Frankie Faison

Frankie Faison
Faison in 2016
Born	Frankie Russel Faison (1949-06-10) June 10, 1949 Newport News, Virginia, U.S.
Education	Illinois Wesleyan University (BA) New York University (MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Samantha Jupiter Faison
Children	3

Frankie Russel Faison (born June 10, 1949) is an American actor known for his role as Deputy Commissioner, and, later, Commissioner, Ervin Burrell in the HBO series The Wire, as Barney Matthews in the Hannibal Lecter franchise, and as Sugar Bates in the Cinemax series Banshee.

Early life and education

Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena (née Gantt) and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he joined Theta Chi fraternity. He went on to obtain a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1974. Frankie has been married to Samantha Jupiter Faison since 2017.

Career

Faison started his acting career in 1974 in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear, with James Earl Jones in the title role. Faison later appeared opposite Jones in the Broadway premiere of Fences, for which he received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Faison's next role came in TV, in the short-lived series Hot Hero Sandwich in 1979. Faison did not make it to the big screen until 1980, when he appeared in Permanent Vacation as "Man in Lobby". A string of small roles followed until 1986, when he played the part of Lt. Fisk in Manhunter. Also that year, he appeared in the comedy The Money Pit, as an unruly construction worker, and in the Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive. In 1988, he appeared alongside Eddie Murphy and James Earl Jones in Coming to America in the role of a landlord, and won a minor role in the 1989 Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. Faison also appeared in 1996's The Rich Man's Wife as Detective Ron Lewis. He also appeared in the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair as Detective Paretti. Faison is notable for being the most frequent actor to appear in adaptations of Thomas Harris' Hannibal books: along with Manhunter, he also appeared as Lecter's jailer Barney in The Silence of the Lambs, the sequel Hannibal, and the prequel Red Dragon.

During the 1990–1991 season, he starred in the Fox situation comedy True Colors with Stephanie Faracy and Nancy Walker about an interracial couple. He was replaced by Cleavon Little for the second season of the program. In 1991, Faison again appeared alongside Hopkins in the film Freejack, which also starred Mick Jagger and Maximum Overdrive co-star Emilio Estevez. In 1998, he was a regular on the science-fiction TV show Prey. In 1992, he played the patriarch Bailey in the Cheryl West play Before It Hits Home. In the 2003 film Gods and Generals, Faison played the role of Jim Lewis, a freed slave, who shares his religious faith and optimism with CSA General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson as the general's personal cook. In 2004, he starred as JoJo Anderson in The Cookout and appeared in White Chicks. Faison had a starring role as the Baltimore City Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell on the HBO drama The Wire.

Faison appeared in Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, a movie about a single mom who takes her family to Georgia for the funeral of her father—a man she never met. There, her clan is introduced to the crass, fun-loving Brown family. Faison played the role of Brown and Vera's brother, L.B. Brown. In 2009, he was in the ensemble cast of John Krasinski's adaptation of Brief Interviews With Hideous Men playing the son of a toilet attendant who caustically recounts his father's experiences in one of the titular monologues.

Faison played Richard Evans on One Life to Live from 2009 through 2012.

He appeared in episodes of Blue Bloods, which also stars Tom Selleck, as an assistant police commissioner. His main film role in this period was as Harlan in the film Adam. He also appeared in a third-season episode of Lie to Me.

Faison played the role of Sugar Bates, a prizefighter turned tavernkeeper, on the Cinemax program Banshee. He appeared as Henry "Pop" Hunter in the Netflix series Luke Cage, and played a supporting role in the 2016 Amazon Studios original special An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win.

In 2017, Faison appeared in the music video for "Holding On" by The War on Drugs, from their fourth album A Deeper Understanding.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Permanent Vacation	Man in Lobby
1981	Ragtime	Gang Member No. 1
1982	Cat People	Detective Brandt
	A Little Sex	Electrician
	Hanky Panky	Cop Driver
1984	C.H.U.D.	Sergeant Parker
	Exterminator 2	Be Gee
1986	The Money Pit	James
	Maximum Overdrive	Handy
	Manhunter	Lieutenant Fisk
1988	Coming to America	Mr. Townsend
	Mississippi Burning	Eulogist
1989	Do the Right Thing	Coconut Sid
1990	Betsy's Wedding	Zack Monroe
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Barney Matthews
	City of Hope	Levonne
1992	Freejack	Eagle Man
1993	Sommersby	Joseph
	Money for Nothing	Madigan
1994	Heading Home	Horace Jones
	I Love Trouble	Police Chief
1995	Roommates	Professor Martin
1996	The Stupids	The Lloyd
	Mother Night	Robert Sterling Wilson
	Albino Alligator	Agent Marv Rose
	The Rich Man's Wife	Detective Ron Lewis
1997	Julian Po	Sheriff Leon
1998	Jaded	Henry Broker
1999	The Thomas Crown Affair	Detective Paretti
	A Little Inside	Tom Donner
	Oxygen	Phil Kline
	Orson Welles Sells His Soul to the Devil	Carter	Short subject
2000	Where the Money Is	Security Guard
2001	Gina, an Actress, Age 29	Albert	Short subject
	The Sleepy Time Gal	Jimmy Dupree
	Hannibal	Barney Matthews
	Down to Earth	Whitney Daniels
	Thirteen Conversations About One Thing	Richard 'Dick' Lacey
2002	Showtime	Captain Winship
	Red Dragon	Barney Matthews
2003	Gods and Generals	Jim Lewis
2004	Highwaymen	Will Macklin
	America Brown	Coach Bryant
	White Chicks	Chief Elliott Gordon
	Messengers	Tom Mabry
	The Cookout	Jojo Andersen
	Crutch	Jerry
	In Good Company	Corwin
2006	Premium	Phil
2007	My Blueberry Nights	Travis
2008	Meet the Browns	L.B.
	Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist	Ticket Salesman
2009	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Subject #42
	Adam	Harlan
	Splinterheads	Pope
	Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant	Rhamus Twobellies
	For Sale by Owner	Gene Woodman
	Breaking Point	Judge Green
2011	Mayor Cupcake	Lenny Davis
2012	Cowgirls 'n Angels	Augustus
2013	Tio Papi	Gilly
	Danger Word	Grandpa Joe	Short subject
2014	Clipped Wings, They Do Fly	Mayor Goode
	Assumption of Risk	Dr. Paulson
	Away from Here	Carl
2016	An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win	Frank Ellison
	Smoke Filled Lungs	Stanley
2017	The Case for Christ	Joe Dubois
	The Sounding	Roland
2018	An Actor Prepares	Deacon Frank Dodge
2019	The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain	Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.
2020	The Grudge	William Matheson
	I'm Your Woman	Art
2021	Fatherhood	Mike
2022	Till	John Carthan

