Robert Wisdom

For the 19th century politician in colonial Australia, see Robert Wisdom (politician).

Robert Ray Wisdom (born September 14, 1953) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Howard "Bunny" Colvin in The Wire, Norman "Lechero" St. John in Prison Break, and Harold Conway in the 2021 Hulu film Vacation Friends.

Robert Wisdom
Wisdom in 2008
Born	Robert Ray Wisdom (1953-09-14) September 14, 1953 (age 71) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	St. Albans School
Alma mater	Columbia University (BA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981–present

Early life

Robert Ray Wisdom was born on September 14, 1953 in Washington, D.C. to immigrant Jamaican parents. He is a graduate of St. Albans School and Columbia University, where he was a star sprinter on the university's track team.^[1][2][3]

Career

He appeared in four of the five seasons (primarily seasons three and four) of the HBO program The Wire as Howard "Bunny" Colvin.^[4] Wisdom had initially auditioned for the role of Stringer Bell.^[5] He has also starred in the 2004 films Barbershop 2: Back in Business and Ray, and the 2007 film Freedom Writers. He landed a regular role on season 3 of Prison Break playing the role of a Panamanian drug kingpin named Lechero.^[6] He also had recurring roles in the television series Supernatural, Happy Town, and Burn Notice.^[7] Wisdom was once a producer for NPR's All Things Considered.

From 2012 to 2013, Wisdom was a series regular in season one of the ABC drama series Nashville, as Coleman Carlisle.^[8]

From 2022 to 2023, Wisdom starred in the HBO black-comedy series Barry, as Jim Moss,^[9] for which he was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Clean Slate	Mort
1996	Hellraiser: Bloodline	Gambler Cenobite
	That Thing You Do!	Bobby Washington
	Invader	Colonel Jessie Pratt
	No Easy Way	Motel Manager
1997	Volcano	O.E.M. Staffer #2
	Face/Off	Tito Biondi
	Stir	Detective Williams
	Jamaica Beat	Inspector Sterling
1998	Three Businessmen	Leroy Jasper
	Mighty Joe Young	Kwell
1999	How to Get Laid at the End of the World	Quonset Jones
2000	The Heist	Slim	Video
	Dancing at the Blue Iguana	Eddie
2001	Rocky Road	Michael Jones
	Storytelling	Mr. Scott
	Osmosis Jones	Big Germ	Voice
	Hollywood Palms	The Dutchman
	D.C. Smalls	Miles	Short
2002	Coastlines	Bob Johnson
2003	Masked and Anonymous	Lucius
	Duplex	Officer Dan
2004	Barbershop 2: Back in Business	Alderman Lalowe Brown
	Killer Diller	Moker
	Haven	Mr. Sterling
	Ray	Jack Lauderdale
	The Forgotten	Carl Dayton
	Crazy like a Fox	Roy Fowler
2005	Mozart and the Whale	Blume
2006	The Hawk Is Dying	Billy Bob
2007	Freedom Writers	Dr. Carl Cohn
	Sex and Death 101	Alpha
2008	Ball Don't Lie	Officer Perkins
2009	The Collector	Roy
2010	Sympathy for Delicious	Prendell
	Passion Play	Malcolm
2011	Bright	Irwin	Short
	Rampart	Captain
2012	The Dark Knight Rises	Army Captain Parker
	Freelancers	Terrence Burke
2014	The Loft	Detective Cohagan
2016	Live Cargo	Roy
2017	Unforgettable	Detective Pope
2018	Beast of Burden	Mallory
	Revival!	Jesus' Father Co-Worker
2019	Motherless Brooklyn	Billy Rose
2021	Vacation Friends	Harold Conway
	A Journal for Jordan	Sgt. T.J. Canedy
2024	Dreams in Nightmares[11]	Virgil

