Y'lan Noel

Y'lan Noel (born August 19, 1988) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Daniel King in the HBO television series Insecure (2016–2018).^[1] He played the lead role in the 2018 horror film The First Purge.^[2] For his role as Troy Marshall in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Noel was nominated for the British Academy Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role.^[3]

Y'lan Noel
Born	(1988-08-19) August 19, 1988 (age 36) New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Morehouse College New York University (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2012–present

Early life

Noel was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was further raised in Queens until his family moved to Decatur, Georgia. He is of Afro-Panamanian descent. He began attending Morehouse College and transferred to New York University.^[1] He continued through Tisch School of Arts until he was called away to Los Angeles.^[4] Noel is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Career

In 2015, Noel landed the role of Daniel King on Insecure. Noel described Daniel as being the opposite of him, "I was nervous about playing Daniel. I love being around women...but I’ve always felt a bit awkward, well, insecure, around women I’ve had crushes on. Daniel doesn’t seem to have any of that awkwardness... Daniel’s extremely confident and goes after what he wants."^[5]

In 2018, Noel played the lead role of Dmitri in The First Purge, which he considered very challenging, having said, "I feel like I started to actually physiologically relate to these fictional characters and what they would have to experience if they were to go about surviving the Purge."^[6]

In 2021, Noel was reported as cast in the lead for a television pilot based on the Sam Greenlee novel The Spook Who Sat By The Door, to be produced by Lee Daniels.^[7][8][9]

Personal life

Noel is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	The Spartan King	Jack	Short film
2013	House of Another	Henry Gibson
2018	The First Purge	Dmitri
2018	Slice	Big Cheese
2018	The Weekend	Aubrey
2020	The Photograph	Young Isaac Jefferson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	The Hustle	Kutta	Main role
2016–2018	Insecure[11]	Daniel King	Recurring (season 1) Main role (season 2–3)
2021	The Spook Who Sat by the Door	Dan Freeman	Main role; unaired pilot
2024	Lady in the Lake[12]	Ferdie Platt	Main role; limited series

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2024	Call of Duty: Black Ops 6	Troy Marshall	[13]