Watch Charles S. Dutton Online

In 1984, Dutton made his Broadway debut in August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, winning a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1988 Dutton played a killer in the television miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan opposite Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey. 1990 brought him a second Best Actor Tony nomination for his role in another Wilson play, The Piano Lesson. Dutton also starred in Alien³, the debut film of director David Fincher, then costarred in 1993's Rudy. Other films he has appeared in include A Time to Kill; Cookie's Fortune; Cry, the Beloved Country; and Secret Window.

Dutton won Outstanding Guest Actor Emmy awards in 2002 and 2003 for his roles in The Practice and Without a Trace. He was previously nominated In 1999 for his guest-starring role as Alvah Case in the HBO prison drama Oz in its 2nd season premiere episode. For this role he was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Also in 1999, he starred in an ensemble cast in Aftershock: Earthquake in New York in which he played the Mayor of New York City. He co-starred with Tom Skerritt. Dutton gained acclaim for his comedy show Roc shown on FOX television (but produced by HBO) from 1991 to 1994, especially mid-run when the show was broadcast live. His work in this role won him an NAACP Image Award. He co-starred in the popular but short-lived 2005 CBS science fiction series, Threshold.

In 2000, Dutton directed the critically acclaimed HBO mini series The Corner. The miniseries was close to his heart for Dutton grew up on the streets of East Baltimore. It was adapted from The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (Broadway Books, 1997) by David Simon (a reporter for the Baltimore Sun) and Ed Burns (a retired Baltimore homicide detective). The Corner won several Emmys in 2000, including that for best miniseries. Dutton won for his direction of the miniseries.

He starred as Montgomery County, Maryland Police Chief Charles Moose in the 2003 made-for-TV movie D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, and appears in Season 2 of The L Word. Dutton also appeared in "Another Toothpick," an episode of The Sopranos. He most recently guest starred on House as the father of Doctor Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) and on Sleeper Cell: American Terror as the father of undercover FBI agent Darwyn Al-Sayeed. He also directed two episodes of Sleeper Cell.

On 9 October 2007, HBO announced that it has arranged a deal with Dutton where he will develop, direct and star in series and movies for the network. He also appears in the upcoming film Honeydripper.

Dutton was born and raised on the Eastside of Baltimore, Maryland to a truck driver father. He discovered a love of the theatre and studied for a college degree, later earning a master's degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. He is also a Towson University alumnus.

After dropping out in the seventh grade, he tried his hand as an amateur boxer under his nickname 'Roc'. At age 17, though, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 5 years in prison (which was later reduced to a 2 year sentence) after stabbing a man to death in a street fight. Dutton maintains that the man attacked and woundeded him first and he was defending himself. Dutton finished that sentence and was released in 1969 but returned a couple months later on charges of possessing a deadly weapon which he received a 3 year sentence for. After serving nearly 2 years of that sentence, a new prison guard named Barbarossa whom with he had argued about visiting time challenged him to "settle" their dispute physically. After the altercation (which Dutton won) Barbarossa was forced to testify against Dutton for assaulting an officer. He was convicted and sentenced to an addition 8 years in prison, which he served approximately 4 years, 9 months of before being released on parole.

Several months into this second term, Dutton was sentenced to 6 days solitary confinement which allowed prisoners to take one book. By accident, he grabbed an anthology of black playwrights which he read in its entirety by the light streaming beneath the confinement room door. He enjoyed the plays so much that upon his release from confinement he petitioned the warden to start a drama group for the Christmas talent show. The warden agreed on the condition that Dutton go back to school and get his GED, which he did, and more. He eventually completed a two-year college program. Upon his release, he enrolled as a drama major at Baltimore's Towson State University.

Dutton owns a farm in Ellicott City, Maryland, and is an ex-husband of actress Debbi Morgan.

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