Edi Gathegi
| Edi Gathegi | |
|---|---|
 Gathegi in January 2009 | |
| Born |
Edi Mue Gathegi[1] March 10, 1979 Nairobi, Kenya |
| Alma mater | Tisch School of Arts |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2006–present |
Edi Mue Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan American film, stage and television actor. He appeared as recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka "Big Love") in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone and as Laurent in the films Twilight, its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Darwin in X-Men: First Class. He also featured in a short television series, Into the Badlands as Baron Jacobee. He's has also been a recurring character in NBC's television series, The Blacklist as Matias Solomon, an operative for The Cabal, a covert Organisation.
Early life
Born in Eastlands, Nairobi, Kenya, Gathegi grew up in Albany, California.[2] As an undeclared undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was more interested in playing basketball and was good at it, until he injured his knee; this plunged him into depression, so he took up an acting class as an "easy course". This is how he discovered his love for acting.[2] Afterwards, studied at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2005.[3] Gathegi's career began in theatre,[4] and his stage credits include Two Trains Running at the Old Globe Theatre, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Cyrano de Bergerac, among others.[1]
Career
Gathegi's first professional role was the Haitian Cabbie in the 2006 film Crank. Though he had originally auditioned for the role of Kaylo, the producers gave the role to Efren Ramirez and instead offered Gathegi an appearance as the Haitian Cabbie.[4] He was dubious at first about performing a Haitian accent, but was coached by a Haitian friend.[4] In 2007, after guest-starring on Lincoln Heights and Veronica Mars, Gathegi went on to star as Bodie in Death Sentence, Darudi in The Fifth Patient and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone. He later had a recurring role as Mormon intern Dr. Jeffrey Cole on the television medical drama House, his character was often mocked for his religious beliefs by Dr. House, who himself is an atheist. He also guest-starred on CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Life on Mars in 2008 before being cast as Laurent in Twilight. When Gathegi first auditioned for the 2008 film, adapted from the same-titled first book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, he had not heard of the series and was not aware that his character was a vampire.[5] He now has read the whole series and calls himself a hardcore fan.[5][6] He portrays Eddie Willers in Atlas Shrugged (2011), based on Ayn Rand's novel of the same name. He later portrayed another Haitian character, Jean Baptiste, in the fifth season of Justified, but was unhappy with the role and asked to be written off the show.[7]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Crank | Haitian Cabbie | |
| 2007 | Gone Baby Gone | Cheese | |
| 2007 | The Fifth Patient | Darudi | |
| 2007 | Death Sentence | Bodie | |
| 2008 | Twilight | Laurent | |
| 2009 | My Bloody Valentine 3D | Deputy Martin | |
| 2009 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | Laurent | |
| 2011 | X-Men: First Class | Armando Muñoz / Darwin | |
| 2011 | Atlas Shrugged | Eddie Willers | |
| 2011 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I | Laurent | Flashback only |
| 2014 | Shiva and May | Dex | |
| 2015 | This Isn't Funny | Ryan | |
| 2015 | Aloha | Lt. Col. Curtis | |
| 2015 | Criminal Activities | Marques | |
| TBA | Transformation Awaits | Lamay | Pre-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | House | Dr. Jeffrey Cole | Recurring role, 7 episodes |
| 2007 | Lincoln Heights | Boa | 3 episodes |
| 2007 | Veronica Mars | Zeke Molinda | Episode: "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer" |
| 2008 | CSI: Miami | Freddie Mays | Episode: "Tunnel Vision" |
| 2008 | Life on Mars | Fletcher Bellow | Episode: "Things to Do in New York When You Think You're Dead" |
| 2008 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Skinny Dude | Episode: "Leave Out All the Rest" |
| 2011 | Nikita | Kalume Ungara | Episode: "Girl's Best Friend" |
| 2012 | Phineas and Ferb | Iggy/Various characters | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | The Family Tools | Darren Poynton | Main role, 10 episodes |
| 2013 | Beauty & the Beast | Kyle | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Red Widow | Leon | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | Justified | Jean Baptiste | 4 episodes |
| 2014 | Wild Card | Tres | Unsold television pilot |
| 2015 | Proof | Zed | Main role, 10 episodes |
| 2015–present | The Blacklist | Matias Solomon | Recurring role, 13 episodes |
| 2015 | Into the Badlands | Jacobee | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | StartUp | Ronald Dacey | Main role, 10 episodes |
Awards and nominations
- 2011: Nominated for Featured Actor in a Play for the role of Franco Wicks in the Geffen Playhouse production of "Superior Donuts"[8]
References
- 1 2 Shirlene Alusa-Brown (April 7, 2008). "Edi Mue Gathegi – Slated to Shine in 'Twilight'". Jamati Online. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- 1 2 Cassandra Handley (November 4, 2008). "Q&A: Twilight's Edi Gathegi". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- ↑ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
- 1 2 3 "Twilight Lexicon Q&A with Edi Gathegi" (PDF). TwilightLexicon.com. March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
- 1 2 Denise Martin (October 28, 2008). "'Twilight' Countdown: Edi Gathegi's vampire love". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
- ↑ Sara Castillo (August 4, 2008). "We Speak with 'Twilight's' Jacob and Laurent!". FearNet.com. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
- ↑ Bierly, Mandi (February 5, 2014). "'Justified' postmortem: EP Graham Yost dissects 'Shot All to Hell'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Kiss Me Kate Tops 2011 Ovation Award Nominations.". 19 September 2011.