| Birth Name: | Daniel Sunjata Condon |
| Birth Date: | 1971 12, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education: | University of Louisiana, Lafayette (BA) New York University (MFA) |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1998–present |
Daniel Sunjata Condon (born December 30, 1971)[1] is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series Rescue Me.[2]
Sunjata was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. He is the adopted son of Bill and Catherine Condon, a police dispatcher and a civil rights worker.[3] His adoptive parents are of Irish and Italian-German descent. He is named in honor of the Mandinka king Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire; the name means "hungry lion."[4] He was told his biological mother was a white teenager who had run away from home[5] and his father was African-American. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, where he played linebacker for two state championship football teams. After attending Florida A&M University, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Fine Arts from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[6] He is of African, German, and Irish descent.[7] [8]
Sunjata played the role of a sailor on shore leave on the first post-9/11 themed episode of Sex and the City.[9] He portrayed poet Langston Hughes in the film Brother to Brother (2004) and James Holt, a fashion designer, in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
He starred as firefighter Franco Rivera on the television program Rescue Me. During the summer of 2007, he also starred in the ESPN miniseries The Bronx is Burning as Reggie Jackson. He appeared as a Special Forces Operative in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
In 2003, he won a Theatre World Award for his breakout Broadway performance as a gay Major League Baseball player who comes out to the public in Take Me Out, the Tony award-winning play, which also earned him nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.
In 2010-2011, he played "Nurse Eli" on the TV series Grey's Anatomy and had a relationship with Dr. Miranda Bailey.[10]
Beginning in 2013, he played FBI agent Paul Briggs on Graceland, which aired on USA Network. The show was canceled in 2015 after 3 seasons.
On April 30, 2009, Sunjata announced his participation as narrator in Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup.[11] This was the last in a series of documentaries, collectively known as Loose Change, that argue that the September 11 attacks were planned by the United States government.[12]
Sunjata has said that he believes "absolutely, 100 percent" in this theory.[13] Producers of Rescue Me, inspired by Sunjata's views, created a subplot of the show that year (the show's fifth season) in which Sunjata's character, Franco Rivera, stirs up controversy in the firehouse when he tells these same views to a journalist.[13]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | Valentine | TV movie | |
| 2001 | The Feast of All Saints | Christophe Mercier | TV movie | |
| 2002 | Bad Company | CIA Agent Carew | ||
| 2004 | Brother to Brother | Langston Hughes | ||
| Noel | Marco | |||
| Melinda and Melinda | Billy Wheeler | |||
| 2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | James Holt | ||
| 2009 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | Brad | ||
| Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup | The Narrator | |||
| 2010 | At Risk | Detective Win Garano | TV movie | |
| The Front | Detective Win Garano | TV movie | ||
| Weakness | Alejandro | |||
| 2012 | One for the Money | Ranger | ||
| Gone | Powers | |||
| Generation Um... | Charles | |||
| The Dark Knight Rises | Captain Jones | |||
| 2014 | Lullaby | Officer Ramirez | ||
| 2017 | Small Town Crime | Detective Whitman | ||
| 2021 | Christmas...Again?! | Mike Clybourne | TV movie |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | D.C. | Lewis Freeman | Main Cast | |
| Bomb Squad Officer | Episode: "Remorse" | |||
| 2001 | All My Children | Zachary Pell | Regular Cast | |
| 2002 | Sex and the City | Louis Leroy, USN | Episode: "Anchors Away" | |
| 2002–04 | CSU Technician Burt Trevor | Recurring Cast: Seasons 3-5 | ||
| 2003 | Ed | Danny Martin | Episode: "The Case" | |
| 2004–11 | Rescue Me | Franco Rivera | Main Cast | |
| 2005 | Law & Order | Kenny Tremont | Episode: "Mammon" | |
| 2006 | Love Monkey | Diego | Recurring Cast | |
| 2007 | The Bronx is Burning | Reggie Jackson | Main Cast | |
| 2008 | Great Performances | Christian de Neuvillette | Episode: "Cyrano de Bergerac" | |
| 2009 | Lie to Me | Andrew Jenkins | Episode: "Blinded" | |
| 2010 | 30 Rock | Chris | Episode: "College" | |
| 2010–11 | Grey's Anatomy | Nurse Eli | Recurring Cast: Seasons 7-8 | |
| 2012–13 | Smash | Peter Gillman | Recurring Cast: Season 2 | |
| 2013–15 | Graceland | FBI Senior Agent Paul Briggs | Main Cast | |
| 2016 | Notorious | Jake Gregorian | Main Cast | |
| 2017 | Animal Kingdom | Smurf's Criminal Lawyer | Episode: "Betrayal" | |
| 2018–20 | Manifest | Danny | Recurring Cast: Season 1, Guest: Season 2 | |
| 2019 | Happy! | Simon | Recurring Cast: Season 2 | |
| 2020 | Prodigal Son | Quinton Vosler | Episode: "Internal Affairs" | |
| SWAT Commander Nick Alvarez | Main Cast | ||
| The Twilight Zone | Detective Peter Reece | Episode: "The Who of You" | ||
| The Stand | Cobb | Episode: "The End" | ||
| 2021–24 | Main Cast: Season 2, Guest: Season 4 | |||
| 2022 | Echoes | Charles "Charlie" Davenport | Main Cast | |
| 2023 | The Company You Keep | Robert Renway | Episode: "All In" | |
| 2024 | High Potential | Karadec[14] | Upcoming series; Main role |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Twelfth Night | Valentine | ||
| 2003 | Take Me Out | Darren Lemming | Theatre World Award Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Nominated – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play | |
| 2007 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Christian De Neuvillette | ||
| 2013 | Macbeth | Macduff | ||
| 2014 | The Country House | Michael Astor | ||
| 2018 | Saint Joan | Dunois, Bastard of Orleans |
| Year | Awards | Category | Recipient | Outcome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "Rescue Me" | ||||
| 2008 | "The Bronx Is Burning" |