Biography

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. was born on September 22, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Wire (2002), The Walking Dead (2010) and The Deuce (2017). He is married to Michelle Paress.

Studied classical music at the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Juilliard School before turning to acting.

He and his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland when he was 7.

Former fiancé of Monilewa Okan.

I just got lucky with Straight Out of Brooklyn (1991). I just went out on an audition and got the role. Since then, I've done some stuff, but it's hard for African-American actors, period! There just isn't any material out there for us, and what there is, is the same: profanity, violence, etc.

I went to Juilliard as a clarinet major and somewhere between the beginning and the end, I stopped playing it. I asked myself who was I reaching ... I just fell out of love with it.