LaRoyce Hawkins (born May 4, 1988) is an American actor, stand-up
comic, spoken word artist, and musician. Hawkins stars on NBC's police
drama Chicago P.D., where he portrays Officer Kevin Atwater. The show
is in its seventh season. Hawkins also has a minor recurring role on
the crossover show Chicago Fire.Hawkins was born and raised in Harvey,
Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago. While Hawkins was growing up
he lived with his grandparents until he was 13 and he credits them
with shaping his life and the lives of his siblings.Hawkins attended
Thornton High School, where he was recruited to play basketball.
Influenced by his grandfather’s advice to “choose what makes you
feel better,†Hawkins left the basketball team sophomore year and
joined the speech team, where he became a two-time state champion in
comedy speech writing and received awards twice from the Illinois High
Speech Association: for “original comedy†in his junior year and
for “humorous acting duet†in his senior year.Hawkins attended
Illinois State University on a full tuition scholastic scholarship
where he majored in theatre arts. In his first college play, he
starred as Toledo from the August Wilson production Ma Rainey's Black
Bottom. While in college, he landed his first major motion picture
role in the feature film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, the
biopic of Ernie Davis, portraying Davis' teammate Art Baker. He is a
member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
comic, spoken word artist, and musician. Hawkins stars on NBC's police
drama Chicago P.D., where he portrays Officer Kevin Atwater. The show
is in its seventh season. Hawkins also has a minor recurring role on
the crossover show Chicago Fire.Hawkins was born and raised in Harvey,
Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago. While Hawkins was growing up
he lived with his grandparents until he was 13 and he credits them
with shaping his life and the lives of his siblings.Hawkins attended
Thornton High School, where he was recruited to play basketball.
Influenced by his grandfather’s advice to “choose what makes you
feel better,†Hawkins left the basketball team sophomore year and
joined the speech team, where he became a two-time state champion in
comedy speech writing and received awards twice from the Illinois High
Speech Association: for “original comedy†in his junior year and
for “humorous acting duet†in his senior year.Hawkins attended
Illinois State University on a full tuition scholastic scholarship
where he majored in theatre arts. In his first college play, he
starred as Toledo from the August Wilson production Ma Rainey's Black
Bottom. While in college, he landed his first major motion picture
role in the feature film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, the
biopic of Ernie Davis, portraying Davis' teammate Art Baker. He is a
member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
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