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	The Bill	Johnny Olina-Olu	Episode: "Street Smart"
1993	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Waiter	Episode: "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb"
1995	Sahara	Sergeant Major Tambul	Television film
1996	The Sentinel	Lieutenant Williams	Episode: "The Debt"
	If These Walls Could Talk	Policeman	Television film
1997–1999	Poltergeist: The Legacy	Daniel Euwara	Recurring cast (season 2), guest (season 3-4)
	Cracker	Detective Danny Watlington	Main cast
1998	Arli$$	-	Episode: "His Name Is Arliss Michaels"
	Dharma & Greg	Prospero	Episode: "It Takes a Village"
1999	Wasteland	Professor James	Episode: "Pilot"
2000	For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story	Oscar Valdez	Television film
2001	ER	Dr. Hammond	Episode: "Piece of Mind"
	The District	Mr. Broyles	Episode: "To Serve and Protect"
2002	NYPD Blue	Eric Green	Episode: "Safari, So Good"
	Live from Baghdad	Bernard Shaw	Television film
2003	The Agency	Mr. Banga	Episode: "Absolute Bastard"
	Kingpin	Rolando	2 episodes
	Boomtown	Daryl "Chronic" Norcott	Episode: "Execution"
	Judging Amy	D.A. Matthews	Episode: "Tricks of the Trade"
2003–2008	The Wire	Howard "Bunny" Colvin	Guest (season 2 & 5), main cast (season 3-4)
2004	Century City	-	Episode: "Only You"
2005	Inconceivable	Earl Godcheaux	Episode: "Balls in Your Court"
2007	Close to Home	Reverend Scofield	Episode: "Eminent Domain"
	The Nine	Clarence Jones	Episode: "Man of the Year"
2007–2008	Prison Break	Norman "Lechero" St. John	Main cast (season 3)
2008–2009	Supernatural	Uriel	Recurring cast (season 4)
2009	NCIS	Warden Gene Halsey	Episode: "Caged"
	Lie to Me	Bonds	Episode: "Pilot"
	How I Met Your Mother	McCracken	Episode: "Murtaugh"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Father Theo Burdett	Episode: "Hell"
2010	Happy Town	Roger Hobbs	Main cast
	Hawthorne	Calvin Jenkins	Episode: "Afterglow"
2010–2011	Burn Notice	Vaughn Anderson	Recurring cast (season 4), guest (season 5)
2011	Nikita	CIA Director Abbott	Episode: "Pandora"
	Prime Suspect	Chuck Reingold	Episode: "Shame"
2012	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Cop Actor	Episode: "Paul Rudd Wears a Red Lumberjack Flannel Shirt"
2012–2013	Nashville	Coleman Carlisle	Main cast (season 1), guest (season 2)
2013	Grey's Anatomy	Mr. Hamilton	Episode: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
2014	Legends	Conrad Tomlin	2 episodes
2014–2015	Chicago P.D.	Commander Ron Perry	Recurring cast (season 1-2)
2015	12 Monkeys	Jeremy	Episode: "Pilot"
2015–2019	Ballers	Dennis Jerret	Recurring cast
2016–2017	Rosewood	Gerald Kelly	Guest: season 1, recurring cast: season 2
	Flaked	George Flack	Recurring cast
2017	Seven Bucks Digital Studios	Dennis Jerret	Episode: "Get Pumped Up for "Ballers" Season 3 with the Rock"
2018–2020	The Alienist	Cyrus Montrose	Main cast
2019	Blue Bloods	Inspector Andre Clifford	Episode: "Blues"
	The Fix	Buck Neal	Recurring cast
	The Hot Zone	Col. Vernon Tucker	Recurring cast (season 1)
	Watchmen	Seymour	Recurring cast
2020	Helstrom	Caretaker	Main cast
2021	The Big Leap	Earl Reyes	Recurring cast
2022	Black Bird	Edmund Beaumont	Recurring cast
2022–2023	Barry	Jim Moss	Recurring cast (season 3), main cast (season 4)
2023	Accused	Mitch Becker	Episode: "Scott's Story"
	Star Trek: Strange New Worlds	Dak’Rah	Episode: "Under the Cloak of War"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Spider-Man: Web of Shadows	Luke Cage
2009	The Lord of the Rings: Conquest	Uruk-Hai Officer #2
2012	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	Jonas Savimbi
2014	Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare	Prime Minister

References

1. "Robert Wisdom Biography". TV Guide. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
2. Erickson, Amanda (April 2011). "Actor Robert Wisdom '76 Brings Depth to His Roles". Columbia College Today. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
3. "30 Movie and TV Stars who Graduated from Columbia". Columbia Magazine. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
4. "Character profile - Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin". HBO. 2006. Retrieved September 26, 2007.
5. Abrams, Jonathan (2018). All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of the Wire. New York: Crown. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-451-49814-4.
6. "Exclusive Interview: 'Prison Break' Star Robert Wisdom". Buddy TV. 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2007.
7. "Robert Wisdom Cast on Burn Notice". March 18, 2010.
8. Ausiello, Michael (September 16, 2013). "'Nashville' Season 2: Powers Boothe Leaving as a Series Regular". TVLine. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
9. Glassman, Julia (2023-04-14). "Robert Wisdom Talks About Making Henry Winkler Cry in 'Barry'". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
10. "Nominations Announced for the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®" (Press release). Screen Actors Guild. January 10, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
11. Erbland, Kate (June 25, 2024). "Indie Spirit-Nominated 'Test Pattern' Filmmaker Shatara Michelle Ford Has Completed Next Film". IndieWire. Retrieved August 1, 2024.

External links

• Robert Wisdom at IMDb