Delroy Lindo Biography

DELROY LINDO

Date of Birth: November 18, 1952

The son of Jamaican parents, Delroy Lindo was born and raised in London, England until his teens when he and his mother moved to Toronto, Canada. A little later, they moved to the States where Lindo graduated from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Soon after graduation, Lindo landed his first film role. The film was More American Graffitti (1979) and he played an army sergeant. After completing the film, Lindo turned his attention to the stage and did not look back towards film for 10 years. In 1982, Lindo made his debut on Broadway in Master Harold and the Boys directed by the play's author Athol Fugard. In 1988, Lindo earned a Tony nomination for his portayal of Harald Loomis in Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

Unfortunately for this talented actor, his career was on hold. Lindo blamed his agent, and decided to change to someone who would be more aggressive. The move was a good one and he soon was teamed up with Spike Lee who gave his career the jumpstart it needed. The director was impressed enough with Lindo to cast him as patriarch Woody Carmichael in Lee's semi-autobiographical comedy Crooklyn (1994).

It wasn't until 1996 that Lindo landed major supporting roles in six features, including Get Shorty, Clockers, Feeling Minnesota, The Soul of the Game and Ransom. He won an NAACP image nomination for Soul of the Game, and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Ransom at the Image Awards. Although he mainly played villainous characters in these films, he did not stick with the theme.

Since then, the versatile Lindo has shown himself equally adept at playing characters on both sides of the law. In 1997, he essayed an angel opposite Holly Hunter in Danny Boyle's off-beat romantic fantasy A Life Less Ordinary.

In 1998 he returned to the stage to star in Shakespeare's Othello at the Renowned Actors' Theatre in Louisville. He made a comeback to film in 1999, and completed such films as The Cider House Rules (1999) (for which he was nominated with the rest of the cast for a SAG award), the action flick, Romeo Must Die (2000), The Core (2003) and Sahara (2005).

Filmography:

Up (2009) (voice)
This Christmas (2007)
Domino (2005)
Sahara (2005)
Wondrous Oblivion (2003)
The Core (2003)
The Last Castle (2001)
Heist (2001)
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Romeo Must Die (2000)
The Cider House Rules (1999)
The Book of Stars (1999)
A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
The Devil's Advocate (1997) (uncredited)
Ransom (1996)
Feeling Minnesota (1996)
The Winner (1996)
L'Exil du roi Behanzin (1996)
Broken Arrow (1996)
Get Shorty (1995)
Clockers (1995)
Congo (1995) (uncredited)
Crooklyn (1994)
Bound by Honor (1993)
Mr. Jones (1993)
Malcolm X (1992)
Bright Angel (1991)
The Hard Way (1991)
Mountains of the Moon (1990)
The Blood of Heroes (1988)
More American Graffiti (1979)