Most people know Hill Harper as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, the prodigious
and contemplative chief medical examiner on the popular television
drama CSI: NY.
What most people don’t know is that the 38-year-old actor, deemed one of People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2004, is something of a prodigy himself.
Born in Iowa, raised in Northern California and now living in Laurel Canyon, Harper graduated magna cum laude from Brown University. He went on to simultaneously earn a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a graduate degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Still, from college on he was engaged in acting as a member of the Boston Black Folk’s Theatre Co., one the nation’s oldest and most respected African American traveling theatre troupes. And he is an accomplished actor with an impressive list of credits in film and television shows such as He Got Game, Lackawanna Blues, ER, NYPD Blue and Married…With Children, No matter how busy his career, Harper makes time for another profound passion: service to organizations that encourage the education of young people and foster their development. In 2006 Harper published his first book, Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny, modeled after Rilke’s classic Letters to a Young Poet. A motivational book designed to inspire and mentor young African American men, Harper’s Letters debuted at No. 6 on the New York Times best-seller list in the self-help/miscellaneous category, rose to No. 7 on the Washington Post’s best-seller list and remains a top selling title on Amazon.com. In conjunction with the publication of Letters, Harper established MANifest Your Destiny, a foundation whose aim is to provide young African American men with the support, community and resources needed to rise to their fullest potential. Recently, Harper, who is single, spoke to RealTALK LA about his life, work and why he believes that giving back should not be seen as a responsibility, but rather as a privilege and a priority. CONTINUE READING..
