Gary Dourdan

Gary Dourdan
Gary Dourdan
	Dourdan in August 2023
Born	Gary Robert Durdin; December 11, 1966 (age 57); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1991–present
Known for	Warrick Brown on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Spouse	Roshumba Williams (m. 1992; div. 1994)
Partner(s)	Cynthia Hadden ; Jennifer Sutton (1995–2000)
Children	2

Gary Dourdan (born Gary Robert Durdin: December 11, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Warrick Brown on the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Shazza Zulu on the television series A Different World and Mickey Monroe in crime thriller Righteous Villains.^[1]

Early life

Dourdan was born Gary Robert Durdin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Sandy, a teacher and fashion designer, and Robert Durdin, an entrepreneur and agent for jazz musicians.^[2] Dourdan is the fourth of five children. When he was six, his 21-year-old brother Darryl died after falling from a balcony in Haiti while "doing research on the family lineage." The case remains unsolved.^[2]^[3] In his youth he moved with his family to Willingboro Township, New Jersey. During that time, his interests included acting, music, and martial arts. Later, Dourdan moved to New York City, and he worked as a doorman at a rehearsal studio.

Career

Dourdan played in several bands in New York City in the early 1990s and acted in regional theatre in the New York metropolitan area. He acted in music videos, including playing Janet Jackson's love interest in the video for her 1993 hit "Again," and had a cameo in the music video "Move the Crowd" by Eric B. & Rakim. Debbie Allen cast him as Shazza Zulu on A Different World, based on a tape of him in an avant-garde play. In 1996, Dourdan appeared in the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode "Never on Sunday" playing Ziggy, an assistant to Baron Sunday. In 1997, he played Christie, the first mate and second in command of the spaceship Betty in the film Alien Resurrection. He also appeared in the films Playing God and Thursday, and on television, he starred in the Dick Wolf production Swift Justice and played a recurring role on the series Soul Food. Dourdan joined hip-hop artist DMC (of Run–D.M.C.) onstage at the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario, and sang alongside Macy Gray at the 2005 Emmy Awards. He is an alternative musician and a record producer.^[4]

In 2007, he played the character Cameron, the boyfriend of Rowena Price (Halle Berry), in the film Perfect Stranger.

Dourdan's most popular role was as a cast member of the series CSI, which debuted on October 6, 2000. He played analyst Warrick Brown, who has a checkered past fraught with gambling problems. By working in Las Vegas, the character uses his personal experiences to help his career.

In 2008, there was media speculation surrounding Dourdan's CSI contract negotiations with CBS. The parties could not reach a resolution, and as a result, his contract was not renewed. It was reported on April 14, 2008 that Dourdan was leaving the show.^[5] In the Season 8 finale, Dourdan's character was shot and left for dead at the episode's end. The Season 9 premiere revealed Dourdan's character dying in the arms of his colleague and friend Gil Grissom.^[6]

After leaving CSI, he took recurring roles as Stephan in the series Christine and Sheldon DeWitt in the series Being Mary Jane.^[7]

Personal life

Dourdan has African-American, Native American, Franco-Haitian (Haiti), Jewish, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.^[2] He married model Roshumba Williams in 1992; they divorced two years later.^[8] He has two children: a son, Lyric, with Cynthia Hadden, and a daughter, Nyla, with Jennifer Sutton, whom Dourdan dated from 1995 to 2000.^[9]

Dourdan collects classic cars and was featured on Season 1, Episode 3, of Street Customs.

