Ntare Mwine

Ntare Mwine
Mwine in 2009
Born
Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine

1967 (age 57–58)
Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Virginia (BA)
New York University (MFA)
Years active1981–present
Websitewww.bewareoftime.com

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (born 1967) is an American-Ugandan stage and film actor, playwright, photographer and documentarian.[1] He was credited as Ntare Mwine until 2008, and by his full name thereafter.

Background

Mwine was born in Hanover, New Hampshire to Ugandan parents in 1967.[2] His father was a Harvard Law School-educated attorney.[2][3] His parents separated when Ntare was 7, with Ntare spending time with his father (who was then working in finance in the United States, including a period at the World Bank in Washington D.C.) and his mother (who went to Kenya to teach psychology at the University of Nairobi).[4]

Mwine earned a master's degree in Fine Arts from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1992.[5] He also studied at the University of Virginia, the Moscow Arts Theatre, and the Royal National Theatre in London.[6] Basing himself in Los Angeles,[4] Mwine's first professional job was the role of Paul in the 1992 U.S. National Tour of Six Degrees of Separation, for which he received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actor.

Mwine has also expressed his views on sticky subjects including LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS explaining: "I'm an artist. [I] have to tell stories".[7]

Television and film

Mwine has appeared in movies including Blood Diamond, where he made his film debut. His first appearance in television was in New York Undercover in 1995. Recent appearances include a recurring role as the mysterious Usutu in Heroes.[8] Mwine originally had the role of Joseph in the unaired pilot episode of the show; this part was removed when NBC took on the show full-time, due to the character's plot revolving around terrorist activity.[9] Mwine also appeared as Tom Adler in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and as Maurice Devereaux in The Riches.

Mwine played a minor, yet recurring, character in HBO and David Simon's television series Treme. The series deals with life in the Tremé district of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In 2018, Mwine featured as Ronnie in the Showtime television series The Chi, which follows residents of the Chicago South Side.

On April 5, 2021, Mwine joined the cast of the Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller. Mwine stars as Detective Raymond Griggs, a character created specifically for the series based on the novel The Brass Verdict.[10]

Photography

Mwine's photographic work has been displayed at the United Nations, The Latino Art Museum in Pomona, California, UCLA's Fowler Museum of Cultural History, and other museums worldwide. It was a central focus of Biro, and prominently featured on Six Feet Under.[11] His photography has also appeared in Vanity Fair.[12]

Stage

Mwine began appearing in stage productions in 1992, appearing as the con man posing as Sidney Poitier's son in Six Degrees of Separation,[13] and in The Riddles Of Race, Circa '68 in 1994,[14] In 1992 and 1997, Mwine was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Non-Resident Production, for his role in Six Degrees of Separation at the National Theatre and Nomathemba at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He played Julius Van George in Scent of the Roses at the Seattle Contemporary Theatre in 1998.[15]

Mwine's first effort as a playwright, a barestage one-man show entitled Biro, about a HIV-positive Ugandan former rebel soldier who enters the United States illegally for treatment.[16] The play, depicting a 90-minute explanation from the eponymous character to his lawyer about how he came to be in a Texas jail, premiered in early 2003 at Uganda's National Theatre.[2] It later showed at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York, as well as in Los Angeles, Seattle, London, and throughout Africa.[6][17] Mwine performed the work for multiple African heads of state and then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2004.[4] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer described his performance as "radiant", particularly so given the dark subject matter.[18]

Documentary work

Basing on the article by Bryan Morel Publications at (https://www.bryanmorel.com/), Mwine's inaugural documentary, Beware of Time was screened at the 2004 Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Black International Cinema in Berlin. Describing the lives of HIV-positive Ugandans, it was named the Best Film on Matters Relating to Marginalized People, and features a rare interview with Amule Amin, brother of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.[6][19]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1998 Desert Blue Agent Green
2006 Blood Diamond M'Ed
2009 40 Godwill
2010 The Space Between Cameroon
2016 Queen of Katwe Tendo
Boost Ramaz 'Ram'
2017 Del Playa Professor Appel
2018 Dirt Captain Joe Freeman
2020 Farewell Amor Walter
Tazmanian Devil Julius Ayodele

