Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor. Epps's
film roles include Juice, Higher Learning, The Wood, In Too Deep and
Love & Basketball. His television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis
Gant on the medical drama series ER, J. Martin Bellamy in
Resurrection, Dr. Eric Foreman on the Fox medical drama series House
from 2004 to 2012, and Isaac Johnson in the TV series Shooter from
2016 to 2018.Omar Epps was born in Brooklyn. His parents divorced
during his childhood and he was raised by his mother, Bonnie Maria
Epps, an elementary school principal. He lived in several
neighborhoods while growing up (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, East New
York, Brooklyn and East Flatbush, Brooklyn). Before he started acting,
he belonged to a rap group called Wolfpack which he formed with his
cousin in 1991. He began writing poetry, short stories and songs at
the age of ten and attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of
Music & Art and Performing Arts.Early in Omar Epps's career, he was
most often cast in the roles of troubled teens and/or athletes. He
made his feature film debut with rapper Tupac Shakur as the star of
cinematographer Ernest Dickerson's directorial film debut Juice. Epps
followed up his performance in Juice as a running back in the college
football drama The Program alongside James Caan. Epps starred in the
film Deadly Voyage, and won the best actor award at the Monte Carlo
Television Festival for portraying Kingsley Ofusu in this true story
about African stowaways. The following year, he switched to baseball
as co-star of Major League II, taking over the role of Willie Mays
Hayes from originator Wesley Snipes. His next athletic endeavor was
playing a track and field star in John Singleton's Higher Learning, a
look at the politics and racial tensions of college life.Epps landed a
role on the hit television drama ER for several episodes portraying
Dr. Dennis Gant, a troubled surgical intern. After his television work
on ER, Epps returned to the big screen in 1997 with a brief turn as a
giddy moviegoer on a date with a woman played by Jada Pinkett, who
ends up an early victim of a psycho slasher in the blockbuster sequel
Scream 2. Also in 1997 Epps was the star of the fact-based HBO movie
First Time Felon. He played a small-time criminal who goes through
Chicago's boot camp reform system and undertakes a heroic flood
rescue, only to then be faced with the adjustment of re-entering
society with the mark of ex-con. In 1999 Epps was cast as Linc in The
Mod Squad. While The Mod Squad proved a critical and box-office bust,
Epps's later 1999 effort The Wood offered him a serious and
multi-dimensional role. Following a group of middle-class African
Americans from youth to adulthood, The Wood, the debut effort from
director-screenwriter Rick Famuyiwa, co-starred Richard T. Jones and
Taye Diggs. Also in 1999, Epps was featured alongside Stanley Tucci
and LL Cool J, playing an undercover detective who finds himself
caught up in the illegal goings-on he is investigating in In Too Deep.
1999 also saw him lens the 1950s set murder mystery When Willows
Touch, with James Earl Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith.
film roles include Juice, Higher Learning, The Wood, In Too Deep and
Love & Basketball. His television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis
Gant on the medical drama series ER, J. Martin Bellamy in
Resurrection, Dr. Eric Foreman on the Fox medical drama series House
from 2004 to 2012, and Isaac Johnson in the TV series Shooter from
2016 to 2018.Omar Epps was born in Brooklyn. His parents divorced
during his childhood and he was raised by his mother, Bonnie Maria
Epps, an elementary school principal. He lived in several
neighborhoods while growing up (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, East New
York, Brooklyn and East Flatbush, Brooklyn). Before he started acting,
he belonged to a rap group called Wolfpack which he formed with his
cousin in 1991. He began writing poetry, short stories and songs at
the age of ten and attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of
Music & Art and Performing Arts.Early in Omar Epps's career, he was
most often cast in the roles of troubled teens and/or athletes. He
made his feature film debut with rapper Tupac Shakur as the star of
cinematographer Ernest Dickerson's directorial film debut Juice. Epps
followed up his performance in Juice as a running back in the college
football drama The Program alongside James Caan. Epps starred in the
film Deadly Voyage, and won the best actor award at the Monte Carlo
Television Festival for portraying Kingsley Ofusu in this true story
about African stowaways. The following year, he switched to baseball
as co-star of Major League II, taking over the role of Willie Mays
Hayes from originator Wesley Snipes. His next athletic endeavor was
playing a track and field star in John Singleton's Higher Learning, a
look at the politics and racial tensions of college life.Epps landed a
role on the hit television drama ER for several episodes portraying
Dr. Dennis Gant, a troubled surgical intern. After his television work
on ER, Epps returned to the big screen in 1997 with a brief turn as a
giddy moviegoer on a date with a woman played by Jada Pinkett, who
ends up an early victim of a psycho slasher in the blockbuster sequel
Scream 2. Also in 1997 Epps was the star of the fact-based HBO movie
First Time Felon. He played a small-time criminal who goes through
Chicago's boot camp reform system and undertakes a heroic flood
rescue, only to then be faced with the adjustment of re-entering
society with the mark of ex-con. In 1999 Epps was cast as Linc in The
Mod Squad. While The Mod Squad proved a critical and box-office bust,
Epps's later 1999 effort The Wood offered him a serious and
multi-dimensional role. Following a group of middle-class African
Americans from youth to adulthood, The Wood, the debut effort from
director-screenwriter Rick Famuyiwa, co-starred Richard T. Jones and
Taye Diggs. Also in 1999, Epps was featured alongside Stanley Tucci
and LL Cool J, playing an undercover detective who finds himself
caught up in the illegal goings-on he is investigating in In Too Deep.
1999 also saw him lens the 1950s set murder mystery When Willows
Touch, with James Earl Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith.
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