From Jail to Yale | Charles S. Dutton

A graduate of The Yale School of Drama, Charles S. Dutton has a career spanning theater, television and film, and is one of the few actors to earn Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the same role. He created the lead roles in three of August Wilson’s early plays: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Jo Turners’ Come and Gone, and The Piano Lesson. He received multiple award nominations, including the Tony for Best Actor, for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for The Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of The Piano Lesson.

Charles starred in and executive produced the Fox comedy/drama Roc, produced by HBO, for which he received several NAACP Image Award nominations. He has numerous television credits, including the miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan, The 60’s, Deadlock, and Aftershock. His episodic appearances include House, The Sopranos and the HBO series Oz, among others. He won Emmy’s for his guest starring roles in Without a Trace and The Practice.

He is a veteran of numerous feature films such as Aliens 3, Menace II Society, Rudy, A Low Down Dirty Shame, Cry, Beloved Country, Nick of Time, A Time to Kill, Get on the Bus, Cookie’s Fortune (for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination), Gothika, Secret Window and the 2008 John Sayles feature Honeydripper. In just the past year Dutton starred in two features: Universal’s The Express and Lakeshore’s Fame. He can soon be seen in the upcoming Screen Gems feature, Legion, with Paul Bettany and Denis Quaid.

Charles made his directorial debut in 1997 with the HBO movie First Time Felon. He also directed the award winning HBO miniseries The Corner, for which he received a 2001 Best Director Emmy. His feature film directorial debut was the 2004 Paramount film Against the Ropes. In 2006 he directed multiple episodes of the Showtime series Sleeper Cell, for which he received a DGA Award nomination. Most recently he directed the Lifetime movie Racing For Time, and the pilot Under for A&E.