Kelvin Harrison Jr.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. (born July 23, 1994)[1] is an American actor. He began his career with small roles in the 2013 films Ender's Game and 12 Years a Slave. His breakthrough performance came as Travis in the 2017 horror film It Comes at Night, and in 2019 he gained wider recognition for his work in Luce and Waves. Harrison Jr. received nominations for the Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards for the former and the Rising Star Award at the British Academy Film Awards for the latter.

Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Harrison Jr. at the 34th Independent Spirit Awards in 2018
Born	July 23, 1994 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2013–present

Early life and education

Harrison was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to musicians Shirlita and Kelvin Harrison.[1] He grew up in the Garden District and later moved to The Westbank.[2] He studied studio engineering and marketing, before moving to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting, where he began taking acting classes.[2] Harrison Jr. is also a skilled musician, mainly playing jazz and gospel on the piano, trumpet, as well as singing. He honed his harmonious skills while studying and recording with the famed Marsalis family.[3]

Harrison attended a private high school, where he was one of the few black kids in his class where he struggled to fit in.[4] He originally went to Loyola University New Orleans to major in studio engineering as his father felt he would excel in music. Harrison ultimately transferred to the University of New Orleans for film, with the goal of writing and directing his own films.[5]

Career

In 2012, Harrison was initially cast as an Ender's Game, based on the 1985 novel. He was upgraded to day-player and got to interact with big names such as Viola Davis, Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. Harrison credits Davis with making him take acting more seriously. Harrison then had a small role in 12 Years a Slave.[5] Harrison would later appear in an episode of WGN America's Underground and the 2016 remake of Roots, both of which were produced in his home state of Louisiana. That same year, the actor had a small role in Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation. Harrison was initially hesitant to participate in Roots in part because it would be his fourth portrayal of a slave and because he did not have fond memories of watching the original as a child. In retrospect, Harrison realized just how different the projects were.[1]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	12 Years a Slave	Victim 2
	Ender's Game	Salamandar	Uncredited
2014	Deluge	Kareem	Short film
	The Flight of the Bumblebee	James
2015	A Sort of Homecoming	Eliot
	Dancer and the Dame	Kenny Basset
2016	The Birth of a Nation	Simon
2017	Mudbound	Weeks
	It Comes at Night	Travis
2018	Monsters and Men	Zyrick ("Zee")
	Assassination Nation	Mason
	Monster	Steve Harmon
	Jinn[6]	Tahir
	JT LeRoy	Sean
2019	Luce	Luce Edgar
	The Wolf Hour[7]	Freddie
	Gully	Jesse
	Bolden	Frankie Duson
	Waves	Tyler Williams
2020	The Photograph	Andy Morrison
The High Note	David Cliff
The Trial of the Chicago 7	Fred Hampton
2021	Elvis	B.B. King	Filming
TBA	Cyrano	Christian	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Into the Badlands	Jolyon	Episode: "Chapter V: Snake Creeps Down"
2016	Underground	Teenage Runaway	Episode: "The White Whale"
2016	Chicago P.D.	Michael Ellis	Episode: "Justice"
2016	Roots	Winslow	Episode: "Part 4"
2016	Shots Fired	Joey Campbell	3 episodes
2016–2017	StartUp	Touie Dacey	12 episodes
2017	NCIS: New Orleans	Cadet Lieutenant Commander Max Cabral	Episode: "The Last Stand"
2019	Godfather of Harlem	Teddy Greene

Music video

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	"One Bad Night"	Main character	by Hayley Kiyoko

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2019	British Academy Film Awards	Rising Star Award	Waves	Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Male Lead	Luce	Nominated

References

1. Bergeron, Judy (May 29, 2016). "New Orleans actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. reclaims familiar role in remake of 'Roots' miniseries". The Advocate. Georges Media. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
2. "COOLfeed Interviews with Actor: Kelvin Harrison Jr". Retrieved April 30, 2017 – via YouTube.
3. "Rising Actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. Shines Bright in Upcoming Reboot of Famed Historical Drama 'Roots'". Pitchengine.com. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
4. Thompson, Martine (August 12, 2020). "Kelvin Harrison Jr. Is Ready to Go Inward". Bon Appétit. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
5. Change, Kee (June 9, 2017). "SCREEN TEST: KELVIN HARRISON JR". Anthem. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
6. N'Duka, Amanda (March 14, 2018). "'Jinn' Director Gets Personal With Teenage Identity Defining Film – SXSW". Deadline. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
7. Hipes, Patrick (October 20, 2017). "Naomi Watts To Star In Psychological Thriller 'The Wolf Hour'". Deadline. Retrieved August 12, 2018.

External links

• Kelvin Harrison Jr. at IMDb