Obba Babatundé is an American actor.
Biography
Babatundé was born in Queens' Jamaica neighborhood in New York City, New York, on December 4, 1950. He graduated from Jamaica High School in 1969 as Donald Cohen. Babatundé and his brother, future director Akin, were trained at the National Black Theatre in the neighborhood of Harlem, and shortly after that, both were invited to join its touring company. They were both hired as teachers at Harriet Tubman School for a time being as well. At some point, Babatundé started an acting career and has made appearances in more than seventeen stage productions, thirty theatrical films, sixty made-for-TV movies, and three prime-time series.
Some of Babatundé's appearances in feature films include roles in The Celestine Prophecy, The Manchurian Candidate, The Notebook, John Q, Philadelphia, and Kinky. In television, Babatundé starred in three prime-time series: Madam Secretary, I'm Dying Up Here, and Dear White People. He also had a recurring role on Kingdom and the Amazon-produced Hand of God. He made appearances in Half & Half, The Young and the Restless, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Cold Case, Strong Medicine, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Chicago Hope, Any Day Now, Karen Sisco, Dawson's Creek, and Friends. In addition to all of those, he starred in the 1998 miniseries The Temptations as the founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy.
On Criminal Minds
Babatundé portrayed Sheriff Frank Sanders in the Season Five episode Solitary Man.
Filmography
For a full filmography, see here.