Date of Birth : Dec 29th 1974
Phifer attended an open casting call for director Lee’s Clockers as a narcotics dealer embroiled in a murder coverup. He followed that impact role with another in the comedy spoof feature High School High (which also starred his former wife Malinda Williams) and continued by co-starring in the fright flick I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr. His current television work includes his regular role as Gregory Pratt on the medical drama ER, that he started in 2002. Currently in his 5th year, Phifer’s character has grown from a rebellious intern to an older, mature attending physician.
Phifer’s television credits include the movies The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), HBO’s Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground (1997), and Brian’s Song (2001) (as former Chicago Bear Sayers). He received additional notice for his performance opposite singer Beyoncé Knowles (from Destiny’s Child) on MTV’s alternative take on the Carmen legend with the movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001). Phifer guest-starred in the series Homicide: Life on the Street and New York Undercover. Likewise, he earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for another TV movie, A Lesson Before Dying, opposite Don Cheadle.
Among Phifer’s other big-screen credits are Soul Food, The Biography of Spud Webb, Starring Mekhi Phifer as Mekhi Phifer, Hell’s Kitchen, NYC, Tears of a Clown, O (as Odin aka O), and the thriller An Invited Guest (as Silk). He more recently appeared in Impostor (with Gary Sinise, Madeline Stowe and Vincent D’Onofrio of NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent), as well as Paid in Full and director Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile, opposite Eminem, Brittany Murphy and Kim Basinger.