Blair Underwood

Acting

Blair Underwood

Born 1964-08-25 · Tacoma, Washington, USA

Blair Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award nominations, three NAACP Image Awards and 1 Grammy Award. His feature film debut was the 1985 movie Krush Groove. His 1985 appearance on The Cosby Show landed him a short stint on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, which eventually led to his performance on the TV series L.A. Law, where he appeared from 1987 to 1994. Underwood broke into film with roles in Just Cause (1995), Set It Off (1996) and Deep Impact (1998). He also had a supporting role as a geneticist in the film Gattaca. In 2000, he played the lead role in the short-lived television series City of Angels. In 2003, he guest starred in four episodes on the HBO series Sex and the City playing Cynthia Nixon's love interest. In 2004, he played the role of Roger De Souza opposite Heather Locklear in NBC's LAX. He gained acclaim as the sexy grade school teacher in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus for two years. In 2007, he guest starred in an episode of the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His also had a role as recurring character Alex in the HBO series In Treatment. Also in 2007, Underwood co-authored the novel Casanegra: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel with husband-and-wife team Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due. He's also had recurring roles on Dirty Sexy Money, NBC's The Event, Ironside, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Quantico. He has received three NAACP Image Awards, for his film work in Rules of Engagement, and his television work in L.A. Law, City of Angels, Murder in Mississippi and Mama Flora's Family. He was voted one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2000, and one of TV Guide's "Most Influential Faces of the 90s".

Acting credits

Gattaca poster
7.6

Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation.

Gattaca

1997

Longlegs poster
6.5

FBI Agent Lee Harker is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer. As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.

Longlegs

2024

Deep Impact poster
6.2

A seven-mile-wide space rock is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to obliterate the planet. Now, it's up to the president of the United States to save the world. He appoints a tough-as-nails veteran astronaut to lead a joint American-Russian crew into space to destroy the comet before impact. Meanwhile, an enterprising reporter uses her smarts to uncover the scoop of the century.

Deep Impact

1998

Rules of Engagement poster
6.2

A Marine Colonel is brought to court-martial after ordering his men to fire on demonstrators surrounding the American embassy in Yemen.

Rules of Engagement

2000

Set It Off poster
7.2

Four inner-city Black women, determined to end their constant struggle, decide to live by one rule — get what you want or die trying. So the four women take back their lives and take out some banks in the process.

Set It Off

1996

Something New poster
6.4

Kenya McQueen thought she had it all: a successful career, good friends and family. There was just one thing she didn't have under control: her love life. All that changes when she meets sexy, free-spirited Brian Kelly. But when her ideal man arrives on the scene, Kenya must decide between the relationship everyone expects and the romance no one expected.

Something New

2006

Just Cause poster
6.3

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.

Just Cause

1995

Madea's Family Reunion poster
6.3

Southern matriarch Madea has a lot on her plate. Her nieces, Vanessa and Lisa, have relationship troubles - Vanessa moves into Madea's house with her 2 young children and Lisa is engaged to a controlling man that her mother set her up with. In addition, Madea has just been court-ordered to become the guardian of Nikki, a rebellious runaway teenager. Madea must keep the peace and her family together while simultaneously planning her clan's reunion.

Madea's Family Reunion

2006

Malibu's Most Wanted poster
5.4

A senator arranges for his son, a rich white kid who fancies himself black, to be kidnapped by a couple of black actors pretending to be murderers to try and shock him out of his plans to become a rapper.

Malibu's Most Wanted

2003

Origin poster
6.2

While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.

Origin

2023

Broken poster
NR

A tough Dallas divorce attorney struggles to balance her personal and professional life.

Broken

2016

Full Frontal poster
4.6

A day in the life of a group of men and women in Hollywood, in the hours leading up to a friend's birthday party.

Full Frontal

2002

Tigers on the Rise poster
7.8

Celebrate the remarkable comeback of tigers and the local heroes fighting to protect them.

Tigers on the Rise

2024

Youngblood poster
6.9

Hockey prodigy Dean Youngblood joins the Hamilton Mustangs and has to deal with toxic behavior during his journey to the National Hockey League draft.

Youngblood

2026

The Art of Getting By poster
6.6

George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.

The Art of Getting By

2011

Posse poster
5.5

A group of mostly black infantrymen return from the Spanish-American War with a cache of gold. They travel to the West where their leader searches for the men who lynched his father.

Posse

1993

Bad Hair poster
5.6

In 1989, an ambitious young woman gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career may come at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.

Bad Hair

2021

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar poster
6.7

Set in the African savannah, the film follows Kion as he assembles the members of the 'Lion Guard'. Throughout the film, the diverse team of young animals will learn how to utilize each of their unique abilities to solve problems and accomplish tasks to maintain balance within the Circle of Life, while also introducing viewers to the vast array of animals that populate the prodigious African landscape.

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar

2016

G poster
6.6

A young Hip Hop star named Summer G falls for a middle to upper class sister while in college. After she rejects him for a fellow social climber, Summer G spends ten years building a Hip Hop empire, then moves to the Hamptons where he finds the object of his affections.

G

2002

Weather Girl poster
5.6

Succumbing to the stresses of her personal and professional lives, Sylvia, a Seattle morning show weather forecaster, has a meltdown live on-air. Now, unemployed, lacking career prospects, and with a mess of a romantic life, she moves in with her little brother. She must learn how to cope with being 35-years-old and unfortunately famous for melting down on live television.

Weather Girl

2009

Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration poster
7.0

Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration is a special produced for the beloved series' 25th anniversary. Released in a slightly different form on video in October 1993, the special was shelved for its broadcast premiere on PBS until 1994, during pledge drive season, and in many markets, aired as part of a marathon block with three show episodes.

Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration

1993

The Trip to Bountiful poster
6.2

Carrie Watts begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae. No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house.

The Trip to Bountiful

2014

A Soldier's Play poster
NR

In a segregated army camp in Louisiana in 1944, a black sergeant is shot dead after crying out "they still hate you." As the play examines the murder, the truth of it becomes more shocking and hateful than the murder itself.

A Soldier's Play

2021

One Spoon of Chocolate poster
5.6

After serving his country in the Army, Unique is falsely accused of assault and sent to prison. Once released, Unique sets up shop in Ohio to restart his life, linking up with his only surviving relative, Ramsey. There’s something insidious happening in this town, though, as its racist sheriff and his crew of similarly bigoted acolytes all have a knack for violence and share a gruesome secret pertaining to a recent string of missing young Black men. When they set their sights on Unique and turn his life upside down, the former soldier has no choice but to bring the ruckus down on the sheriff and his goons.

One Spoon of Chocolate

2026

Behind the camera