oblivion (2003), directed by Paul Morrison, Lindo starred as Dennis Samuels, the father of a Jamaican immigrant family in London in the 1950s. Lindo said he made the film in honor of his parents, who had similarly moved to London in those years.<ref name="cricket">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2007, Lindo began an association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California, when he directed Tanya Barfield's play The Blue Door. In the autumn of 2008, Lindo revisited August Wilson's play Joe Turner's Come and Gone, directing a production at the Berkeley Rep.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2010, he played the role of elderly seer Bynum in David Lan's production of Joe Turner at the Young Vic Theatre in London.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Lindo was in the main cast of the Fox crime drama The Chicago Code (2011), the NBC fantasy series Believe, and the ABC soap Blood & Oil (2015). In 2017, Lindo began playing Adrian Boseman in the CBS legal drama The Good Fight, a role he would star in for the series' first four seasons and reprise as a guest star in its fifth season.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lindo was cast as the lead in an ABC drama pilot Harlem's Kitchen in March 2020.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2015, Lindo was expected to play Marcus Garvey in a biopic of the black nationalist historical figure that had been in pre-production for several years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"MARCUS GARVEY BIOPIC SET TO BE RELEASED IN 2017", The Source, 7 March 2016.</ref><ref>"Popular US actor Delroy Lindo to star as Marcus Garvey in a new biopic", The Jamaica Star, 4 December 2015.</ref> In recent years Lindo has appeared in the action film Point Break (2015), the drama Battlecreek (2017), the horror film Malicious (2018), and The Harder They Fall (2021) as Bass Reeves. Lindo appeared in Da 5 Bloods (2020) in another collaboration with Spike Lee. For his role in Da 5 Bloods, Lindo received critical acclaim and a number of accolades.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Entertainment Weekly said of Hulu's comedy series Unprisoned (2023), "Delroy Lindo is so good it should be illegal."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 2025, Lindo played the supporting role of Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler’s critically acclaimed film Sinners.
UpcomingEdit
It was announced in July 2021 that Lindo would star as Mr Nancy in the British Amazon Prime miniseries adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys alongside Malachi Kirby.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In November, Lindo officially joined the cast of the upcoming Marvel Studios film Blade in an undisclosed role.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As of 2020, Lindo was developing a screenplay for his directorial debut about the Windrush generation.<ref name="gq apr 21"/>
Personal lifeEdit
Lindo married his wife Nashormeh in 1990. They settled in Oakland, California, in 1996, having moved from New York City and preferring the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles. Their son Damiri was born in 2001.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Lindo is a football fan and supports Manchester United.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Upon learning more about the Windrush generation, both through his mother's account and his own role as a Jamaican immigrant in Wondrous Oblivion, Lindo became inspired to study the subject and history further. In 2014, he completed a master's thesis from New York University's Gallatin School.<ref name="gq apr 21">Template:Cite journal</ref>
He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts and Humanities from Virginia Union University.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FilmographyEdit
FilmEdit
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Find the Lady | Sam | |
| 1979 | More American Graffiti | Army Sergeant | |
| 1990 | The Blood of Heroes | Mbulu | |
| Mountains of the Moon | Mabruki | ||
| Bright Angel | Harley | ||
| 1991 | The Hard Way | Captain Brix | |
| 1992 | Malcolm X | West Indian Archie | |
| 1993 | Blood In Blood Out | "Bonafide" | |
| Mr. Jones | Howard | ||
| 1994 | L'exil du roi Behanzin | Behanzin | |
| Crooklyn | Woody Carmichael | ||
| 1995 | Clockers | Rodney Little | |
| Congo | Captain Wanta | Uncredited | |
| Get Shorty | Bo Catlett | ||
| 1996 | Ransom | FBI Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins | |
| Broken Arrow | Colonel Max Wilkins | ||
| Feeling Minnesota | "Red" | ||
| 1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Jackson | |
| The Devil's Advocate | Phillipe Moyez | Uncredited | |
| 1999 | Pros & Cons | Kyle Pettibone | |
| The Cider House Rules | Arthur Rose | ||
| 2000 | The Book of Stars | Professor | |
| Gone in 60 Seconds | Detective Roland Castlebeck | ||
| Romeo Must Die | Isaak O'Day | ||
| 2001 | The One | Agent Harry Roedecker / Arri | |
| Heist | Bobby Blane | ||
| The Last Castle | Brigadier General Jim Wheeler | ||
| 2003 | The Core | Dr. Ed "Braz" Brazzleton | |
| Wondrous Oblivion | Dennis Samuel | ||
| 2005 | Domino | Claremont Williams | |
| Sahara | Carl | ||
| 2007 | This Christmas | Joe Black | |
| 2009 | Up | Beta (voice) | |
| Dug's Special Mission | Short film | ||
| 2011 | The Big Bang | Skeres | |
| 2014 | Cymbeline | Belarius | |
| 2015 | Do You Believe? | Malachi | |
| Point Break | FBI Instructor Hall | ||
| 2017 | Battlecreek | Arthur | |
| 2018 | Malicious | Dr. Clark | |
| 2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Paul | |
| LX 2048 | Donald Stein | ||
| 2021 | The Harder They Fall | Bass Reeves | |
| 2025 | Sinners | Delta Slim | |
| 2027 | Godzilla x Kong: Supernova | TBA | Filming |
TelevisionEdit
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Beauty and the Beast | Isaac Stubbs | 2 episodes |
| 1989 | A Man Called Hawk | Mark Slater | Episode: "Vendetta" |
| Perfect Witness | Berger | Television film | |
| 1991 | Against the Law | Ben | Episode: "Hoops" |
| 1996 | Soul of the Game | Satchel Paige | Television film |
| 1997 | First Time Felon | Calhoun | |
| 1998 | Glory & Honor | Matthew Henson | |
| 1999 | Strange Justice | Clarence Thomas | |
| 2002 | The Simpsons | Gabriel | Voice; episode: "Brawl in the Family" |
| 2003 | Profoundly Normal | Ricardo Thornton | Television film |
| 2005 | Lackawanna Blues | Mr. Lucious | |
| The Exonerated | Delbert Tibbs | ||
| 2006–2007 | Kidnapped | Latimer King | Main cast; 13 episodes |
| 2009 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Detective Victor Moran | Episode: "Baggage" |
| Mercy | Dr. Alfred Parks | Episode: "Can We Get That Drink Now?" | |
| 2011 | The Chicago Code | Alderman Ronin Gibbons | Main cast; 11 episodes |
| 2013 | Robot Chicken | Dopey Smurf, Scorpion Cashier (voices) | Episode: "Papercut to Aorta" |
| 2014 | Believe | Dr. Milton Winter | Main cast; 13 episodes |
| 2015 | Blood & Oil | "Tip" Harrison | Main cast; 10 episodes |
| 2016 | Marvel's Most Wanted | Dominic Fortune | Unaired pilot |
| 2017–2021 | The Good Fight | Adrian Boseman | Main cast; 40 episodes |
| 2017 | This Is Us | Judge Ernest Bradley | Episode: "The Most Disappointed Man" |
| 2023–2024 | Unprisoned | Edwin Alexander | Main cast; also executive producer |
| Template:TableTBA | Anansi Boys | Mr Nancy | Filming |
TheatreEdit
Video gamesEdit
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Up | Beta (voice) |
Awards and nominationsEdit
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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- Mosi Secret, "The Long, Occasionally Dark, and Ultimately Triumphant Career of Delroy Lindo", GQ, 20 April 2021