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In Detroit, Michigan, Vondie Curtis-Hall was born on September 30, 1956, to Angeline, a nurse, and Curtis, who owned a construction company. Curtis-Hall, who became a heroin addict while in high school but eventually kicked the addiction before graduation, trained music at Juilliard School, New York, New York. He also studied theater at Richmond College, London, England, where he studied theater.After honing on his craft at the Juilliard School and London's Richmond College, Vondie Curtis-Hall, who was a member of the original Broadway cast of the 1981 musical "Dreamgirls," portraying Marty, made his Broadway debut at age 25 in "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music" (1981). Five years later, in 1986, he made his first starring role on stage, as George Walker, in the off-Broadway play "Williams and Walker" at the American Place Theatre, New York, New York, for which he won the 1987 Audelco Award for Best Actor. The talented actor then served as assistant editor, photography assistant, assistant editor and narrator on documentary "Fall From Grace" (1987). In the following year, he landed his film debut, playing tiny parts as a speaker voice in writer/director James Glickenhaus' crime drama/action movie starring Peter Weller and Sam Elliott, "Shakedown," and as a basketball game vendor in John Landis' comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, "Coming to America" (both in 1988). He also made his early TV credit in the ABC prime time television series "A Man Called Hawk" in 1989. Entering he new decade, Curtis-Hall co-starred with Cicely Tyson, Blair Underwood, and James Earl Jones in the TNT Primetime Emmy-winning movie "Heat Wave" and landed his first TV series regular role, as Det. Warren Osborne, in a short-lived Steven Bochco television series on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), "Cop Rock," which was an attempt to combine musical theater with the police drama. Curtis-Hall subsequently played a recurring role as Joe Clay (1992-1993) on the NBC critically acclaimed television series set during the late 1950s and early 1960s, "I'll Fly Away." Afterwards, in 1994, he played a suicidal transsexual on the hit NBC medical drama series "ER," which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. The mid 1990s saw Curtis-Hall joining the cast of the CBS medical drama "Chicago Hope," playing Dr. Dennis Hancock from 1995 to 1999. For his work in the show, Curtis-Hall received Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series twice, in 1997 and 1998. Meanwhile, Curtis-Hall supported Lynn Whitfield and Samuel L. Jackson in his wife's (Kasi Lemmons) drama film set in 1962 Louisiana, "Eve's Bayou" (1997), and was nominated an Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. He also portrayed New Orleans-style rock and roll musician Lloyd Price in the biographical TV movie about the famous fight promoter and boxing manager, "Don King: Only in America" (with Ving Rhames in the title role), which won Curtis-Hall a Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. In that same year, Curtis-Hall also made his feature film debut as director and screenwriter with the dark comedy "Gridlock'd" (1997), which was based on his actual life experience as a junkie during the 1970s. Curtis-Hall also played featured role alongside stars Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, and Thandie Newton. Despite critical acclaim for its powerful and gritty substance, the film's opening was relatively low. The film also paid tribute to Tupac Shakur who had been murdered several months before the films release. After leaving "Chicago Hope," Curtis-Hall played a recurring role as Roger McGrath (2001), the new husband of Lisa Nicole Carson's character Carla, on the hit NBC series "ER." That same year, he also directed "Glitter," a feature that marked singer Mariah Carey's first leading role in films. Unfortunately, the film was largely panned by critics and audiences alike, as well as performed poorly in theatres. It earned Curtis-Hall a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Director. Curtis-Hall subsequently helmed the short-lived ABC medical drama series "Mds" (2002), starring William Fichtner, and directed Jamie Foxx and Lynn Whitfield in the critically-acclaimed HBO TV movie "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story" (2004), which tells the story of the convicted murderer and early leader of the notorious American street gang "Crips" who was nominated for a Nobel prize while in prison for authoring books that were intended to help disenfranchised youth. Curtis-Hall's directing work later won him a Black Reel Award for Best Director, Network/Cable Television. Meanwhile, Curtis-Hall had a recurring role as Charles Miller in the final season of the popular Showtime drama series "Soul Food," which based upon George Tillman, Jr.'s successful 1997 film of the same name. In the next year, he directed and wrote the screenplay of the action feature "Waist Deep" (2006; starring Tyrese Gibson and Meagan Good), which earned him a Black Movie Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Directing. 2007 saw Curtis-Hall co-starred with Danny Glover in writer/director John Sayles' musical drama film "Honeydripper," and was cast with Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the fact-based movie "Talk To Me," about Washington D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s. The film that was directed by Curtis-Hall's wife Kasi Lemmons received favorable reviews from critics and won Curtis-Hall a Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast. Most recently, in 2008, he starred as an ex-con in Peter D. Gelles' 30-minute short crime film "Crenshaw Nights," and directed a episode "Glow in the Dark" of the ABC legal-dramedy series "Boston Legal." Next, he will be seen alongside Kerry Washington, Shannyn Sossamon, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Brandon Routh in writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo's upcoming drama film based on Giovinazzo's novel, "Life is Hot in Cracktown." Curtis-Hall, who formed Motor City Film Corporation, is board president of Film Independent, which is the organization that encompasses the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Awards.Vondie is married to Actress/Director Kasi Lemmons.