Lennie James
African Caribbean-British actor and playwright

Lennie James was born on October 11, 1965 in Nottingham, England.  Both of his parents were from Trinidad, but his father was never a part of his life.  When he was twelve years old, his mother passed away and James and his brother went into the London foster care system.  Although they had an uncle in the United States with whom they could live, neither boy wanted to leave London.  At the age of sixteen a social worker within the foster care system became his foster mother, and to this day, they have a strong relationship.

When James was seventeen years old, he wrote his first play, Storm Damage, which was later shown on the BBC network and brought him great success.  He has had several notable acting roles, in films such as Elephant Juice, Lost in Space, Les Misérables, and many others. He currently stars in the hit television show “Jericho” on CBS.

Information from wikipedia and cbs.