Hill Harper, an accomplished film, television and stage actor, stars in the hit CBS drama series, CSI: NY. He portrays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, a reclusive coroner who walked away from a promising surgical career after the traumatic loss of two patients. This February, he will star in the HBO movie, Lackawanna Blues, which is based on the critically acclaimed stage play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Recently, People magazine selected Harper as one of their "Sexiest Men Alive" (2004).
Prior to CSI: NY, Harper co-starred as an ambitious undercover FBI operative on the CBS series, The Handler, alongside Emmy Award nominee Joe Pantoliano. The role earned him a 2004 Golden Satellite Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He has also been recognized by the NAACP Image Awards with a nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the CBS series, City of Angels.
Hill's acting credentials include appearances in off-Broadway productions of Your Handsome Captain, Freeman, and David Mamet's American Buffalo. He completed a starring run of Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theatre.
Hill has proven himself off the stage, too. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduated with a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School, as well as with a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government. He has also written a book called Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest your destiny, which is meant to encourage young African-American males to choose the right path, because their fate is what they make of their lives.