We love to celebrate character actors on the Back Row, but I hesitate to call Harry Lennix a character actor. He does tend to play supporting roles in film and television, and inevitably gives solid performances, but I’m not sure I’d classify him as a “That Guy” simply because he seems like the kind of actor who is bound to get a starring turn that will define the rest of his career. Born in Chicago, the youngest of four kids, Lennix majored in acting at Northwestern University and began his professional acting career in the 1989 movie A Mother’s Courage: The Mary Thomas Story. He then went on to act in such films as Collateral Damage, The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions, Stomp the Yard and Across the Universe. But it’s in the realm of television that Lennix really shines, as he’s performed roles on popular TV series ER, Ally McBeal, House, and 24. Probably my favourite role of his, though, was in the all-too-short-lived Joss Whedon sci-fi series Dollhouse. Lennix turns 47 today.