Dulé Hill

Not to be confused with Kasim Hill.

Karim Dulé Hill (/ˈduːleɪ/; born May 3, 1975)^[2] is an American actor. He is known for his roles as personal presidential aide and Deputy Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff Charlie Young on the NBC drama television series The West Wing, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and pharmaceutical salesman–private detective Burton "Gus" Guster on the USA Network television comedy-drama Psych. He also had minor roles in the movies Holes, The Guardian, and She's All That and a recurring role on Ballers. He joined the cast of Suits for the last 2 seasons, and played patriarch Bill Williams in the 2021 remake of The Wonder Years. Hill also serves as a member of the SAG-AFTRA Board of Directors.^[3]

Dulé Hill
Hill at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013
Born	Karim Dulé Hill (1975-05-03) May 3, 1975 (age 49) Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Seton Hall University[1] (BS)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouses	Nicole Lyn ​ ​ (m. 2004; div. 2012)​ Jazmyn Simon ​ (m. 2018)​
Children	2

Early life

Hill was born in Orange, New Jersey to Jamaican parents and was raised in Sayreville, New Jersey.^[4][5][6] He studied ballet at a young age, and appeared in the musical The Tap Dance Kid as Savion Glover's understudy on Broadway, a part he subsequently played on the show's national tour.^[7] Hill graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School in 1993,^[8] and studied business finance at Seton Hall University and acting at William Esper Studio.^[9] While at Seton Hall,^[8] he accepted a role on Jim Henson's CityKids.

Career

Hill with the rest of the main cast of Psych and series creator Steve Franks in 2009

In 1985, 10-year-old Hill performed a tap dance number on the MDA telethon. When the music could not be found for his routine, telethon host Jerry Lewis helped by having the orchestra play another song while Hill performed. His first film role was in Sugar Hill in 1993 during his senior year of high school. While in college at Seton Hall, he was cast in a starring role in Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk on Broadway.

In 1999, Hill was cast on The West Wing as Charlie Young, the personal aide to President Josiah Bartlet, who was played by Martin Sheen. During the sixth season of the series, Charlie became a Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff. Hill starred as Charlie for six seasons before he chose to leave the show at the beginning of the seventh season (September 2005) to star in the pilot for the new television show Psych for the USA Network,^[10] which premiered July 7, 2006. However, when the announcement was made that The West Wing would be ending in May 2006, Hill returned for the show's last episodes.

Hill also had roles in the 1999 film She's All That starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, both of whom he later reunited with on Psych, as a Los Angeles doctor named Owen in the movie. He was in the series 10.5, the Disney movie Holes (2003) as Sam the Onion Man (the movie itself was referenced in the Psych episode "65 Million Years Off"), and in the 2006 movie The Guardian (this was referenced in the Psych episode "You Can’t Handle this"). He also joined the cast of Suits for Season 8 and 9.

Hill also appeared on Broadway in Stick Fly from December 2011 to February 2012 and After Midnight in November 2013.^[11]

As a voice actor, Hill was part of the cast of the 2021 animated feature Night of the Animated Dead.

In the 2024 PBS documentary series, The Express Way with Dulé Hill, Hill narrates and participates in exploring art and diverse cultures.^[12]

Personal life

Hill married actress Nicole Lyn in 2004. They had no children. Hill filed for legal separation from Lyn in 2012 citing irreconcilable differences.^[13]

On April 14, 2017, Hill became engaged to girlfriend and Ballers co-star Jazmyn Simon.^[14] In early 2018, Hill married Simon and later adopted her daughter. In 2019, Hill and his wife announced the birth of their son.^[15]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood	Robert E. Lee
1994	Sugar Hill	Young Romello
1999	She's All That	Preston
2000	Men of Honor	Red Tail
2003	Holes	Sam
2004	Sexual Life	Jerry
2005	Edmond	Sharper
	The Numbers	Brady	Short
2006	The Guardian	Ken Weatherly
2007	Whisper	Detective Miles
2008	Remarkable Power	Reggie
2012	Gayby	Adam
	Nostalgia	Gabe Robinson Jr.	Short
	Gator Farm	Jay	Short
2013	Miss Dial	Popcorn Caller
2015	Gravy	Delroy
2016	Sleight	Angelo
2021	Locked Down	David
	Night of the Animated Dead	Ben (voice)
	Hypnotic	Detective Wade Rollins

