Avery Brooks is an accomplished actor, director, musician and teacher. He appeared in the title role in Shakespeare'sOthello at the Folger Theater in Washington, D.C. He was seen as Troy Maxson in August Wilson's play,Fences, at the St. Louis Repository Theater's production of Richard Wesley's The Talented Tenth. He has performed to critical acclaim the title role in the Phillip Hayes Dean play, Paul Robeson, since 1978, most recently in Los Angeles at the Westwood Playhouse. He has also performed this role in New York on Broadway, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. In New York, audiences have seen his portrayal of Robeson in Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? both on and off Broadway and his performance as Martin in The Offering with the Negro Ensemble Company. Mr. Brooks has acted extensively for the New York Shakespeare Festival where he performed in Ntozake Shange's Spell # 7 and A Photograph. He played Theseus and Oberon in A MidsummerNight's Dream and starred in the American premiere of Derek Walcott's Pantomime, both at Washington's Arena Stage. Mr. Brooks sang the role of Malcom X in the American Music Theater Festival production of Anthony Davis' opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcom X. He has performed with jazz artists including Joseph Jarman, Lester Bowie, Henry Threadgill and Jon Hendricks. Mr. Brooks has done extensive work with the Smithsonian Institute's Program in Black American Culture. He was seen in the title role in the film, Solomon Northup's Odyssey, directed by Gordon Parks for PBS' American Playhouse series and was nominated for an ACE Award for his portrayal of Uncle Tom in Showtime's television production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mr. Brooks has hosted several documentaries including Marian Anderson, A Passion For Faith, Trackdown, Growing Up and the award winning The Musical Legacy of Roland Hayes. Mr. Brooks directed Ntozake Shange's Boogie Woogie Landscapes at the Kennedy Center and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf in London's West End. He starred as Hawk on the Warner Bros./ABC series "A Man Called Hawk " and co-starred for 3 seasons in "Spencer for Hire." He recently reprised the role for Lifetime Movies in Ceremony and Pale Kings and Princesses. He is currently starring as Commander Sisko in Paramount Studio's Star Trek series "Deep Space Nine." Mr. Brooks is the Artisitic Director of the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. For 21 years Mr. Brooks has been affiliated with Rutgers University. He was the first black MFA graduate in acting and directing and is currently a tenured professor of theater at the Mason Gross School of the Arts. He has taught at Oberlin College and Case Western Reserve University.

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