Blair
Underwood was born on August 25, 1964 in Tacoma, Washington. the son of Marilyn
Ann Scales, an interior decorator, and Frank Eugene Underwood, Sr., a United
States Army colonel. Because of his father's military career, Underwood lived
on bases and Army Posts in the United States and Stuttgart, Germany, during his
childhood. Blair attended Petersburg High School in Petersburg, Virginia. He
went on to attend the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
Trained
in musical theater at Carnegie-Mellon, he moved to New York and got his first
break on his second day there, by winning a part on the ‘The Cosby Show’
(1984). He made his film debut at age 21 in “Krush Groove” (1985) and appeared
in a regular daytime role that same year on ‘One Life to Live’ (1968), before
scoring two years later in the charismatic role of attorney Jonathan Rollins in
the hit dramatic series, ‘L.A. Law’ (1986). He copped a Golden Globe nomination
during its lengthy seven-year run. A TV commodity, he appeared ready to fill
the bill as a rising small-screen Sidney Poitier. Blair went on to appear in a
number of prestigious TV dramas, such as ‘Murder in Mississippi’ (1990), ‘Heat
Wave’ (1990) and ‘Mama Flora's Family’ (1998), which was based on Alex Haley's
final book. He received NAACP Image Awards for both performances. He also
top-lined as baseball legend Jackie Robinson in HBO's ‘Soul of the Game (1996)’.
Blair
has appeared in only one Euro-western, 1992’s “Posse” in the role of Carver.
Today
we celebrate Blair Underwood’s 50th birthday.
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