Daniel Sunjata

Daniel Sunjata (born Daniel Sunjata Condon; December 30, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series Rescue Me.^[1]

Daniel Sunjata
Born	Daniel Sunjata Condon (1971-12-30) December 30, 1971 (age 53) Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Education	University of Louisiana, Lafayette (BA) New York University (MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present

Early life and education

Sunjata was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. He is the adopted son of Bill and Catherine Condon, a police dispatcher and a civil rights worker.^{[citation needed]} His adoptive parents are of Irish and Italian-German descent. He is named in honor of the Mandinka king Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire; the name means "hungry lion."^[2] He was told his biological mother was a white teenager who had run away from home^[3] and his father was African-American. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, where he played linebacker for two state championship football teams. After attending Florida A&M University, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Fine Arts from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.^[4] He is of African, German, and Irish descent.^[5][6]

Career

Sunjata played the role of a sailor on shore leave on the first post-9/11 themed episode of Sex and the City.^[7] He portrayed poet Langston Hughes in the film Brother to Brother (2004) and James Holt, a fashion designer, in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).^{[citation needed]}

He starred as firefighter Franco Rivera on the television program Rescue Me. During the summer of 2007, he also starred in the ESPN miniseries The Bronx is Burning as Reggie Jackson. He appeared as a Special Forces Operative in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012).^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, he won a Theatre World Award for his breakout Broadway performance as a gay Major League Baseball player who comes out to the public in Take Me Out, the Tony award-winning play, which also earned him nominations for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010-2011, he played "Nurse Eli" on the TV series Grey's Anatomy and had a relationship with Dr. Miranda Bailey.^{[8][citation needed]}

Beginning in 2013, he played FBI agent Paul Briggs on Graceland, which aired on USA Network. The show was canceled in 2015 after 3 seasons.^{[citation needed]} He also starred as Mecca the past lover of Monique in Power Book 2 on Stars for season 2.

Sunjata starred in the ABC/Hulu series High Potential, beginning in 2024. To date (February 18th, 2025,) he has been featured in all 13 episodes of the show.

Views on the September 11 attacks

On April 30, 2009, Sunjata announced that he would narrate Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, the last in the Loose Change documentary film series that advocates several conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks.^[9][10] Producers of Rescue Me created a subplot of the show for that year's fifth season in which Sunjata's character, Franco Rivera, creates controversy in the firehouse when he tells a journalist that he, like Sunjata in real life, believes 9/11 was an inside job.^[11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Twelfth Night, or What You Will	Valentine	TV movie
2001	The Feast of All Saints	Christophe Mercier	TV movie
2002	Bad Company	CIA Agent Carew
2004	Brother to Brother	Langston Hughes
	Noel	Marco
	Melinda and Melinda	Billy Wheeler
2006	The Devil Wears Prada	James Holt
2009	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	Brad
	Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup	The Narrator
2010	At Risk	Detective Win Garano	TV movie
	The Front	Detective Win Garano	TV movie
	Weakness	Alejandro
2012	One for the Money	Ranger
	Gone	Powers
	Generation Um...	Charles
	The Dark Knight Rises	Captain Jones
2014	Lullaby	Officer Ramirez
2017	Small Town Crime	Detective Whitman
2021	Christmas...Again?!	Mike Clybourne	TV movie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	D.C.	Lewis Freeman	Main Cast
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Bomb Squad Officer	Episode: "Remorse"
2001	All My Children	Zachary Pell	Regular Cast
2002	Sex and the City	Louis Leroy, USN	Episode: "Anchors Away"
2002–04	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	CSU Technician Burt Trevor	Recurring Cast: Seasons 3-5
2003	Ed	Danny Martin	Episode: "The Case"
2004–11	Rescue Me	Franco Rivera	Main Cast
2005	Law & Order	Kenny Tremont	Episode: "Mammon"
2006	Love Monkey	Diego	Recurring Cast
2007	The Bronx is Burning	Reggie Jackson	Main Cast
2008	Great Performances	Christian de Neuvillette	Episode: "Cyrano de Bergerac"
2009	Lie to Me	Andrew Jenkins	Episode: "Blinded"
2010	30 Rock	Chris	Episode: "College"
2010–11	Grey's Anatomy	Nurse Eli	Recurring Cast: Seasons 7-8
2012–13	Smash	Peter Gillman	Recurring Cast: Season 2
2013–15	Graceland	FBI Senior Agent Paul Briggs	Main Cast
2016	Notorious	Jake Gregorian	Main Cast
2017	Animal Kingdom	Smurf's Criminal Lawyer	Episode: "Betrayal"
2018–20	Manifest	Danny	Recurring Cast: Season 1, Guest: Season 2
2019	Happy!	Simon	Recurring Cast: Season 2
2020	Prodigal Son	Quinton Vosler	Episode: "Internal Affairs"
	#FreeRayshawn	SWAT Commander Nick Alvarez	Main Cast
	The Twilight Zone	Detective Peter Reece	Episode: "The Who of You"
	The Stand	Cobb	Episode: "The End"
2021–24	Power Book II: Ghost	Dante "Mecca" Spears	Main Cast: Season 2, Guest: Season 4
2022	Echoes	Charles "Charlie" Davenport	Main Cast
2023	The Company You Keep	Robert Renway	Episode: "All In"
2024–present	High Potential	Det. Adam Karadec[12]	Main Cast

Video Games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	TOCA Race Driver	Nick Landers/James Randall	Voice

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Twelfth Night	Valentine
2003	Take Me Out	Darren Lemming	Theatre World Award Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play Nominated – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
2007	Cyrano de Bergerac	Christian De Neuvillette
2013	Macbeth	Macduff
2014	The Country House	Michael Astor
2018	Saint Joan	Dunois, Bastard of Orleans

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Recipient	Outcome
2005	Satellite Award	Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series	"Rescue Me"	Won
2008	NAACP Image Awards	NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	"The Bronx Is Burning"	Nominated