Wood Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as Avon Barksdale in the HBO television drama The Wire and as Julius Campbell in the motion picture Remember the Titans.

Life and career

Harris was born Sherwin David Harris in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mattie and John Harris.www.filmreference.com/film/85/Wood-Harris.html He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Theater Arts from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a Master of Arts from New York University. He is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris. While enrolled in NYU, Harris starred in his first major film role in the basketball drama Above the Rim, starring opposite Tupac Shakur, and appeared in many theatrical stage productions of various off-Broadway plays.

Harris was awarded the New York Film Festival's 1st Run Best Actor Award for his portrayal of "Derrick 'D-Train' Trainer" in Morningside Prep, a thirty minute short movie directed by rising filmmaker, Malcolm Lee. He subsequently guest starred in a variety of television and film venues before portraying legendary rock guitarist, Jimi Hendrix in Showtime's 2000 movie, Hendrix.