Dennis Haysbert

Actor

Career Highlights:  Dennis Haysbert , a film and television actor, is currently playing the role of Jonas Blane in CBS’s special forces drama “The Unit”…He was nominated for a 2003 Golden Globe in his role as the President of the United States (David Palmer) in the popular FOX series “24”…A dependable actor, with a quietly commanding screen presence, Haysbert has appeared in numerous films including the 2002 critically acclaimed “Far From Heaven” where he played the gardener involved in a frowned-upon interracial romance…His feature break in film came in 1989 in “Major League” when he portrayed the voodoo-practicing Cuban ballplayer Pedro Cerrano – a role he reprised in “Major League 2” and “Major League: Back to the Minors”…He most recently returned to  the big screen to portray Nelson Mandela in “Goodbye Bafana” in addition to starring in “Breach” and “Jarhead”…Other memorable film projects include the 1992 civil rights romance “Love Field” with Michelle Pfeiffer, “Love and Basketball,” “What’s Cooking,” “The 13^th Floor,” “Waiting To Exhale,” “Heat,” “Absolute Power,” “Mr. Baseball” and “Navy SEALS”…He has also done voice work for various video games, most notably as Irving Lambert in Pandora Tomorrow the second installment in “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell” series and narrator of “Call of Duty: Finest Hour”…He also lent his voice to “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas”…Haysbert serves as the official spokesman for AllState Insurance company where his repeated phrase for the company’s commercials is “Are you in good hands?”…His early acting years were a string of episodic roles appearing on such television shows as “Lou Grant,” “Code Red,” “Off the Rack,” “Return to Lonesome Dove,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century” and “The Incredible Hulk.”

Updated: June, 2008
Courtesy NBC