Charles S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series Roc (1991–1994) and the television film The Piano Lesson (1995), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His other accolades include three Primetime Emmy Awards and three NAACP Image Awards.
Also recorded as Charles Stanley Dutton
Charles S. Dutton

John Mathew Smith from Laurel Maryland, USA · Charles Dutton · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Born
- 1951. · Baltimore.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- actor, television producer and director.
- Education
- Yale School of Drama and Towson University.
- Honours
- NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, Theatre World Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary summary
Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series Roc (1991–1994) and the television film The Piano Lesson (1995), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. His other accolades include three Primetime Emmy Awards and three NAACP Image Awards.
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wikidata · Q706513 · wikipedia · Charles S. Dutton
In this article
Early life
Early life
Dutton has also appeared in many feature films such as Alien 3 (1992), Menace II Society (1993), A Time to Kill (1996), Black Dog (1998), Cookie's Fortune (1999), and Gothika (2003).
Dutton studied at Yale School of Drama and Towson University. The recorded working language is English. Distinctions recorded are NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.
Charles Stanley Dutton was born on January 30, 1951, on the east side of Baltimore, Maryland. His father was a truck driver and his parents divorced when he was four. He grew up in Baltimore's Latrobe Homes public housing project. In his youth, Dutton dropped out of school before finishing middle school. He had a short-lived stint as an amateur boxer with the nickname "Roc", a nickname derived from "Rockhead", due to rock throwing battles which took place during Dutton's childhood. In 1967, when he was 16, Dutton got into a fight that resulted in the death of a man Dutton claimed had attacked him with a knife.
Prison convictions, discovering acting, and education
Prison convictions, discovering acting, and education
After the knife fight, Dutton pleaded guilty in 1967 to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison, which he began serving at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, Maryland. Out on parole after 18 or 20 months, he was arrested on robbery and handgun charges. He was sentenced on the handgun violation and sent to the Maryland Penitentiary, near his boyhood home, for three more years. A fight with a guard added on another eight years. In reference to this, Dutton later said, "I got three years for killing a black man and eight for punching a white man." During his prison term, Dutton was stabbed by another prisoner and nearly died. He became interested in radical movements and the Black Panther Party. Several months into his second prison term, Dutton was sentenced to six days of solitary confinement for refusing to clean toilets. Prisoners were allowed to take one book and, unintentionally, he grabbed an anthology of black playwrights. He enjoyed the book so much that upon release from solitary, he petitioned the warden to start a drama group for the winter talent show. The warden agreed on the condition that Dutton go back to school and get his GED. Dutton accomplished that and eventually completed a two-year college program at Hagerstown Junior College (now Hagerstown Community College) in Hagerstown, Maryland, graduating with an Associate of Arts degree in 1976. Dutton was paroled on August 20, 1976. After his release from prison, he enrolled as a drama major at Towson State University (now Towson University) in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978. After his time at Towson, Dutton earned a master's degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama in 1983.
Acting career
Acting career
In 1984, Dutton made his Broadway debut in August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, winning a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1988, Dutton played Leroy Brown in Crocodile Dundee II and a killer in the television miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan opposite Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey. In 1990, Dutton earned a second Best Actor Tony nomination for his role in another Wilson play, The Piano Lesson. Dutton co-starred in Alien 3, the debut film of director David Fincher, then co-starred in 1993's Rudy. Other films he has appeared in include Get on the Bus, A Time to Kill, Cookie's Fortune, Cry, the Beloved Country, Surviving the Game, Menace II Society, Secret Window, and A Low Down Dirty Shame. Dutton won Outstanding Guest Actor Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2003 for his roles in The Practice and Without a Trace. He was previously nominated in 1999 for his guest-starring role as Alvah Case in the HBO prison drama Oz in its second-season premiere episode. For this role, he was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Also in 1999, he starred in an ensemble cast in Aftershock: Earthquake in New York in which he played the Mayor of New York City. Dutton gained acclaim for his comedy show Roc shown on FOX television (but produced by HBO) from 1991 to 1994. His work in this role won him an NAACP Image Award. He co-starred in the popular but short-lived 2005 CBS science fiction series, Threshold. In 2000, Dutton directed the HBO miniseries The Corner. The miniseries was close to his heart, for Dutton grew up on the streets of East Baltimore. It was adapted from The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (Broadway Books, 1997) by David Simon (a reporter for the Baltimore Sun) and Ed Burns (a retired Baltimore homicide detective). The Corner won several Emmys in 2000, including Best Miniseries. Dutton won for his direction of the miniseries. He worked with Simon previously in a 1996 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. He starred as Montgomery County, Maryland Police Chief Charles Moose in the 2003 made-for-TV movie D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, and appeared in Season 2 of The L Word. Dutton also appeared in "Another Toothpick," an episode of The Sopranos. He guest starred on House M.D. as the father of Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps). Dutton also had small roles in First Time Felon alongside Omar Epps and on Sleeper Cell: American Terror as the father of undercover FBI agent Darwyn Al-Sayeed. He also directed two episodes of Sleeper Cell. On October 9, 2007, HBO announced that it had arranged a deal with Dutton where he would develop, direct, and star in series and movies for the network. He also appeared in the 2007 film Honeydripper. On February 14, 2013, Dutton returned to TV in Zero Hour, playing the role of a priest. In 2013, Dutton played Detective Margolis in the horror film The Monkey's Paw.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jones-Brown, Delores D. African Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. 185. 2014. 978-0-313-35717-6.
