Lance Reddick Biography

Born on December 31, 1962, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Lance Reddick grew up in an affluent family. His father was a lawyer. He began taking piano lessons quite early in his life and was aspiring to become a classical music composer.

When he was a teenager, he attended the Peabody Preparatory Institute and completed a summer program on music theory and composition at the Walden School.

In his youth, Reddick used to think that people who wanted to be actors were silly, but always felt an indescribable pull towards the profession.

After earning his Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, he relocated to Boston, Massachusetts in the 1980s to start attending the Yale School of Drama in 1991. Reddick eventually graduated from Yale with a Master of Fine Arts degree.

The first time Lance Reddick appeared on the small screen was in a season two episode of ‘New York Undercover’ in 1996. In 1997, he was featured in the telefilm ‘What the Deaf Man Heard’.

Reddick was cast as Anton Le Farge in Alfonso Cuarón’s 1998 film ‘Great Expectations’, which was based on Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel of the same name. In the 1998 monster film ‘Godzilla’, he appeared in an uncredited role of a soldier.

He appeared in the 1998 action thriller ‘The Siege’ that revolves around the clandestine US abduction of a terror suspect and the subsequent series of terror attacks in America. Besides Reddick, actors like Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, and Annette Bening were also involved in the film.

In 2000, he played the recurring character Detective Willis Simms in the short-lived CBS crime drama series ‘Falcone.’ That year, he also appeared in the adventure romance ‘I Dreamed of Africa’.

Between 2000 and 2001, he portrayed Johnny Basil, a.k.a. Desmond "Zil" Mobay, an undercover narcotics officer with a false identity of a Jamaican drug addict, in the HBO drama series ‘Oz’. He also played the recurring character Dr Taylor in six episodes of NBC’s ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’.

Reddick played the mysterious Matthew Abaddon in ABC’s suspense drama series ‘Lost’ (2008-09). He appeared in ‘Won’t Back Down’ in 2012 and ‘White House Down’ in 2013. In the 2014 critically acclaimed thriller film ‘The Guest’, he essayed the role of Major Carver. That year, he portrayed Charon for the first time in the first John Wick film.

He portrayed the diabolical CEO Christian DeVille in the Comedy Central show ‘Corporate’ (2018-2020) and LAPD chief Irvin Irving in Amazon Studio’s police procedural drama ‘Bosch’ (2014-2021).
 

His other films include: 'Angel Has Fallen' (2019),  ‘Godzilla vs. Kong' (2021) and 'John Wick: Chapter 4' (2021).

Lance Reddick put out his debut album ‘Contemplations & Remembrances’ through Christai Productions on September 10, 2007. It is comprised of nine classical tracks: ‘Walking’, ‘Time to Say Goodbye’, ‘Woman in Black’, ‘Hey John’, ‘Voices’, ‘Work of Art’, ‘Our Journey’, ‘Tick Tock’, and ‘Remembering’.

Lance Reddick played deputy commissioner for operations turned lawyer Cedric Daniels in the crime-drama ‘The Wire.’ Created by David Simon, the series aired on HBO from June 2, 2002, to March 9, 2008. Widely considered to be one of the greatest TV shows of all time, it won four Critics Polls Awards, one WGA Award, and one TCA Award.

In the FOX science-fiction series ‘Fringe’ (2008-13), Reddick was cast as the Homeland Security special agent and the head of the Fringe division Phillip Broyles. For his performance, he was nominated for two Saturn Awards.

In June 2011, Lance Reddick exchanged wedding vows with his childhood sweetheart Stephanie Day. The couple had three children

Lance Reddick died on March 17, 2023, at his home in Los Angeles.