Henry Simmons

Henry Simmons
Henry Simmons, 2016
Born	Henry Oswald Simmons, Jr. July 1, 1970 Stamford, Connecticut, United States
Years active	1994 - present
Spouse(s)	Sophina Brown (2010 - present)
Awards	Grand Jury Award for Best Actor at the American Black Film Festival for his portrayal of Dr. Walter Chambers in South of Pico

Henry Oswald Simmons, Jr. (born July 1, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for portraying NYPD Detective Baldwin Jones on the ABC police drama, NYPD Blue, from 2000-2005, and as on Agent Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie on ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Life and career

Early life

Simmons was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Aurelia, a school teacher, and Henry Simmons, Sr., an IRS agent.^[1] He is one of four children, including his twin sister, another sister and a brother. Simmons earned a basketball scholarship to Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, where he earned a business degree.^[2]

Career

While attending Franklin Pierce College, he experimented in theater.^[3] After graduating from college, he briefly worked at a Fortune 500 company in Stamford. Unhappy with his job, Simmons began to study acting and after a few bit roles, he landed a recurring role on the soap opera, Another World.

Simmons is best known for playing Detective Baldwin Jones on the ABC drama, NYPD Blue. He also played Queen Latifah's boyfriend in the 2004 action/comedy film Taxi. He had a leading role in the CBS legal drama Shark, starring James Woods, and played a leading role in World's Greatest Dad. He recently starred in the ABC-TV comedy series Man Up!. His 2014 projects included feature films From the Rough, starring Taraji P. Henson, and No Good Deed, starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson.

Since 2014, Simmons appears on ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portraying mechanic S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie. After being a recurring character on season 2, he was promoted as a regular character for season 3.

Simmons can be seen in a 2015 Lexus commercial, answering the question "What makes us, us."

Personal life

He married actress Sophina Brown in May 2010.^[4]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1994	Above the Rim	Starnes
1999	On the Q.T.	Peter
1999	Let It Snow	Mitch Jennings
2002	Gentleman's Game, AA Gentleman's Game	Walter Kane
2004	Taxi	Jesse
2005	Are We There Yet?	Frank
2006	Something New	Kyle
2006	Madea's Family Reunion	Issac
2006	Insurgents, TheThe Insurgents	Marcus
2007	South of Pico	Dr. Walter Chambers
2009	World's Greatest Dad	Mike Lane
2011	From the Rough	Kendrick Paulsen Jr.
2014	No Good Deed	Jeffery Granger

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Saturday Night Live	Basketball Player
1994	Cosby Mysteries, TheThe Cosby Mysteries	Kevin Lewis	One episode
1994–95	New York Undercover	Jackson	Two episodes
1997–99	Another World	Tyrone Montgomery
2000–05	NYPD Blue	Det. Baldwin Jones	106 episodes
2004	Spartacus	Draba	Television film
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Jesse	Television film
2006	Pepper Dennis	Curtis Wilson	Two episodes
2006–08	Shark	Issac Wright	32 episodes
2009	The Cleaner	Bobby Carmichael	One episode
2009	Georgia O'Keeffe	Jean Toomer	Television film
2009	CSI: Miami	Andrew Ballard	One episode
2009	Raising the Bar		One episode
2011	Man Up	Grant
2012	"Common Law"	Morgan Watkins	One Episode
2013	Second Generation Wayans	Baron 'The Truth' Fouse
2013–2014	Ravenswood	Simon Beaumont
2014–present	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Alphonso "Mac" MacKenzie	Season 2 (recurring;) Season 3 (series regular) 24 episodes
2014	Transparent	Derek	Episode "Pilot"
2014	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Shakir “The Shark” Wilkins	Episode "American Disgrace"

References

1. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20131151,00.html
2. CBS bio
3. CBS bio
4. Miller, Gerri (2011-10-17). "Henry Simmons Lightens Up: He plays it for laughs in Man Up!". BET.com.

External links

• Henry Simmons at the Internet Movie Database