Michael Boatman

Michael Patrick Boatman is an American actor and writer born on October 25, 1964, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the son of Gwendolyn Boatman Pugh, a job supervisor for the disabled, and Daniel Boatman, an army officer. He was raised in Chicago and later attended Western Illinois University, where he studied acting and performed in productions including A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he played Oberon, and Purlie Victorious, in which he played Purlie. During his time there he was also a member of a student sketch comedy troupe called Shock Treatment, which performed at local bars and nightclubs. In his senior year, Boatman won the Irene Ryan theater award for best supporting actor at the finals competition held at the Kennedy Center. Western Illinois University later honored him with its Alumni Achievement Award in 1997.

Following his graduation, Boatman relocated to Chicago in 1986, where he studied with acting teacher and casting director Jane Brody. That same year he auditioned for and was cast as Motown in the Vietnam War film Hamburger Hill. Also in 1986, he appeared in Running on Empty alongside River Phoenix and in The Trial of Bernard Goetz for the PBS American Playhouse series. In 1988, he joined the cast of the ABC drama China Beach, playing U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Beckett, a mortician, for three seasons. He subsequently appeared in roles on The Jackie Thomas Show with Tom Arnold and the short-lived WB series Muscle, as well as in the Charles Burnett drama The Glass Shield.

In 1996, Boatman joined the ABC sitcom Spin City, portraying Carter Heywood, an openly gay minority affairs liaison to the New York City mayor's office. The role earned him five NAACP Image Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy and a GLAAD award for Best Actor. Simultaneously, he played Stanley Babson, the chief financial officer, on the HBO series Arli$$, appearing on both series concurrently until each was canceled in 2002. His work on Arli$$ brought four additional NAACP Image Award nominations, also for Best Supporting Actor. In 2003, Boatman narrated the WPA slave narratives for the HBO film Unchained Memories.

In 2003, Boatman made his Broadway appearance in "MASTER HAROLD"…and the boys. He has also appeared in feature films including The Peacemaker, with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, and Woman Thou Art Loosed, as well as several made-for-television movies. In 2007, he co-starred in the films The Killing of Wendy, American Summer, and My Father's Will. His television guest appearances include multiple episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as appearances on Scrubs, CSI: Miami, Grey's Anatomy, Hannah Montana, and Warehouse 13. In 2009, he joined the Lifetime comedy series Sherri, playing Dr. Randy Gregg opposite Sherri Shepherd.

Boatman later took on the recurring role of attorney Julius Cain in the CBS drama The Good Wife, and reprised that character in the Paramount+ spin-off The Good Fight, where he was elevated to series regular in the second season. In 2011, he guest starred on Gossip Girl as Russell Thorpe, and in 2012 he joined the FX series Anger Management as a neighbor to Charlie Sheen's character, reuniting with his former Spin City co-star. Beginning in late 2013, he co-starred in the Nick at Nite series Instant Mom alongside Tia Mowry-Hardrict.

In addition to his acting career, Boatman works as a screenwriter and novelist, with a particular focus on the horror genre. His short fiction has appeared in publications including Weird Tales, Horror Garage, and Red Scream, and in anthologies such as Sick Things: An Anthology of Extreme Creature Horror, Badass Horror, Christmas in Hell, and Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora. His story Born Again, from Eulogies II: Tales From the Cellar, received an Honorable Mention from Ellen Datlow in The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six. His debut short story collection, God Laughs When You Die, was published by Dybbuk Press on October 23, 2007, and his horror novel The Revenant Road was published by Drollerie Press in 2009.