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Great Performances	Captain	Episode: "King Lear"
1979	Hot Hero Sandwich	-	TV series
1982	Another World	Captain Hancock	Episode #1.4478
1983	The Edge of Night	Ralph Pettibone	Regular cast
	Sessions	Intern	TV movie
1985	Search for Tomorrow	Willard Clovis	Episode #1.8643
	Kate & Allie	Detective	Episode: "The Bad Seed"
1987	The Equalizer	Zudo	Episode: "Mission: McCall: Part 1"
1989	A Man Called Hawk	Mr. Carver	Episode: "Choice of Chance"
	Monsters	Jack Lyle	Episode: "The Mandrake Root"
1990	Common Ground	-	Miniseries
	Law & Order	Lester Crawford	Episode: "Out of the Half-Light"
1990–91	True Colors	Ron Freeman	Main cast
1992	All My Children	Minister Bauer	Episode #1.5910
1994	The Spider and the Fly	Detective Turner	TV movie
1995	The Langoliers	Don Gaffney	2 episodes
1996	New York Undercover	Captain Wilton	Episode: "Fire Show"
1997	Oz	Cornelius Keane	Episode: "Capital P"
1997–98	Cosby	Ron	Episode: "I'm OK, You're Hilton" & "On the Rocks"
1998	Prey	Ray Peterson	Main cast
1998–99	All My Children	Frank Dawson	Regular cast
2001	Call Me Claus	Dwayne	TV movie
2002–08	The Wire	Ervin Burrell	Main cast (season 1-4), recurring cast (season 5)
2004	The Jury	Nick Van Lier	Episode: "Bangers"
2007–08	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	FBI Agent Tom Nickerson	Episode: "Florida" & "Signature"
2008	Army Wives	General Baxter	Episode: "Departures, Arrivals"
	Play or Be Played	Detective Lyle	TV movie
2008–12	One Life to Live	Richard Evans	Regular cast
2009–20	Grey's Anatomy	William Bailey	4 episodes
2010	Blue Bloods	Jeffords	Episode: "Samaritan"
	Lie to Me	Teddy	Episode: "Smoked"
2010–15	The Good Wife	Jeremiah Easton	4 episodes
2013	Elementary	Judge Brewster O'Hare	Episode: "Tremors"
2013–16	Banshee	Sugar Bates	34 episodes
2014	Unforgettable	Mayor Beverly	Episode: "Omega Hour"
	Black Box	Wade	Episode: "Sing Like Me"
	Forever	Pepper Evans	Episode: "6 A.M."
2016	Luke Cage	Henry "Pop" Hunter	2 episodes
2017	The Good Fight	Jeremiah Easton	Episode: "Reddick v Boseman"
	Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television	Captain Jackson #5	Episode: "Hungry for Justice"
2018	Hawaii Five-0	Leroy Davis	Episode: "Aohe Mea Make I Ka Hewa; Make No I Ka Mihi Ole"
2019	The Village	Ron	10 episodes
2020	God Friended Me	Mr. Johnson	Episode: "Harlem Cinema House"
	The Expanse	Charles	Episode: "Churn"
2021	The Blacklist	Abraham Moores	Episode: "The Fribourg Confidence"
	Bull	Lee Donaldson	Episode: "King Bull"
	Redemption in Cherry Springs	Joe	TV movie
2022	The Rookie	Christopher "Cutty" Clark	2 episodes
2022–23	The Rookie: Feds		Main cast
2023	Hello Tomorrow!	Buck Manzell	4 episodes

External links

• Frankie Faison at IMDb 
• Frankie Faison at AllMovie
• Frankie Faison at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frankie Faison at the Internet Off-Broadway Database