As a theater trained actor, Harold Perrineau has appeared in a wide array of roles throughout his busybut often unrecognizedcareer. Because of this variety, Perrineau has been difficult to typecastan accomplishment the actor has not only appreciated, but worked hard to achieve. Though he broke in with a brief stint on Fame (NBC, 1981-1987), Perrineau became more of a known commodity with a supporting role on HBOs grisly prison drama, Oz (1997-2003). But it was his two season foray on the ABC phenomenon Lost (2004- ), playing a man struggling to be a father to his son ( ) after crash landing with 46 others on a mysterious island. The wide exposure Perrineau received from being on Lost allowed the actor to finally earn the name recognition he had long deserved.
Born on August 7, 1968 in Brooklyn, NY, Perrineau developed his chops in dance and acting at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA and with the Alvin Alley Company. After Fame, his first major television break happened in 1990 when he was cast in a recurring role on the NBC series "Ill Fly Away." In 1995, he finagled his way into playing a 16-year-old in Wayne Wangs critically acclaimed film "Smoke," a comedy that weaves together stories centering around a smoke shop. Despite being closer to 30 than 16, Perrineau pulled off the role brilliantly, earning himself an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male. An accomplished Shakespearean actor, he naturally fit into the role of Mercutio opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, and John Leguizamo in Baz Luhrmann's contemporary rendition of "William Shakespeares Romeo + Juliet" (1996).
The following year, Perrineau was cast in the critically acclaimed series "OZ, created by Tom Fontana. Perrineau portrayed Augustus Hill, the wheel chair bound narrator imprisoned for 20 years-to-life for drug dealing and murder whose neutrality in gang matters allowed him to be one of the more decent characters, making him the moral center of the series. Continuing to widen his acting palette, Perrineau was cast in the romantic comedy "The Best Man" (1999), then played a drag queen in Fina Torres' "Woman on Top" (2000), co-starring Penelope Cruz. In 2003, Perrineau gained wide exposure as Link, the pilot and crew operator aboard the Zion hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar, in the blockbuster sequels "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions."
Returning to series television, Perrineau joined the ensemble cast of Lost, playing a down-and-out artist who journeyed to Australia to reclaim custody of his son (Malcolm David Kelley) only to crash land on a mysterious island with forty-six other survivors, including a surgeon and de factor leader (Matthew Fox), an alluring escaped convict (Evangeline Lilly), an unscrupulous con artist (Josh Holloway) and a former Iraqi Republican Guard soldier (Naveen Andrews). As Michael Dawson, Perrineau straddled the line between right and wrong in trying to protect his son, Walt, especially when he was taken by the islands ruthless inhabitants, The Others. Michael made his series exeunt at the end of the second season after making a deal with Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), the controlling leader of the Others, who gave him and Walt a boat and directions to get off the island. With speculation circling whether or not he would return to Lost, Perrineau moved on to other projects, appearing in a small, but pivotal role in 28 Weeks Later (2007), a surprisingly good sequel to Danny Boyles excellent sci-fi horror film 28 Days Later (2002) that saw the British Isles devastated by the so-called rage virus, which turns humans into unstoppable, blood-thirsty zombies.
Copyright © Baseline 2007.