- 2.Farhi, Paul. Drama and Deliverance. The Washington Post. April 12, 2000.
- 3.BRIEF OF FORMER JUVENILE OFFENDERS CHARLES S. DUTTON, FORMER SEN. ALAN K. SIMPSON, R. DWAYNE BETTS, LUIS RODRIGUEZ, TERRY K. RAY, T.J. PARSELL, AND ISHMAEL BEAH AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS. 8. July 23, 2009.
- 4.Hawkins, Theresa. CHARLES S. DUTTON. allaboutactors.com. August 14, 1990.
- 5.Farhi, Paul. Drama and Deliverance. The Washington Post. April 12, 2000.
- 6.Scott, Janny. Who Gets to Tell a Black Story?. The New York Times. June 11, 2000.
- 7.Some sources say 18 months, others like the 2000 Farhi article state 20 months.
- 8.Farhi, Paul. Drama and Deliverance. The Washington Post. April 12, 2000.
- 9.BRIEF OF FORMER JUVENILE OFFENDERS CHARLES S. DUTTON, FORMER SEN. ALAN K. SIMPSON, R. DWAYNE BETTS, LUIS RODRIGUEZ, TERRY K. RAY, T.J. PARSELL, AND ISHMAEL BEAH AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS. 9. July 23, 2009.
- 10.Loynd, Ray. Charles Dutton Not a Prisoner of His Past: Stage: Former convict who has earned a Tony nomination takes on his latest challenging role in August Wilson's 'The Piano Lesson.'. The Los Angeles Times. January 18, 1990.
- 11.Farhi, Paul. Drama and Deliverance. The Washington Post. April 12, 2000.
- 12.Farhi, Paul. Drama and Deliverance. The Washington Post. April 12, 2000.
- 13.Muhammad, Toure. Charles S. Dutton talks dignity, integrity, and independence. The Final Call. Jul 14, 2012.
- 14.Farhi, Paul. Drama and Deliverance. The Washington Post. April 12, 2000.
- 15.Widener, Pam. IN A HARD PLACE: THE METEORIC RISE OF CHARLES S. DUTTON. Prison Life. 48. March–April 1996.
- 16.King, Susan. TELEVISION: From Hard Time to Prime Time: Ex-con Charles Dutton, twice a Tony nominee on Broadway, accepts the challenge of a TV comedy series--but wonders if it's the right thing to do. Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1991.
- 17.Zurawik, David. A Hard Place Hollywood didn't want to listen to Charles Dutton and his message of 'the silent black majority' in 'Roc.' So the Baltimore native tries again to be heard with 'First-Time Felon. The Baltimore Sun. July 23, 1997.
- 18.Muhammad, Toure. Charles S. Dutton talks dignity, integrity, and independence. The Final Call. Jul 14, 2012.
- 19.Michael Schneider. Dutton back in biz at HBO. Daily Variety. 4. 2007-10-10.
- 20.Monkeyspawthemovie.com. Cast | Monkey's Paw. Monkey's Paw.
- 21.About 1. Theatre World Awards.
- 22.The Tony Award Nominations. www.tonyawards.com.
- 23.Gussow, Mel. Review/Theater; Black Actor in 19th-Century England. The New York Times. 1988-04-25. 0362-4331.
- 24.The Tony Award Nominations. www.tonyawards.com.
- 25.With a Blank Slate, Dutton Creates His Own Willy Loman (Published 2009). 2009-05-07.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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