Andre Keith Braugher ( ; (July 1, 1962– December 11, 2023) was an American actor known for his roles as Detective Frank Pembleton in the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) and Captain Raymond Holt in the Fox/NBC police comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-2021). He won two Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.
Braugher started his acting career as part of The Public Theatre's Shakespeare in the Park, appearing in Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and As You Like It. He transitioned his career into television, gaining roles in Kojak (1989–1990), The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990), and The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), followed by leading roles in the ABC medical series Gideon's Crossing (2000–2001), the CBS crime series Hack (2002-2004), the FX crime miniseries Thief (2006) and the TNT comedy series Men of a Certain Age (2009–2011). He also had supporting roles in series such as The Good Fight (2022), New Girl (2011-2018), and BoJack Horseman (2014-2020).
Braugher's film roles include Glory (1989), Primal Fear (1996), City of Angels (1998), Frequency (2000), Duets (2000), Poseidon (2006), The Mist (2007), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Salt (2010), The Gambler (2014), and She Said (2022).
Early life
Andre Braugher was born in Chicago on July 1, 1962, the son of Sally and Floyd Braugher, a postal worker and heavy-equipment operator. and was raised in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep for high school and earned a scholarship to attend Stanford University. Initially majoring in engineering, Braugher found that he enjoyed acting and graduated with a BA in theatre in 1984. He then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division, graduating in 1988.
Career
thumb|left|Braugher in 1996
Braugher's first film role was in the 1989 film Glory as Thomas Searles, a free, educated black man from the North who joins the first black regiment in the Union Army. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1996 and 1998, winning in the latter year. He left Homicide after its sixth season but returned for the reunion television film. He also co-starred in the films City of Angels, Frequency, and Poseidon.
As part of the Shakespeare in the Park series at the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park, Braugher played the title role in the 1996 production of Henry V, for which he received an Obie Award. He narrated The Murder of Emmett Till for PBS. He played Detective Marcellus Washington in the TV series Hack from 2002 to 2004.
thumb|right|upright|Braugher in May 2011
In 2006, Braugher starred as Nick Atwater in the miniseries Thief for FX Networks, winning a second Emmy for his performance. He took supporting roles in the science fiction film The Mist (2007), He narrated the introduction to the Olympic Games on NBC from 2006 to 2010. Braugher narrated James Patterson's Alex Cross book Cross Fire (2010).
Braugher had a recurring role as defense attorney Bayard Ellis on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2011 to 2015, and starred as the lead character, Capt. Marcus Chaplin, in ABC's 2012 military drama TV series Last Resort. In 2017, Braugher had a recurring role in season four of the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman as California Governor Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz. From 2013 to 2021, he starred in the Golden Globe-winning TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine as the precinct captain, Raymond Holt. For his performance in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, he was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Personal life and death
In 1991, Braugher married actress Ami Brabson, who later appeared as Frank Pembleton's wife Mary in Homicide: Life on the Street. They had three sons, Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley, and lived in New Jersey. Braugher had previously been a smoker, but quit in 2010.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
!
|-
| 1989
| Glory
| Cpl. Thomas Searles
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1996
| Primal Fear
| Tommy Goodman
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1998
| Thick as Thieves
| Dink
|
|
|-
| 2022
| She Said
| Dean Baquet
|
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"| Notes
!
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1989
| Kojak: Ariana
| rowspan="4" | Detective Winston Blake
| rowspan="10" | Television film
|
|-
| Kojak: None so Blind
| Detective Winston Blake
|
|-
| Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture
| Dan Weston
|
|-
| 1993–1998
| Homicide: Life on the Street
| Detective Frank Pembleton
| 98 episodes
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| Passing Glory
| Father Joseph Verrett
| rowspan="3" | Television film
|
|-
| The Practice
| Dr. Ben Gideon
| Episode: "Gideon's Crossover"
| Cyrus Nowrasteh won the Pen USA West Literary Award for Best Teleplay for its screen writing.
|-
| 2013–2021
| Brooklyn Nine-Nine
| Captain Raymond Holt
| Main role; 153 episodes
|
|-
| 2016
| New Girl
| Captain Raymond Holt
| Episode: "Homecoming"
|
|-
| 2022
| The Good Fight
| Ri'Chard Lane
| Main role (season 6)
|
|-
| 2025
| Sausage Party: Foodtopia
| General Owens
| Voice, episode: "Sixteenth Course"; posthumously
|
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Venue
!
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1988 || Much Ado About Nothing || Benedick / Ensemble || rowspan="2" | Delacorte Theater, Shakespeare in the Park
|
|-
| King John || English Herald / Messenger
|
|-
| Twelfth Night || Antonio || rowspan="2" | Delacorte Theater, Shakespeare in the Park
|
|-
| 1993 || Measure for Measure || Angelo
|
|-
| 1994 || The Tragedy of Richard II || Henry Bolingbroke|| Anspacher Theatre, The Public Theater
|
|-
| 1996 || Henry V || King Henry V|| rowspan="2" | Delacorte Theater, The Public Theatre
|
|-
| 2019 || A Human Being, of a Sort|| Smokey || Williamstown Theater Festival
|
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Nominated work
! Result
!
|-
| 1995
| Viewers for Quality Television
| Best Actor in a Quality Drama Series
|Homicide: Life on the Street
|
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |1996
|CableACE Awards
|Actor in a Movie or Miniseries
|The Tuskegee Airmen
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|Homicide: Life on the Street
|
|
|-
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
| The Tuskegee Airmen
|
|
|-
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
| The Tuskegee Airmen
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1997
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
| rowspan="8"|Homicide: Life on the Street
|
|
|-
| Satellite Awards
| Best Actor – Television Series Drama
|
|
|-
| Television Critics Association Awards
| Individual Achievement in Drama
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1998
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| rowspan="3" | NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
|
|-
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
| City of Angels
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2001
| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
| Favorite Supporting Actor – Suspense
| Frequency
|
|
|-
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Actor – Television Series Drama
| rowspan="4"|Gideon's Crossing
|
|
|-
| NAACP Image Awards
| rowspan="4" | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| Hack
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
| 10,000 Black Men Named George
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | NAACP Image Awards
| rowspan="2" | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
|
|
|-
| 2009
| The Andromeda Strain
|
|
|-
| 2010
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
| rowspan="4"|Men of a Certain Age
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
|
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2014
| Critics' Choice Television Awards
| Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
| rowspan="17" |Brooklyn Nine-Nine
|
|
|-
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2015
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
|
|
|-
| NAACP Image Awards
| Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2020
| Critics' Choice Television Awards
| Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
|NAACP Image Awards
|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2022
| rowspan="2" |NAACP Image Awards
|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
|
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Outstanding Character Voice Performance – Motion Picture
|Spirit Untamed
|
|-
| 2023
| Critics' Choice Television Awards
| Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
| rowspan="1"|The Good Fight
|
|
|}