Eamonn Roderique Walker (born 12 June 1962) is a British actor. On television, he began in the BBC sitcom In Sickness and in Health (1985–1987), the ITV crime dramas The Bill (1988–1989), Supply & Demand (1998), and the HBO series Oz (1997–2003), for which he won a CableACE Award.
He led the ITV television film Othello (2001) and had a further role in the Fox series Justice (2006–2007). Walker starred as Wallace Boden in the NBC drama Chicago Fire and its spinoffs from 2012 to 2024. His films include Young Soul Rebels (1991), Once in the Life (2000), Legacy (2010), and A Lonely Place to Die (2011).
Early life and education
Walker was born in West London to a Grenadian father and a Trinidadian mother, in 1962. Brought up in Islington in North London, Walker lived in Trinidad for six months when he was nine years old. He attended Hungerford School in Islington and began studying social work at the Polytechnic of North London. He trained as a dancer and later joined the Explosive Dance Theatre Company in London.
In 2003, he starred in the war film Tears of the Sun as Ellis "Zee" Pettigrew alongside Bruce Willis. Walker also appeared in an episode of the Fox Network drama series The Jury. The next year he made another return to British television in an episode of the crime drama Rose and Maloney.
Two more films followed in 2005, the crime thriller Lord of War with Nicolas Cage and the drama adventure film Duma. And from March 2005 he made his debut on Broadway, playing Mark Antony in Julius Caesar at the Belasco Theatre in midtown-Manhattan alongside Denzel Washington as Marcus Brutus.
In 2006, he played Dr Stephen Dakarai in three episodes of the medical drama series ER. He also starred in the Fox Network legal drama Justice, playing the part of Luther Graves.
In May 2007, he became the first black actor to play the role of Othello at either the original Globe Theatre or at the modern reconstruction, Shakespeare's Globe in London.
Then in 2008, he was in the second episode of the BBC drama series Bonekickers, playing Senator Joy, a United States Presidential candidate. He also starred in three films: the action drama Blood and Bone; the biographical music drama Cadillac Records, about the 1950s musical era, in which he plays the influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player Howlin' Wolf, which was released on 5 December 2008; and the romantic war drama The Messenger, in which Walker plays Colonel Stuart Dorsett. The first and the latter were released in 2009.
In October 2008, he performed on BBC Radio 4 in the first adaptation of Alice Walker's 1982 epistolary novel The Color Purple in the UK, serialised in ten parts.
Walker appeared on the NBC drama series Kings, which was based on the biblical story of David. He portrayed Reverend Ephram Samuels, an analogue of the biblical prophet Samuel. He also starred in the TV series The Whole Truth, alongside Maura Tierney and Rob Morrow, which premiered on 22 September 2010.
In 2011, Walker appeared on FX series Lights Out as trainer Ed Romeo, former trainer of Lights Leary's last opponent, Death Row Reynolds. Walker appeared in an episode of BBC One's Inspector George Gently, playing the father of a murder victim in 2012, and in two episodes of the BBC/Cinemax series Strike Back. In 2013, he portrayed Frederick Douglass in the BBC series Copper.
In 2020, Walker starred as the lead in Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis.
After leaving Chicago Fire (where he was a lead) due to personal issues, Walker rejoined the NBC series in episode 18 of season 13.
Personal life
Walker lives in the United States with his wife Sandra. They have three children.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role
!Notes
|-
| 1991 || Young Soul Rebels|| Carlton
|
|-
| 1994 || Shopping|| Peters
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000 || Once in the Life|| Tony
|
|-
|Unbreakable
|Dr. Mathison
|
|-
|2003
|Tears of the Sun
|Ellis 'Zee' Pettigrew
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2005
|Duma
|Ripkuna
|
|-
|Lord of War
|Andre Baptiste Senior
|
|-
|2008
|Cadillac Records
|Howlin' Wolf
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2009
|The Messenger
|Colonel Stuart Dorsett
|
|-
|Blood and Bone
|James
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2010
|The Company Men
|Danny
|
|-
|Legacy
|Darnell Gray Jr.
