Biographie

His large facial scar is the result of a bar fight he got involved in on his 25th birthday. His assailants sliced him with razor blades.

Edward Norton wrote a cameo for him in L'Incroyable Hulk (2008) because he was a fan of Sur écoute (2002).

During his Sept. 19, 2008 interview with XM radio's Opie & Anthony, he mentions that he is not ashamed of anything he's done as an actor. But, there is footage of him in Hammer pants and a half shirt from his dancing days that makes him cringe.

His obituary stated that he was only survived by a son, Elijah. However some sources state that he had three children. He did clarify in a 2020 interview that he has three children- none of whom are his biological children. He added that their biological father passed away when they were young and he is the only father that they've known.

He established Making Kids Win, a charitable organization whose primary objective is to build community centers in urban neighborhoods that are in need of safe spaces for children to learn and play.

[on how similar he is to his character Omar Little in Sur écoute (2002)] - I was never a thug. I never even liked to fight.

I love my characters. I play them with 100% honesty; there's no holding back. I understand where they are coming from.

[on how he got his facial scar] It happened on my 25th birthday. I was acting immaturely because I was on that "liquid courage" [alcohol], and some words were exchanged between me and a group of gentlemen. I was drunk so I fought and ended up getting jumped. They cut me with a razor from the top of my head to my neck. I nearly lost my life that night. That was my first wake-up call.

The first season was great. I was at an all-time high, getting more money than I ever seen. But I was careless. I blew all my money. See, I am from Brooklyn and when we get money we love to spread it around. I even bought me a crib on Baltimore Hill. I was out in the streets getting into a lot of trouble. I ended up getting evicted from my crib and having to stay with my baby mother until the next season. You only got paid for the episodes you were in and there wasn't any Omar in season two, so I was basically broke until season three. But I loved playing Omar.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and I respect them but I do my work and I go home. If they only see Omar as a one-dimensional character then they don't understand Sur écoute (2002) as a whole. What I will say about Omar is he helped the Black community by breaking this stereotype we have about homosexuals. I'm actually proud about that.