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Avery Franklin Brooks (October 2, 1948) is an American actor and director born in Evansville, Indiana. He is best known to genre fans in the role of Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Brooks also directed several episodes of the series and has lent his voice to related games.

Brooks attended Oberlin College, Indiana University, and Rutgers University where he became the first African American to graduate with a MFA in acting and directing. Brooks is also a tenured professor of theater arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. He became the Artistic director of the National Black Arts Festival in 1993, a biannual festival celebrating African American culture. Brooks is devoted to the celebration and promotion of African American culture and has worked with the Smithsonian Institute in it's program in Black American Culture.

In addition to his acting talents, Brooks has a unique voice which has lent itself to several voice roles and vocal performances. His talent is not unique in his family, many of whom are talented musicians. His grandfather sang with the Delta Rhythm Boys in the 1930s. Brooks plays piano and has performed on stage in in the Phillip Hayes Dean play, Paul Robeson to critical acclaim. Other stage roles include performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. He also appeared as Robeson in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? on and off broadway and had lead roles in Othello and the opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

Brooks' early television roles include the TV movies Solomon Northup's Odyssey, Finnegan Begin Again and Uncle Tom's Cabin. In 1985 he took on a lead role as Hawk in the series Spense for Hire. The series ended in 1988 amd He then appeared in Roots: The Gift with Star Trek: The Next Generation actor LeVar Burton. In the 90s he appeared in several TV movies based on Spenser for Hire and lent his voice to the series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, and the Disney animated series Gargoyles. He took on the role of Captain Benjamin Sisko in 1993. His performance earned him two Image Award nominations as Outstanding Lead Actor in a drama series. He also received a Saturn Award nomination. In 1998, He played Dr. Bob Sweeney in American History X and in 2001 appeared in the film 15 Minutes as Detective Leon Jackson.

Brooks is noted for his voice work. He has narrated the series Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery, The Heart of Africa, and The Quest for Life.

External Links

• IMDB Filmography
• Upcoming TV Schedule by IMDB.com
• Avery Brooks at Memory Alpha Wiki
• Avery Brooks at Startrek.com

To see specific information, such as individual movies, please click the Avery Brooks category link at the bottom of this article. To see other articles that reference Avery Brooks, please click the What Links Here tool in the toolbox at the bottom of this page.