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Personal life

Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena (nee Gantt) and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. He is married to Jane Mandel and they live in Montclair, New Jersey.

Faison received an honorary Doctorate Degree from his alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University, in 2002 and was the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony.

Career

Faison started his acting career in 1974 in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear, with James Earl Jones in the title role. Faison's next role came in TV, in the small series Hot Hero Sandwich in 1979. Faison did make it to the big screen in 1980, when he appeared in Permanent Vacation as "Man in Lobby". A string of small roles followed, until 1986 when he played the part of Lt. Fisk in Manhunter. Also that year, he appeared in the Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive. In 1988, he starred alongside Eddie Murphy and James Earl Jones in Coming to America, when he played the landlord. Another major role was Barney in the thriller The Silence of the Lambs, which would later bring more work Faison's way, as he later appeared as Barney in both the sequel (Hannibal) and the prequel (Red Dragon).

During the 1990-1991 season, he starred in the Fox situation comedy, True Colors, with Stephanie Faracy and Nancy Walker, about an interracial couple. He was replaced by Cleavon Little for the second season of the program. In 1991, Faison again appeared alongside Hopkins in the film Freejack, which also starred Mick Jagger and Maximum Overdrive co-star Emilio Estevez. In 1998, he was a regular on the science-fiction TV show Prey. Faison had a starring role as the Baltimore City Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell on the HBO drama The Wire.

Faison is the only actor to appear in all of the first four Hannibal Lecter films. He played Lt. Fisk in Manhunter, and Barney in The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon.

Most recently, Faison played in Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns, a movie about a single mom who takes her family to Georgia for the funeral of her father a man she never met. There, her clan is introduced to the crass, fun-loving Brown family. Faison played the role of Brown and Vera's brother, L.B. Brown.