Avery Brooks

Avery Franklin Brooks born October 2 1948 is an American actor director singer narrator and educator He is best known for his television roles as Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek Deep Space Nine as Hawk on Spenser For Hire and its spinoff A Man Called Hawk and as Dr Bob Sweeney in the Academy Awardnominated film American History X Brooks was born in Evansville Indiana and raised in Gary Indiana He attended Oberlin College where he studied music and theater After graduating from Oberlin he moved to New York City to pursue his acting career Brookss first professional acting role was in the play The Great White Hope in 1970 He went on to appear in a number of Broadway productions including The Wiz and A Chorus Line He also starred in the television miniseries Roots in 1977 In 1993 Brooks was cast as Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek Deep Space Nine The series ran for seven seasons and Brookss performance as Sisko was critically acclaimed He won a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television in 1995 After Star Trek Deep Space Nine ended Brooks continued to work in television and film He starred in the series Shark from 2006 to 2008 and he appeared in the films American History X and The Score Brooks is also a talented singer and musician He has released two albums Song of My People and The Way I Feel He is also a gifted director and he has directed a number of theater productions and television episodes