Edi Gathegi

Edi Mūe Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan-born American actor. He appeared as recurring character, Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka "Big Love") in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone, Laurent in the films Twilight and its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as Darwin in X-Men: First Class. Edi also featured in the AMC series, Into the Badlands, as Baron Jacobee. He has also been a recurring character in NBC's television series, The Blacklist as Matias Solomon, an operative for a covert organization. Gathegi reprised the role in the 2016–2017 season crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption.[2]

Edi Gathegi
Gathegi in 2009
Born
Edi Mūe Gathegi[1]

(1979-03-10) March 10, 1979
Nairobi, Kenya
Education
OccupationActor
Years active2006–present

Early life

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Gathegi grew up in Albany, California, U.S.[3] Gathegi attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he played basketball until a knee injury ended his career. Gathegi then began taking acting classes.[3] He then studied at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2005.[4] Gathegi's career began in theatre,[5] and his stage credits include Two Trains Running at the Old Globe Theatre, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Cyrano de Bergerac, among others.[1]

Career

Gathegi's first professional role was the Haitian Cabbie in the 2006 film Crank. Though he had originally auditioned for the role of Kaylo, the producers gave the role to Efren Ramirez and instead offered Gathegi an appearance as the Haitian Cabbie.[5] He was skeptical at first about performing a Haitian accent, but was coached by a Haitian friend.[5] In 2007, after guest-starring on Lincoln Heights and Veronica Mars, Gathegi went on to star as Bodie in Death Sentence, Darudi in The Fifth Patient and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone. He later had a recurring role as Mormon intern Dr. Jeffrey Cole on the television medical drama House, his character was often mocked for his religious beliefs by Dr. House, who himself is an atheist. He also guest-starred on CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Life on Mars in 2008 before being cast as Laurent in Twilight. When Gathegi first auditioned for the 2008 film, adapted from the same-titled first book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, he had not heard of the series and was not aware that his character was a vampire.[6] He now has read the whole series and calls himself a hardcore fan.[6][7] He portrays Eddie Willers in Atlas Shrugged (2011), based on Ayn Rand's novel of the same name. He later portrayed another Haitian character, Jean Baptiste, in the fifth season of Justified, but was unhappy with the role and asked to be written off the show.[8][9] He also portrays the character Ronald Dacey on StartUp.

Personal life

Gathegi married Romanian Adriana Marinescu in 2018.[10]

Filmography
Film roles
Year Title Role Notes
2006CrankHaitian Cabbie
2007Gone Baby GoneCheese
2007The Fifth PatientDarudi
2007Death SentenceBodie
2008TwilightLaurent
2009My Bloody Valentine 3DDeputy Martin
2009The Twilight Saga: New MoonLaurent
2010This Is Not a MovieGhost of Jimmy
2011X-Men: First ClassArmando Muñoz / Darwin
2011Atlas ShruggedEddie Willers
2011The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part ILaurentFlashback only
2014Bleeding HeartDex
2015This Isn't FunnyRyan
2015AlohaLt. Col. Curtis
2015Criminal ActivitiesMarques
2016The WatcherNoah
2018PimpKenny Wayne
2019Princess of the RowBeaumont "Bo" Willis
2020The Last Thing He WantedJones
2021CagedHarlow Reid
TBAThe Harder They FallFilming
Television roles
Year Title Role Notes
2007HouseDr. Jeffrey ColeRecurring role, 7 episodes
2007Lincoln HeightsBoa3 episodes
2007Veronica MarsZeke MolindaEpisode: "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer"
2008CSI: MiamiFreddie MaysEpisode: "Tunnel Vision"
2008Life on MarsFletcher BellowEpisode: "Things to Do in New York When You Think You're Dead"
2008CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationSkinny DudeEpisode: "Leave Out All the Rest"
2011NikitaKalume UngaraEpisode: "Girl's Best Friend"
2012Phineas and FerbIggy/Various characters2 episodes
2013The Family ToolsDarren PoyntonMain role, 10 episodes
2013Beauty & the BeastKyle3 episodes
2013Red WidowLeon3 episodes
2014JustifiedJean Baptiste4 episodes
2014Wild CardTresUnsold television pilot[11]
2015ProofZedMain role, 10 episodes
2015–presentThe BlacklistMatias SolomonRecurring role, 13 episodes
2015Into the BadlandsJacobee2 episodes
2016–2018StartUpRonald DaceyMain role, 30 episodes
2017The Blacklist: RedemptionMatias SolomonMain role, 8 episodes[2]
2020BriarpatchA.D. SingeMain role

Awards and nominations

Drama Desk Awards

  • 2018: Won along with Sean Carvajal for last-minute entrances into the Signature production of this powerful play ensured it had a happy real-life ending" after replacing Reg E. Cathey in late September for a October 5 first preview[12][13]

Obie Awards

  • 2018: Won OBIE Award for his performance as Lucius Jenkins in Signature Theater Company revival of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train [14]

Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards

  • 2011: Won LADCC Award for best Lead Actor in a Play for the role of Franco Wicks in the Geffen Playhouse production of "Superior Donuts"[15]

Method Fest Independent Film Festival

  • 2019: Won Breakout Acting Award for his method performance as Beau Willis in "Princess of the Row"[16]

Ovation Awards

  • 2011: Nominated for Featured Actor in a Play for the role of Franco Wicks in the Geffen Playhouse production of "Superior Donuts"[17]

Lucille Lortel Awards

References
  1. Shirlene Alusa-Brown (April 7, 2008). "Edi Mue Gathegi – Slated to Shine in 'Twilight'". Jamati Online. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  2. Andreeva, Nellie (March 29, 2016). "The Blacklist Spinoff Starring Famke Janssen In the Works At NBC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  3. Cassandra Handley (November 4, 2008). "Q&A: Twilights Edi Gathegi". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 2008-11-09. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  4. "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  5. "Twilight Lexicon Q&A with Edi Gathegi" (PDF). TwilightLexicon.com. March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  6. Denise Martin (October 28, 2008). "'Twilight' Countdown: Edi Gathegi's vampire love". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  7. Sara Castillo (August 4, 2008). "We Speak with 'Twilight's' Jacob and Laurent!". FearNet.com. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  8. Bierly, Mandi (February 5, 2014). "'Justified' postmortem: EP Graham Yost dissects 'Shot All to Hell'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  9. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/04/justified-backlash-graham-yost
  10. "Actorul din Twilight s-a însurat, în secret, cu o vedetă din România" (in Romanian). diva.ro. 6 June 2019.
  11. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jennifer-finnigan-star-usa-pilot-206912
  12. Andrew Gans, "Signature’s Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train Delayed Two Days Following Departure of Reg E. Cathey", Playbill, September 28th, 2017.
  13. "2018 Nominees". dramadeskawards.com.
  14. https://www.obieawards.com/2018/05/2018-obies-winners-performances/
  15. https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Full-LA-Drama-Critics-Circle-Award-Winners-A-RAISIN-IN-THE-SUN-Wins-4-20120320
  16. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/princess-row-wins-audience-award-at-method-fest-1198694
  17. "Kiss Me Kate Tops 2011 Ovation Award Nominations". 19 September 2011.
  18. "2018 Nominations". www.lortelaward.com.
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