Harry Lennix

Harry Lennix, born Harold Joseph Lennix III on November 16, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American actor whose work spans film, television, and Broadway. The youngest of four siblings, he was raised by his mother, Lillian C. (née Vines), a laundry worker, and his father, Harry Lennix Jr., a machinist. His mother was African-American and his father was Creole from Louisiana. Lennix attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary South before enrolling at Northwestern University, where he majored in Acting and Direction. During his senior year at Northwestern, he served as coordinator of the African-American student organization For Members Only.

Lennix built a substantial film career beginning in the early 1990s. He appeared as Terrence "Dresser" Williams in Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats in 1991, and went on to take supporting roles in films including Comfortably Numb (1995), Get on the Bus (1996), The Matrix series (1999–2004), Love & Basketball (2000), Ray (2004), Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004), Stomp the Yard (2007), and State of Play (2009). In 1999, he played Aaron the Moor in the film Titus, based on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. He starred in the Showtime television film Keep the Faith, Baby (2002) as Reverend and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Beginning in 2013, Lennix co-starred as Harold Cooper, assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division, on the NBC drama The Blacklist, a role he held for ten seasons through 2023. He also played Boyd Langton in Joss Whedon's Fox science-fiction series Dollhouse and had a recurring role as Walid Al-Rezani in the sixth season of 24. Additional television appearances include roles on Diagnosis: Murder, House M.D., ER, Ally McBeal, Commander in Chief, and a voice role in the animated series Legion of Super Heroes.

Within the DC Extended Universe, Lennix portrayed J'onn J'onzz, also known as Calvin Swanwick and later identified as the Martian Manhunter, across three films directed by Zack Snyder: Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). In 2015, he appeared in Spike Lee's Chi-Raq. In July 2014, Lennix co-founded the production company Exponent Media Group with business partner Steve Harris, which secured a distribution deal with NEHST Studios for three titles, including H4, a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV in which Lennix also starred.

On Broadway, Lennix has been active from 2007 to 2025, appearing in Radio Golf and starring in Purpose. His performance in Purpose earned him a 2025 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. During the Chicago Goodman Theatre's 2024–2025 season, he also played Henry Drummond in Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind.

In 2007, Lennix served as an official festival judge at the inaugural Noor Iranian Film Festival. He married business executive Djena Graves in 2009. In November 2012, he was initiated into the Omega Psi Phi fraternity through the Theta Kappa Kappa graduate chapter in Evanston, Illinois. Lennix is Catholic.