BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " NELSAN ELLIS " IS AN AMERICAN FIL AND TELEVISION ACTOR AND PLAY WRITER : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

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Nelsan Ellis

Nelsan Ellis
Ellis in June 2009
Born	November 30, 1978 (age 36) Harvey, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Juilliard School (B.F.A. 2004)
Occupation	Actor, playwright
Years active	2002–present

Nelsan Ellis (born November 30, 1978^[1]) is an American film and television actor and playwright. He is well known for his role as Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series True Blood, which he played from 2008 until the completion of True Blood in 2014, and most recently for starring as Bobby Byrd in the James Brown biopic, Get On Up.

Early life and education

Ellis was born in Harvey, Illinois,^[2] near Chicago. When Ellis and his siblings were younger, their mother, a single parent after her divorce from her children's father, broke down over the death of her brother. Ellis and his siblings became wards of the state as a result. They were then raised in Bessemer, Alabama, by their grandmother. In Alabama, Ellis attended Jess Lanier High School for a year, then transferred to McAdory High School.^[3] He moved back to Illinois at age 15, where he lived with his maternal aunt, and in 1997 he graduated from Thornridge High School in Dolton, Illinois.

He joined the United States Marines at the age of 17, but quit not long afterwards.^[4] When Ellis was 21, he was accepted for enrollment at the Juilliard School's^[4] Drama Division (Group 33: 2000–2004)^[5] where he befriended True Blood-colleague Rutina Wesley^[4] (Group 34: 2001–2005).^[5] Ellis earned a B.F.A. degree from Juilliard in 2004.^[6]

Awards

• While at Juilliard, Ellis wrote a semi-autobiographical play entitled "Ugly", which was performed at the school and later won the Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award. The play centered on his pregnant sister's murder at the hands of her husband.

• 2008 – Satellite Award from the International Press Academy for best supporting actor in a television series for his role as Lafayette Reynolds in HBO's True Blood.^[7]

• 2009 – NewNowNext Awards "Brink of Fame: Actor" award.^[8]

• 2009 – Ewwy Award for "Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" for True Blood.

Nominations

• 2009 - Scream Award for "Best Supporting Actor" for True Blood.^[9]

• 2011 - NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" for True Blood.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Lost	Hoffa	Short film
2005	Warm Springs	Roy Collier	TV movie
	Trespass	Trespass
2008	The Express	Will Davis, Jr.
2009	The Soloist	David Carter
	Talent	Titus
2010	Secretariat	Eddie Sweat
2011	The Help	Henry the Waiter
2012	The Reluctant Fundamentalist	Wainwright
2013	Page 36	Writer and Director	Short Film
	The Butler	Martin Luther King, Jr.
2014	Get On Up	Bobby Byrd
2015	The Stanford Prison Experiment		Filming
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	The Inside	Carter Howard	13 Episodes
2007	Veronica Mars	Apollo Bukenya	Episode: "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer"
	Without a Trace	Deng Nimieri	Episode: "Lost Boy"
2008–2014	True Blood	Lafayette Reynolds	Regular Won Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Won Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series Nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Won Ewwy Award for best supporting actor in a Drama series Won NewNowNext Award for Brink of Fame: Actor Nominated for a Scream Award for best supporting actor