Grantham Coleman

Grantham Coleman is an American actor. He studied drama at The Juilliard School, graduating in 2011.

Career Stage

Coleman made one of his first professional appearances on stage in 2012, playing Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. He then had a minor role in a production of As You Like It directed by Daniel J. Sullivan at the Shakespeare in the Park festival at the Delacorte Theater in New York. Later that year he appeared in Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud To Present... at the Soho Repertory Theatre. In 2013, Coleman played Anthony Justin ("AJ") James in an off-Broadway production of Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy at the Manhattan Theatre Club. A year later he reprised the role in a Geffen Playhouse production in Los Angeles. Also in 2013, he appeared in the two-hander One Night... by Charles Fuller at the Cherry Lane Theater alongside Rutina Wesley. He appeared in Buzzer in 2015, a production by Anne Kauffman at The Public Theater in New York.

Coleman played the title role in Hamlet in 2017 at the Old Globe, directed by Barry Edelstein. He would later reprise the role in 2021 when Edelstein brought the case back together to perform the play for radio.

In 2018 he played Ferdinand in The Tempest at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in a joint production between the Old Globe and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. During 2019 Coleman featured as an "adorably goofy" Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing performed during the Shakespeare in the Park festival in New York. One of the performances of Much Ado About Nothing was broadcast as part of the Great Performances series on PBS; it was particularly notable as the play featured an all-Black cast. Coleman received a Viv award for his part in the play. Later that year Coleman played Martin Luther King Jr. in Robert Schenkkan's The Great Society on Broadway alongside Brian Cox; he was nominated for an Antonyo Award for his performance. In 2022 he appeared as Macduff in a production of Macbeth at the Longacre Theatre in New York which starred Daniel Craig.

Television and film

Alongside his stage career, Coleman has appeared in a number of television shows, beginning in 2013 with an appearance in an early episode of the FX series The Americans. In 2015, he played characters in single episodes of The Night Shift, Murder in the First, and NCIS. and then appearing in all eight episodes of the Paramount+ Western series Lawmen: Bass Reeves, playing the character Edwin Jones.

In 2024, Deadline announced Coleman had been cast in his first lead role, as Tal Garland in the adaptation of the Stephen L. Carter novel The Emperor of Ocean Park alongside Forest Whitaker.

Filmography

+ Film performances Year Title Role Notes 2019 Seberg Bobby Seale 2020 Black Bear Baako 2021 Red Bird Lane Sigmund 2022 Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths CNN Reporter 2023 Rustin Blyden

+ Television performances Year Title Role Notes 2013 The Americans Grayson Episode: "The Clock" 2015 The Night Shift Terrence Episode: "Back at the Ranch" 2015 Murder in the First RC Episode: "Number Thirty Nine" 2015 NCIS Richard Doogan Episode: "Blood Brothers" 2016 11.22.63 Bonnie Ray Williams 2 episodes 2017 Doubt Darryl Smallins Episode: "Then and Now" 2017 NCIS: Los Angeles Spence Taylor Episode: "Queen Pin" 2017 The Carmichael Show Kevin Episode: "Support the Troops" 2019 Great Performances Benedick Episode: "Much Ado About Nothing" 2023 Power Book III: Raising Kanan Ronnie Mathis 10 episodes 2023 Lawmen: Bass Reeves Edwin Jones 8 episodes 2024 The Emperor of Ocean Park Talcott Garland 10 episodes