Andre Braugher

Biography: Andre Braugher, the youngest of four kids born to heavy equipment operator Floyd Braugher and his wife Sally, grew up in Chicago, graduating from St. Ignatius College Preparatory School and moving on the a pre-med program at Stanford University. Shifting gears, he graduated from Stanford in 1984 with a B.A. in Theater and proceeded to New York's prestigious Julliard School, where in 1988, receiving his M.F.A., he was named the school's most outstanding theater student. With such an education and that auspicious declaration under his belt Braugher found himself quite busy the very next year, in film (Glory, as Corporal Thomas Searles); and on TV, as himself in series The More You Knowand into 1990 in a series of five Kojak telepics, in the continuing role of the title character's sidekick, Detective Winston Blake, in addition to two supporting parts and one starring role in other TV movies. The role by which he will most likely be best remembered (although his Nick Atwater in 2006's Thief is catching up in that regard) is that of Detective Frank Pembleton, the brilliant, antisocial and stressed out cop in Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1998 -- plus a TV movie in 2000). Even amid a standout ensemble cast, Braugher stood out; the part earned him two Emmy nominations, one of which he won, and a passle of other awards, which would by no means be his last. Busy on screens large and small, the versatile actor has not ignored the stage, starring in productions for the New York Shakespeare Festival: King John, Much Ado About Nothing and Henry V, which won him an Obie Award. In 1999 he directed and starred in a "A Love Song for Dad," a segment of TV's trilogy, Love Songs, and he has narrated, along with Lainie Kazan, an audiobook: James McBride's The Color of Water. Braugher has been busy at home as well; in 1991 he married writer/actress Ami Brabson, who portrayed his wife on Homicide, and they are currently residing in South Orange, New Jersey, with their two sons, Michael (born in 1992) and Isaiah (born in 1996).… Expand