Legal issues

In 2008, Dourdan was arrested for possession of cocaine and ecstasy. A third charge, possession of heroin, was dropped.^[10] Despite rumors, the drug charges had nothing to do with his departure from CSI, as the contract negotiations had already concluded and he had finished filming the last of his scenes before the incident. In July 2011, after crashing his car, Dourdan was arrested but charges were dropped for drug possession (oxycontin). He was, however, charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.^[11] In November 2011, he was arrested for felony battery after breaking his girlfriend's nose and placed on five years' probation. He was also ordered to attend weeks of domestic violence counseling and to stay away from the victim for five years.^[12] Dourdan filed for bankruptcy in August 2012, owing roughly $1.7 million to creditors.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	The Good Fight	Elijah	Television film
1993	Weekend at Bernie's II	Cartel Man #2
1994	The Paper	Copy Guy
1994	Keys	Loot	Television film
1996	Sunset Park	Dreadlock Guy
1997	Playing God	Yates
	Alien Resurrection	Christie
	Fool's Paradise	Derek
	Get That Number	James	Short
1998	Scar City	Sergeant Dan Creedy
1998	Thursday	Ballpean
1999	The Weekend	Theirry
	New Jersey Turnpikes	-
	Rendezvous	Jeff Nelson	Television film
2000	King of the World	Malcolm X	Television film
	Trois	Jermaine Davis
	Dancing in September	-
2001	Impostor	Captain Burke
2006	60 Seconds of Distance	Dylan	Short
2007	Perfect Stranger	Cameron
2007	Black August	George L. Jackson
2008	Batman: Gotham Knight	Crispus Allen	Voice, direct-to-video
2009	Fire!	Phil May
2009	The Magnificent Cooly-T	Dominick
2011	Jumping the Broom	Chef
2012	The Woods	Dylan Banks
2013	Five Thirteen	Clyde
2013	The Last Letter	George
2014	Cobayas: Human Test	Eric	Short
2014	With You	Ruben Haze	Short
2015	Mysterious Ways	Mozart
	For the Love of Ruth	Braxton
	Reversion	Ayden
2016	Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story	Augie
2017	Media	Jabbar Randolph	Television film
2017	Guns Guitars and a Badge..	Romeo
2018	All She Wrote	Aaron
2018	Kinky	Greenland
2020	Influence	Perk
2020	Righteous Villains	Mickey Monroe
2021	Redemption Day	Brad Paxton
2022	The Moderator	Agent Richard Bourdeau
2022	Rolling Into Christmas	Joe Franks	Television film
2023	Heaven Sent	Jeff
2024	Albany Road	Phil

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991–1992	A Different World	Shazza Zulu	Guest: season 4, recurring cast: seasons 5-6
1993	Laurel Avenue	Anthony	Episode: "Part I & II"
1994	New York Undercover	Trey King	Episode: "To Protect and Serve"
1995	The Office	Bobby Harold	Main cast
1996	Lois & Clark: New Adventures of Superman	Ziggy	Episode: "Never on Sunday"
1996	Swift Justice	Randall Patterson	Main cast
1998	Sins of the City	-	Episode: "Sins of the City"
1999	Seven Days	Sergeant Mohmand	Episode: "Daddy's Girl"
1999–2000	Beggars and Choosers	Julius Henry	2 episodes
2000–2001	Soul Food	Jack Van Adams	Recurring cast: season 1, guest: season 2
2000–2008	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Warrick Brown	Main cast: seasons 1-8, guest: Season 9
2002	Fillmore!	Ken Fillmore	Voice, episode: "Cry, the Beloved Mascot"
2002	Lyric Cafe	Himself	Host
2005	Kim Possible	Dash DaMont	Voice, episode: "Team Impossible"
2012	Christine	Stephan	Recurring cast
2013	Belle's	-	Episode: "Runaway Bride"
2013	Mistresses	Anthony Newsome	Recurring cast: Season 1
2014	Glee	D'Shawn	Episode: "The Back-Up Plan"
2015	Being Mary Jane	Sheldon	Recurring cast: Season 2
2018	Power	Charles Hamilton	Episode: "When This Is Over"
2019	The Family Business	Trent	2 episodes
2021	First Wives Club	Dr. Malcolm Reynard	Recurring cast: Season 2
2021	The Last O.G.	Bricks	Episode: "The First Hump is the Hardest"
2023	And Just Like That...	Toussaint	2 episodes

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
1987	"Move the Crowd"	Eric B. & Rakim
1993	"Judgment Night"	Biohazard & Onyx
1993	"Again"	Janet Jackson
2002	"Soulful Energy Xchange"	Wanted
2004	"What's Your Number?"	Cypress Hill featuring Tim Armstrong

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2000	Alien: Resurrection	Christie
2003	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Warrick Brown
2004	CSI: Dark Motives	Warrick Brown
2006	CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder	Warrick Brown
2007	CSI: Hard Evidence	Warrick Brown

Awards and nominations

Association	Year	Category	Title	Result
NAACP Image Awards	2003	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Won
	2004	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Nominated
	2005	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Nominated
	2006	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Won
	2007	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards	2002	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Nominated
	2003	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Nominated
	2004	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Nominated
	2005	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Won
Seattle International Film Festival	2000	Citation of Excellence for Ensemble Cast Performance	The Weekend	Won
South East European Film Festival	2018	Best Actor	All She Wrote	Won