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1995 New York Undercover Mitnick Episode: "CAT"
1996 Law & Order Mark Davies Episode: "Charm City"
1997 Clover Gaten's brother-in-law TV movie
Don King: Only in America Emissary TV movie
1998 Brimstone Detective Clemens 2 episodes
1999 Seven Days Clifford Episode: "Vegas Heist"
2000 Perfect Murder, Perfect Town Det. Everett Miniseries
2001, 2008 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Tom Adler 2 episodes
2002, 2008 ER Asst. D.A. / Paul Traylor 2 episodes
2005 Alias Benjamin Masari Episode: "Bob"
2006 The Unit Isaias Episode: "Unannounced"
Sleeper Cell Yakubu Episode: "Torture"
2006–2009 Heroes Joseph Al Amir / Usutu 12 episodes
2008 The Riches Maurice Devereaux 4 episodes
2010–2013 Treme Jacques Jhoni 26 episodes
2013 Bones Joseph Mbarga Episode: "The Survivor in the Soap"
The Newsroom Pastor Moses Episode: "Unintended Consequences"
2014 Perception ASAC Matthew Jefferies Episode: "Prologue"
2015 The Knick D.W. Garrison Carr 3 episodes
2016–2017 Bosch Craig 2 episodes
2017 Lethal Weapon Father Darryl Patterson Episode: "The Seal Is Broken"
2018 Siren Professor Aldon Decker Episode: "The Mermaid Discovery"
Madam Secretary Rashad Badawi Episode: "My Funny Valentine"
Random Acts of Flyness Friend 1 Episode: "They Got Some S**t That'll Blow Out Our Back"
2018–2020 The Chi Ronnie Davis 30 episodes
2020 Shrill Lucky Episode: "Wedding"
Room 104 Keir Episode: "Generations"
2022–2023 The Lincoln Lawyer Detective Raymond Griggs 10 episodes
2023 Dead Ringers Silas Jordan 2 episodes
TBA Washington Black Gaius Post-production
TBA Firebug Freddy Fasano In production

See also

References

  1. ^ Profile, sho.com. Accessed July 13, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Arnot, Chris (November 27, 2003). "'I just take what strikes me'". The Guardian. Manchester. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  3. ^ Arkatov, Janice (October 31, 1992). "Ntare Mwine Is New Kid in the Spotlight in 'Six Degrees'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Martelle, Scott (October 19, 2005). "Ntare Mwine's journey of discovery". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  5. ^ "Alumni Roster: 1990s". Grad Acting Alumni Association. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c Odubeng, Maureen (June 26, 2009). "Blood Diamonds star Mwine and YOHO produce short film". Mmegi. Gaborone. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  7. ^ Needle, Chael. "Ntare Mwine | A&U Magazine". Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  8. ^ "Hot Box: Television worth talking about". Toronto Star. July 16, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2014. And Ntare Mwine has been added to NBC's Heroes. On Heroes, Mwine will play an African who is artistic and close to many of the original heroes. His special abilities will be developed throughout his nine-episode arc.
  9. ^ "theTVaddict.com interview: Tim Kring Heroes Creator". TVaddict.com. October 12, 2006. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  10. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (April 5, 2021). "'The Lincoln Lawyer': Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine Set Joins Netflix Drama – Deadline". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  11. ^ "Writer". Beware of Time. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  12. ^ Sancton, Julian (April 2, 2010). "Treme Captures the New Orleans Funeral Only Too Well". Vanity Fair. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  13. ^ Cruice, Valerie (February 14, 1993). "On the road with Marlo Thomas". The New York Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  14. ^ Brantley, Ben (March 23, 1994). "Review/Theater; The Day the Bronx Died". The New York Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  15. ^ Berson, Misha (July 24, 1998). "'Scent Of The Roses' — South African Drama Lacks Dynamism, Is Grounded By Earthbound Writing". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  16. ^ Berson, Misha (April 3, 2005). "AIDS theater now: A continent's crisis". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  17. ^ "Theatre Guide". The New York Times. April 30, 2004. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  18. ^ Adcock, Joe (April 15, 2005). "One-man 'Biro' shines amid appalling themes". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  19. ^ Otiso, Kefa M. (2006). Culture and Customs of Uganda. Greenwood. p. 47. ISBN 0-313-33148-0. Retrieved November 4, 2014.