Hill Harper Biography
Born: May 17, 1966
Date of Birth: May 17, 1966
Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Harper began acting at the age of seven and continued through college. A graduate of Brown University, Harper also has two graduate degrees (Law and Government) from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he joined the Black Folk's Theatre Company, which is one of the oldest and most respected African American traveling theatre troops in the States.
He made his move into film with a small role in the feature Confessions of a Dog (1993). After strong performances in the critically-accaimed film Zooman (1995) and receiving accolades for his performance in HavPlenty (1997), Harper started to get substantial roles in big budget films such as Steel (1997), He Got Game (1998), In Too Deep (1999), The Skulls (2000) and For Colored Girls (2010).
However, it's on television where he's found his greatest success. In the 2000 series City of Angels, Hill played Dr. Wesley Walker, an eager young resident at an inner-city hospital, followed by a regular role on The Handler during the 2003/2004 season. When that concluded, he took on a starring role as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in the TV series CSI: NY and stayed with the show until 2013.
Following brief stints on the crime drama series Covert Affairs, Limitless and Homeland, he landed a regular role as Dr. Marcus Andrews in 2017 on the hit series The Good Doctor, starring Freddie Highmore, which has so far enjoyed three seasons and is still going strong.
In addition to acting, Hill is a writer, having authored the Young Adult Counseling Book Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny, which won the American Library Association's 2007 prize for Best Book for Young Adults. He has also written the books The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place, and The Wiley Boys, both of which were published in 2011. His book, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones was published in 2013. While writing The Wealth Cure, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent treatment. He is now cancer free.
Hill has a young son, Pierce, whom he adopted from a homeless woman in 2017.