|
|-
|2011
|A Lonely Place to Die
|Andy
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
!Role
!Notes
|-
|1985
|Dempsey and Makepeace
|Edwin Shore
|Episode: "The Hit"
|-
|1985–1987
|In Sickness and in Health
|Winston ("Marigold")
|Main cast
|-
|1986
|Dramarama
|P.C. Garfield Walcott
|Episode: "Pig Ignorance"
|-
|1986
|The Two of Us
|Floyd
|Episode: "Cracks in the Pavement"
|-
|1987
|Bulman
|DC Little Jimmy
|Episode: "White Lies"
|-
|1988
|Tales of the Unexpected
|Bates
|Episode: "Mr. Know-All"
|-
|1988–1989
|The Bill
|P.C. Haynes
|Main cast
|-
|1991
|Bergerac
|Conrad
|Episode: "Warriors"
|-
| rowspan="2" |1992
|Love Hurts
|Young Ghod
|Episode: "Take It to the Limit"
|-
|The Old Boy Network
|Patrick
|Episode: "A Question of Sport"
|-
| rowspan="2" |1993
|Birds of a Feather
|Colin
|3 episodes
|-
|One Foot in the Grave
|Hugo
|Episode: "One Foot in the Algarve"
|-
| rowspan="2" |1995
|The Detectives
|D.I. Tyler
|Episode: "Flash"
|-
|Goodnight Sweetheart
|Thursfield
|Episode: "Don't Get Around Much Any More"
|-
|1995–1996
|The Governor
|Snoopy Oswald
|Main cast
|-
|1997–2003
|Oz
|Kareem Said
|Main cast
|-
|1998
|Supply & Demand
|Jake Brown
|4 episodes
|-
|2000
|Homicide: The Movie
|Eric Thomas James
|rowspan="3" |TV Movie
|-
|2001
|Othello
|John Othello
|-
|2002
|Whitewash: The Clarence Bradley Story
|Jew Don Boney
|-
| rowspan="2" |2004
|The Jury
|Ted Truziak
|Episode: "Last Rites"
|-
|Rose and Maloney
|George Parris
|2 episodes
|-
|2006
|ER
|Dr. Stephen Dakarai
|3 episodes
|-
|2006–2007
|Justice
|Luther Graves
|Main cast
|-
|2008
|Bonekickers
|Senator Joy
|Episode: "Warriors"
|-
| rowspan="2" |2009
|Moses Jones
|Solomon
|Main cast
|-
|Kings
|Reverend Ephram Samuels
|Main cast
|-
|2010
|The Whole Truth
|Terrence 'Edge' Edgecomb
|Main cast
|-
|2011
|Lights Out
|Ed Romeo
|2 episodes
|-
|rowspan=2| 2012
|Strike Back
|Walter Lutulu
|2 episodes
|-
|George Gently
|Ambrose Kenny
|Episode: "Gently Northern Soul"
|-
|2012–2024
|Chicago Fire
|Wallace Boden
|Main role
|-
|2013
|Copper
|Frederick Douglass
|Episode: "Aileen Aroon"
|-
|2014–2020
|Chicago P.D.
| rowspan="2" |Wallace Boden
|rowspan="2" |Recurring guest role
|-
|2017–2019
|Chicago Med
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year
!Title
!Role
!Notes
|-
|2005
|Julius Caesar
|
|
|-
|2007
|Othello
|Othello
|
|-
|2020
|Between Riverside and Crazy
|
|
|-
|2025
|Liberation
|George Padmore
|
|}
Audio book
- World War Z (2006) - Paul Redeker
Interviews
- The Bill Podcast: Eamonn Walker Part 1 (2018)
References
External links
- Interview with Eamonn Walker in Venice Magazine