Carl Winston Lumbly is an American actor.
Biography[]
Lumbly was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 14, 1951. His parents were both immigrants from Jamaica. His father was an avid reader, which inspired an early appreciation for literature. He graduated from Macalester College with a degree in English. Afterwards, Lumbly landed a job writing for the Associated Press in Minneapolis, and also supplemented his income by taking up freelance writing assignments for various periodicals and magazines. While on assignment for a story on Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre, he attended a public audition and was handed an audition card. After undergoing a three-week audition process, the theater offered Lumbly a spot in its cast, on which he stayed for two years. During that period of time, he performed improvisational comedy with political satire.
Lumbly later moved to San Francisco, California, intending to continue his work as a journalist for the Associated Press. Just two days after his arrival, he came across a newspaper advertisement seeking two African-American actors for South African political plays. Lumbly decided to go to the audition and met Danny Glover, who was the other then-unknown actor who responded to the advertisement. The two of them landed the parts and toured in productions of Sizwe Bansi is Dead and The Island. These plays brought him to Los Angeles in southern California, where he signed on with an agent. Soon after, Lumbly moved to New York, where landed his first significant onscreen role in a made-for-TV movie, Cagney & Lacey, which turned out to be the pilot for the hit series. In it, Lumbly starred as Detective Mark Petrie during its seven-year run.
In the commission of his acting career, Lumbly has earned several awards and nominations. He portrayed roles in a number of works, ranging from Buffalo Soldiers to The Wedding to M.A.N.T.I.S. He also starred in the Showtime-produced, made-for-TV movie Just a Dream, which was directed by Glover. Lumbly's extensive feature credits also include his roles in Men of Honor, Everybody's All-American, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, South Central, Pacific Heights, To Sleep with Anger, The Bedroom Window, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Caveman, and Alias. Lumbly most recently appeared as a father in the ABC-produced, made-for-TV remake of the 1972 classic Sounder and provided his voice for action hero J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter, in the Cartoon Network's animated series Justice League. On TV, he has made numerous guest-starring appearances on several series, including The West Wing, ER, The X-Files, and L.A. Law. He also starred in the made-for-TV films The Color of Friendship, Little Richard, On Promised Land, The Ditchdigger's Daughters, and Nightjohn.
In his personal life, Lumbly was married to fellow actress Vonetta McGee, who he met on the set of Cagney & Lacey when she was cast as his wife from May 29, 1987 to July 9, 2010, with the marriage ending with her death to cardiac arrest at the age of 65. He has a son with McGee, named Brandon.
On Criminal Minds[]
Lumbly portrayed James "Jay-Mo" Morris, a surviving victim of serial killer Kaman Scott and the father of his former girlfriend (and grandfather of their child), in the Season Six episode "Devil's Night".
Filmography[]
For a full filmography, see here.