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Dick Cavett Show	Himself	with Hinton Battle and Harold Nicholas promoting The Tap Dance Kid
1992	Ghostwriter	Basketball Boy	Episode: "To Catch a Creep: Part 1"
1993	CityKids	John	Main cast
	American Playhouse		Episode: "Hallelujah"
1994	New York Undercover	Georgie	Episode: "CAT"
1995	All My Children	Simon	Episode: "6 July 1995"
	New York News	Raymond Gates	Episode: "New York News"
1997	The Ditchdigger's Daughters	Young Donald	TV movie
	Color of Justice	Kameel	TV movie
	Cosby	Marcus	Episode: "Shall We Dance?"
1998	Smart Guy	Calvin Tierney	Episode: "Gotta Dance"
1999	The Jamie Foxx Show	Featured Dancer	Episode: "Taps for Royal"
	Love Songs	Leroy	TV movie
	Chicken Soup for the Soul		Episode: "Mother's Day"
1999–2006	The West Wing	Charlie Young	Main cast
2004	10.5	Dr. Owen Hunter	Miniseries
2006–14	Psych	Burton "Gus" Guster	Main cast
2015–17	Ballers	Larry Seifert	Recurring cast (seasons 1–3)
2017	Seven Bucks Digital Studios	Larry Siefert	Episode: "Get Pumped Up for 'Ballers' Season 3 with the Rock"
	Doubt	Albert Cobb	Main cast
	Psych: The Movie	Burton "Gus" Guster	TV movie
2017–19	Suits	Alex Williams	Recurring cast (s. 7), main cast (s. 8–9)
2019–21	Muppet Babies	Mr. Manny (voice)	5 episodes[16]
2020	Psych 2: Lassie Come Home	Burton "Gus" Guster	TV movie
	Black Monday	Marcus Duane Wainwright III	Recurring cast (season 2)
2021	Psych 3: This Is Gus	Burton "Gus" Guster	TV movie
2021–23	The Wonder Years	Bill Williams	Main cast
2022	This Is Us	Kenny Brooks	Episode: "The Train"
2024	The Express Way with Dulé Hill	Himself	Miniseries
TBA	Natalia	Brandon Drysdale	Recurring role[17]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Other Notes
1984	The Tap Dance Kid	Willie	Broadway National Tour
1996	Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk	The Kid
2007	Dutchman[18]	Clay
2011	Stick Fly	Spoon (Kent) LeVay
2013	After Midnight	The Host
2017	Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole	Nat "King" Cole	People's Light and Theatre
2019			Geffen Playhouse

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series	The West Wing	Won
	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated
2002	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series		Won
	Emmy Awards	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated
2003	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
2004	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated
2005	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series		Nominated
	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	10.5 (miniseries)	Nominated
2006	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series	The West Wing	Nominated
2008	Image Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series	Psych	Nominated
2009		Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated

References

1. "Congressional Record". Congress.gov. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
2. Archived 2018-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Dule Hill [biography], Performing ARts Databases, Library of Congress.
3. Archived October 12, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
4. Dugas, Christine (March 30, 2001). "On the Money with Dulé Hill". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2017. Hill was born in Orange, N.J., and raised in Sayreville, N.J., by his Jamaican-born parents.
5. Contemporary Black biography. profiles from the international Black community. Detroit, Michigan: Gale. 2009. ISBN 978-1414434407. A New Jersey native, Hill was born in Orange in 1975, and raised in Sayreville.
6. "Doubt Cast Biography". CBS. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2017. Born in Orange, N.J. and raised in Sayreville, Dulé Hill began attending dance school when he was three years old.
7. King, Susan (August 28, 2006). "'West Wing' actor takes 'Psych' sidekick role". The Day. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020 – via Google News.
8. Granieri, Laurie. "Sayreville native Dule Hill gears up for show's new season" Archived March 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Home News Tribune, August 7, 2009. Accessed February 15, 2011. "The biggest challenge for me is not making Gus too nerdy or too cool. Because Gus is a nerd, says Hill, 34, who grew up in Sayreville and is a 1993 graduate of Sayreville War Memorial High School."
9. "Dule Hill: The Enduring Rage of Dutchman". Broadway.com. February 13, 2007. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
10. "Dule Hill Leaving The West Wing". September 16, 2005. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
11. "Dulé Hill | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information". The Broadway League. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
12. "The Express Way with Dulé Hill". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Retrieved May 7, 2024.
13. "Dule Hill Files for Legal Separation". Archived from the original on November 29, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
14. "'West Wing' Alum Dule Hill Gets Engaged to Girlfriend Jazmyn Simon". Usmagazine.com. April 20, 2017. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
15. "Dulé Hill and Wife Jazmyn Simon Welcome Son Levi Dulé — See His First Photos!". Archived from the original on June 20, 2019.
16. Butler, Karen (November 14, 2019). "Dule Hill lends voice to 'Muppet Babies' character Mr. Manny". UPI. Archived from the original on November 17, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
17. Thompson, Eliza (August 25, 2024). "Ellen Pompeo's Orphan-Like Series Gets a Title". Parade. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
18. "History". Cherry Lane Theatre. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.

External links

• Dulé Hill at IMDb
• Dule Hill: The Enduring Rage of Dutchman
• Influence of Gregory Hines (NY Daily News)