Born: 29th December 1974
Episodes Broadcast: 2011

Mekhi Phifer was born in New York City, where he began his acting career via an open casting call for the 1995 Spike Lee picture Clockers. The same year, he earned his first television credits on New York Undercover and the telefilm The Tuskegee Airmen. A number of movies soon followed, amongst them the Jon Lovitz comedy High School High, Soul Food starring Vanessa L Williams, and the horror sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Additional television projects during the late Nineties included several episodes of Homicide: Life On The Street. In 1999, Phifer married his High School High castmate Malinda Williams; they had a son, Omikaye, before divorcing in 2003.

Phifer continued to be prominent on the silver screen after the turn of the century, when he took roles in Samuel L Jackson's version of Shaft, the modern-day Othello retelling O, Eminem's acclaimed 8 Mile, and the 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead. He was also both the director and producer of 2006's Puff, Puff, Pass, and he produced Nora's Hair Salon II in 2008. But Phifer's emphasis was increasingly on television: he starred in the medical drama ER for more than six seasons, made several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and was a lead actor on Lie To Me for a year. Meanwhile, a relationship with Oni Souratha produced a second son, also called Mekhi, in 2007.

In 2011, the BBC entered into a co-production arrangement with the Starz network in the United States for the fourth season of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood. A well-known American actor was sought to play a new lead character, rogue agent Rex Matheson; the part ultimately went to Phifer, although this would turn out to be the show's final run. During the decade, Phifer could also be seen in programmes such as House Of Lies, Secret City, Frequency and Truth Be Told, while movie roles came in the likes of Flypaper, The Suspect, Pandemic, and the Divergent series. In 2013, he married Reshelet Barnes. During the Twenties, Phifer had a recurring role in Love, Victor.