Acting
Following a knee injury that sidelined him, Augustus decided to retire from professional football and pursue a career in acting. Augustus contacted agent James Bridges Sr. and spent five years taking improv classes. In 1988, Augustus landed his first film role in Dennis Hopper's Colors. In 1996, Augustus played Rudy in Space Marines. On the set of the film, Augustus was approached by fight coordinator Philip Tan who encouraged him to pursue martial arts. In 2001, Augustus landed a role as "Well Dressed Black Man" in Gore Verbinski's The Mexican. During filming he caught the attention of his co-star James Gandolfini who had watched him rehearsing and called several agents to vouch for his talent. [7]
From 2017 to 2019, Augustus played Nathaniel Moon in the AMC series Into the Badlands. Augustus was first introduced to the show during the airing of the first season in 2015, when his mother called him to ask him if he had seen the pilot episode, which he watched later that night. [10] Disappointed that he had not been made aware of a martial arts television show, Augustus fired his manager and agent. [11] During production of season 2, Augustus auditioned for the role of Nathaniel Moon with help from his friend, Tim Cogshell, and received a call informing him he had gotten the role four weeks later. He left on a flight to Dublin for filming the next day and didn't get the chance to read any scripts until he got on the plane. According to Augustus, the role was initially offered to Wesley Snipes but scheduling conflicts led to him being cast in the role instead. [9]
In 2022, Augustus joined the cast of the fourth season of the Netflix series Stranger Things as Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan. Augustus has stated that he received a call from the show's casting director Carmen Cuba in 2019, which prompted him to watch the first three seasons of the show in preparation for his role. Augustus based his performance on real-life African American military men Russel L. Honoré and Colin Powell. [12] He has also described his character as "a man with tremendous gravitas but very few words" and compared him to Bruce Willis as John Smith in Last Man Standing. According to Augustus, after his first day of shooting the Duffer Brothers told him “Dude, that’s exactly what we wanted. We want this guy to come in and not say a word and command this room". [13]
