Biography
Having given up his dream of playing professional football, Morris Chestnut received immediate recognition in his first feature role as Ricky Baker, the promising young athlete cut tragically down in John Singleton's powerful coming of age film, "Boyz N the Hood" (1991). His impressive debut led to supporting work in "In the Line of Duty: Street War" (NBC, 1992) and the title role of the Disney Channel's "The Ernest Green Story" (1993), as well as a part in Matty Rich's feature "The Inkwell" (1994). Chestnut showed his action hero chops for "Under Siege II: Dark Territory" (1995), with Steven Seagal, and was one of the Navy SEAL recruits alongside Demi Moore in "G.I. Jane" (1997). His first experience as a series regular came in the short-lived NBC sitcom "Out All Night" (1992-93), starring Patti LaBelle, and he returned to series work (this time in a drama) for ABC's "C-16" (1997-98), playing an FBI recruit fresh out of training. He also acted in Malcolm Lee's directorial debut, "The Best Man" (1999). In 2001, Chestnut starred in the "The Brothers," solidifying both his acting talent and sex symbol status and in 2002, he joined Steven Seagal and Ja Rule for the surprise hit action crime feature "Half Past Dead." The actor continued to demonstrate his versatility, appearing in dramas like "Confidence" (2003), comedies like "Breakin' All the Rules" (2004) and horror-thrillers like "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (2004). A minor role in "Ladder 49" (2004) was followed by a slightly more pivotal role in the sci-fi thriller, "The Cave" (2005), in which he played a cave explorer who helps lead a pair of biologists into an elaborate cave system beneath the newly discovered ruins of a 13th century Romanian abbey. A role supporting Dwayne Johnson in the family sports comedy "The Game Plan" (2007) was followed by the lead in a Christmas fantasy, "The Perfect Holiday" (2007). Chestnut teamed up with Taraji P. Henson for the romantic drama "Not Easily Broken" before returning to television with arcs on the rebooted science fiction thriller "V" (ABC 2009-2011) and the first season of Ryan Murphy's "American Horror Story" (FX 2011- ). Supporting roles in the romantic comedy "Think Like A Man" (2012), Melissa McCarthy vehicle "Identity Thief" (2013), crime thriller "The Call" (2013) and superhero comedy "Kick Ass 2" (2013) kept Chestnut busy on the big screen prior to "The Best Man Holiday" (2013), a reteaming of the cast of his hit film from nearly 15 years before. After stints on "Nurse Jackie" (Showtime 2009-2015) and "Legends" (TNT 2014), Chestnut starred on the procedural comedy-drama "Rosewood" (Fox 2015- ) as an unconventional pathologist. That same year, he returned to the big screen, starring in the thriller "The Perfect Guy" (2015) opposite Michael Ealy and Sanaa Lathan.
