Mo McRae

Actor Mo McRae enjoyed recurring roles on TV dramas "Sons of Anarchy" (FX, 2008-2014), "Murder in the First" (TNT, 2014-16) and "Pitch" (Fox, 2016-), while also showing up in awards favorites "The Butler" (2013), "Wild" (2014) and "All the Way" (2015). Born in Los Angeles, CA, McRae initially dreamed of becoming a basketball star before discovering a love of drama in his mid-teens. After booking various TV commercials, McRae made his acting debut in indie rom-com "The Blue Diner" (2001), and over the next few years landed over a dozen minor parts in TV shows such as "The Shield" (FX, 2002-08), "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) and "Cold Case" (CBS, 2003-2010), and films including "Thirteen" (2003), "Woman Thou Art Loosed" (2004) and "Dirty" (2005). He gained significantly more screentime as troubled quarterback Leon Hayes in sports drama "Gridiron Gang" (2008) and easy-to-please pothead Black in drug flick "Dough Boys" (2009), while appearances in hip-hop drama "Just Another Day" (2009) and high school horror "Detention" (2009), a recurring role as dealer-turned-informant Pooch in "Detroit 1-8-7" (ABC, 2010-11) and guest spots on "Southland" (TNT, 2009-2013) and "CSI:NY" (CBS, 2004-2013) also helped raise his profile. In 2012 McRae joined the cast of outlaw drama "Sons of Anarchy" (FX, 2008-2014) as One-Niners leader Tyler Yost. During his two-year stint on the show, he also appeared on the big screen as Black Panther leader Eldridge Huggins in "The Butler" (2013) and news reporter Jimmy Carter in "Wild" (2014), played a wealthy athlete accused of murder in three episodes of "Ray Donovan" (Showtime, 2013-) and made his directorial debut with the short film, "Kings and Beggars" (2013). In 2015 McRae played gang kingpin Anthony 'Suger' Cascade in the second season of "Murder in the First" (TNT, 2014-16) and later that same year landed his first leading film role as a commitment-phobic shoe salesman in the Queen Latifah-produced rom com "November Rule" (2015). Following a brief spell as Gabourey Sidibe's love interest J Poppa in musical phenomenon "Empire" (Fox, 2015-), McRae portrayed civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael in Lyndon B. Johnson biopic "All the Way" (2016), added parallel lives drama "Destined" (2016) and revenge movie "Aftermath" (2016) to his resume, and bagged the role of outfielder Blip Sanders in the fictional Major League Baseball series "Pitch" (Fox, 2016-17).