Trai Byers

Trai Byers is an American actor born on July 19, 1983, in Kansas City, Kansas. After completing one year of high school in Kansas City, he finished his secondary education in Georgia. Byers went on to earn an Associate of Arts in theatre from Andrew College and a Bachelor of Arts in communications from the University of Kansas. He furthered his training at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles before obtaining a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama.

Byers made his screen debut in the 2009 comedy-horror film Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre. He followed that with a recurring role on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children in 2011 and a role on the CW series 90210 in 2012. He appeared in two films directed by Kevin Willmott, Destination Planet Negro in 2013 and Jayhawkers in 2014. That same year, he portrayed civil rights activist James Forman in Ava DuVernay's historical film Selma.

From 2015 to 2020, Byers starred as Andre Lyon in the Fox primetime series Empire, a role that earned him two NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2020, he co-wrote the screenplay for and starred in the historical drama film The 24th. He guest-starred in the second season of the comedy series Harlem in 2023.

In 2022, Byers made his Broadway debut in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. Byers married actress Grace Gealey on April 14, 2016, on Grand Cayman Island. On their wedding anniversary in 2023, Gealey gave birth to their son.