Gaius Charles

Gaius Charles
Charles at the 2023 WonderCon
Born	(1983-05-02) May 2, 1983 (age 42) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Education	Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) Drew University (MA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2006–present

Gaius Charles (born May 2, 1983 ^[1] ) is an American actor known for his portrayal of Brian "Smash" Williams in the television drama, Friday Night Lights. He also played Dr. Shane Ross on the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy and a recurring role on the NBC historical-drama series Aquarius , as Black Panther leader Bunchy Carter. He also played a role on NCIS 's ninth season as Jason King, an arson investigator for the Baltimore Police Department. ^[2]

Early life

Charles was born on May 2, 1983, in Manhattan, New York. He was raised in New York City and Teaneck, New Jersey.

Charles graduated from Teaneck High School in 2001. ^[3] He attended Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama. He also studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, Australia. ^[4] He earned a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Drew University.

Career

Jeffrey Reiner, Jason Katims, Adrianne Palicki and Gaius Charles accept the Peabody Award for Friday Night Lights , June 2007

In 2017, Charles starred in the first season of NBC's television drama series Taken , based on the Taken film franchise. He has appeared in multiple television series, including his most notable role in Friday Night Lights, Grey's Anatomy, and Aquarius , in which he portrayed Civil Rights Activist and Black Panther Bunchy Carter, and Necessary Roughness.

Charles made guest appearances on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Blindspot , Comedy Central's Drunk History , in which he portrayed Muhammad Ali, NCIS, Pan Am, and Law & Order: SVU. His film credits include the independent features The Stanford Prison Experiment,Toe To Toe, and The Messenger. He's also worked on studio films like Salt and Takers. In addition to film and television, Charles starred in the Labyrinth Theater Company's production of Othello alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz. He received positive reviews for originating the roles of “EZ” in Beau Willimon's play Lower Ninth and “Malcolm” in director Thomas Kail's Broke-ology.

Filmography

Charles at the premiere of Redbelt at Tribeca Film Festival in 2008

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Toe to Toe	Kevin
	The Messenger	Recruiter Brown
2010	Salt	CIA Officer
	Takers	Max
2015	The Stanford Prison Experiment	Paul Vogel
2016	Batman: Bad Blood	Luke Fox/Batwing (voice)	Video
2021	Land of Dreams	David
2022	Alice	Joseph

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	The Book of Daniel	Carver	Episode: "Betrayal"
2006–08	Friday Night Lights	Brian "Smash" Williams	Main cast: Season 1–2, recurring cast: Season 3
2007	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jadon Odami	Episode: "Fight"
2011	Pan Am	Joe	Episode: "Truth or Dare"
2012	NCIS	Baltimore Detective Jason King	Episode: "Rekindled"
	Necessary Roughness	Damon Razor	Recurring cast: season 2
2012–14	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Shane Ross	Recurring cast: Season 9, main cast: Season 10 [5]
2015	Six Guys One Car	Larry	Recurring cast: season 2
	Drunk History	Muhammad Ali	Episode: "Cleveland"
2016	Blindspot	Sgt. Charlie Napier	Episode: "Scientists Hollow Fortune"
	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Ruben Mackenzie	Episode: "Watchdogs"
2015–16	Aquarius	Bunchy Carter	Recurring cast
2017	Taken	John	Main cast: season 1
2019	Drunk History	Moses Fleetwood Walker	Episode: "Baseball"
2019–20	God Friended Me	Rev. Andrew Carver	Main cast: season 1, recurring cast: season 2
2020–22	Roswell, New Mexico	Roy Bronson	Recurring cast: season 2, guest: season 3–4
2022	Queens	Tomas	Recurring cast
	The Wonder Years	Mr. Brady	Episode: "Black Teacher"
2023–present	The Walking Dead: Dead City	Perlie Armstrong	Main cast

References

1. Mike Rose, cleveland com (2024-05-02). "Famous birthdays list for today, May 2, 2024 includes celebrities David Beckham, Ellie Kemper". cleveland. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
2. Ausiello, Michael (14 July 2014). "Grey's Anatomy's Gaius Charles Joins NBC's Charles Manson Drama Aquarius". TVLine.
3. Rohan, Virginia (November 26, 2007). "Teaneck actor got in the zone to land Friday Night Lights role". The Record .
4. "GAIUS CHARLES as Smash Williams". NBC . Retrieved 2008-10-24.
5. Goldberg, Lesley (July 16, 2012). "'Grey's Anatomy' Admits 'Friday Night Lights' Alum". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 17, 2012.

External links

• Gaius Charles at IMDb
• Gaius Charles on Twitter