Biography

Eriq La Salle

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Actor/director/producer Eriq La Salle is best known to worldwide television audiences for his award-winning portrayal of the commanding Dr. Peter Benton on the critically acclaimed and history-making medical drama ER. Educated at Juilliard and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, his credits range from Broadway to film roles opposite Eddie Murphy in Coming to America and Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and Hugh Jackman in Logan. La Salle has maintained a prolific acting career while at the same time working steadily as a director, taking the helm for HBO, Showtime, NBC, Fox and CBS. He remains a valued member of the Dick Wolf Entertainment camp after 4 years as Executive Producer and director on Chicago PD in addition to directing episodes of Law & Order, and Law and Order Organized Crime. As a writer, La Salle is the author of several critically acclaimed thrillers published in 2022 and 2023-Laws of Depravity, Laws of Wrath, and Laws of Annihilation. He has also written an episode of The Twilight Zone which made WGA's list of 101 Best Written TV Series. He lives in Los Angeles, California
- IMDb mini biography by: Eriq La Salle

Wrote, directed and produced two short films that won awards at the Worldfest Houston film competition and the USA Film Festival.
Skilled in martial arts.
BFA in Drama - New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (1984)
He was nominated for a 1993 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for "Two Trains Running" at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
Auditioned for the role of Ben in Night of the Living Dead (1990).

The Sixth Sense is not a good white film. Insomnia is not a good white film. They're just good films. So why we can't we have good films that happen to have black people, or Asian, or Latino, or any other minority group in them?
It's my company and I believe in the company that's why I started it.
I think American cinema, particularly, has become so disposable. It's not even cinema, It's just moviemaking.
Art should offend people because art should challenge people.
Normally, we see characters that have God complexes. How interesting, I thought, it would be to capitalize on that. And say, OK, well fine, you have a God complex, well this person has a Satan complex. And the doctor chooses to treat him scientifically.