As the critically acclaimed TV show, From, unfolds, it has become more apparent that Harold Perrineau’s character is central to the story. In From Season 2, human-like night monsters continue to hunt the unwilling residents of the hellish town. While they grapple to maintain a sense of normalcy, the possibility of unraveling and escaping the mysterious town that has trapped them all seems to hang on Perrineau’s Boyd Stevens.
Playing the self-appointed sheriff in From evokes nostalgia for Harold Perrineau’s days as Michael Dawson in ABC’s Lost. Although the Boyd Stevens role has provoked new interest in Harold Perrineau, the American actor has had a busy career across the three major acting platforms—stage, film, and television. Harold Perrineau’s career has spanned over three decades and a half with memorable roles that have endeared him to television audiences and moviegoers.
Harold Perrineau Had His Breakthrough Role as Augustus Hill in Oz
The From actor began his career on stage in 1986 as a dancer. He was cast as Tyrone Jackson in Fame: The Musical, a stage musical based on Alan Parker’s teen musical drama film, Fame (1980). The years that followed saw him appear in several television shows. From The Cosby Show to Law & Order, ER, and I’ll Fly Away, Harold Perrineau was seen in various popular shows. However, he had no major television role until 1997, when he was cast as Augustus Hill in Oz. Alongside Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, and Eamonn Walker, he took on a leading role in the HBO series.
The prison drama series created by Tom Fontana had Perrineau play a wheelchair-bound prisoner who was also the show’s narrator. He portrayed the character across the six seasons of the series which premiered in July 1997 and concluded in February 2003. Perrineau’s portrayal of Oz’s most memorable character and the critical acclaim of the series paved the way for him to land more roles. More than that, the role helped him evolve as an actor as it pushed the boundaries of what he had been accustomed to in the profession.
Playing Link in The Matrix Film Series Boosted Harold Perrineau’s Film Career
Harold Perrineau’s first film role was Tommie in Shakedown, a 1988 action-crime drama directed by James Glickenhaus. Two years later, he played a Tugh Leader in Abel Ferrara’s King of New York (1990) and then appeared in 1995’s Smoke and Flirt. The Augustus Hill actor got his first major film role the following year. He played Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Alongside the other cast members of the romantic crime film, the role earned Perrineau an ACCA nomination for Best Cast Ensemble. Regardless, his film career didn’t get much mainstream traction until the 2000s.
At the turn of the decade, Harold Perrineau portrayed various characters in several movies, including Woman on Top (2000), Prison Song (2001), and On Line (2002). His movie résumé improved in 2003 when he was cast to play Link in the second and third installments of The Matrix film series. Marcus Chong played Tank, the original operator of the Nebuchadnezzar in the first Matrix film. However, he was fired and written out of the script over a financial disagreement, allowing for Harold to take his place as Link.
Harold Perrineau then expanded his career when he starred alongside Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, and Idris Elba in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s post-apocalyptic horror film, 28 Weeks Later (2007). For the remainder of the 2010s, he appeared in films like Gardens of the Night, Your Name Here, The Killing Jar, and 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. His recent feature film roles are in Cold Brook (2018), Dumplin’ (2018), and Without Ward (2022). He’s also the voice of Guard Pantius in Matt Kiel’s Unicorn Boy (2023).
Lost Cemented The From Actor’s Small-Screen Success
Harold Perrineau’s next big TV role after Oz’s Augustus Hill was in ABC’s Lost. He played Michael Dawson in the science fiction drama series now compared to MGM+’s From. While the latter series must prove its purpose hasn’t been pigeonholed to recapture Lost’s charm, the ABC show remains Perrineau’s most significant television role, and indeed a major highlight of his career. The series had Michael Dawson and other survivors of a plane crash striving to survive a mysterious island.
Perrineau’s portrayal of the character mostly received positive reviews. He was a regular in Lost Seasons 1, 2, and 4, but featured as a guest in the sixth and final season. After Lost, Harold Perrineau played Detective Leo Banks in The Unusuals and then pulled off a successful recurring role as Damon Pope in Season 5 of FX’s Sons of Anarchy (2012). His major television roles in subsequent years are as Stevie, Manny, and Damon Houserman in Wedding Band (2012-2013), Constantine (2014-2015), and Full Circle (2016), respectively.
Before From gave Harold Perrineau‘s career a new lease of life, he kept himself relevant with recurring roles in Criminal Minds, Star, and The Rookie. While at that, he played Dean Simms in TNT’s comedy-drama, Claws. The role won him an NAACP Image Award in 2020 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.and Idris Elba
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