Nelsan ellis biography of christopher columbus

American actor (–)

Nelsan Ellis (November 30, &#;– July 8, )^[1] was an American actor. He achieved critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO television series True Blood (–), for which he won a Satellite Award from the International Press Academy, among other accolades.^[2] He also starred as Shinwell Johnson in Elementary from to ,^[3] and played a variety of guest roles on television.^[4]

In addition to his television work, Ellis appeared in several feature films throughout his career.

He portrayed Eddie Sweat in the Disney sports drama Secretariat (), was Martin Luther King Jr. in Lee Daniels's The Butler (), and was Bobby Byrd in the James Brown biopic Get on Up. His final acting role was in True to the Game, which was released posthumously.^[5]

Early life

Ellis was born in Harvey, Illinois,^[6] near Chicago, the son of Jackie Ellis and Tommie Lee Thompson.^[