Award-winning film, television and stage actor, director and producer Blair Underwood on what it means to be a Virginian.
Photo by Colin Stark
Actor Blair Underwood can’t say he was born in Virginia—Tacoma, Washington, takes that honor—but he can say his Virginia lineage dates back at least 200 years.
“I can track my four times great-grandfather back to Lynchburg prior to the Civil War,” says the 53-year-old Underwood, who spent his teenage years living in Petersburg. Today, he is based in Los Angeles, but he says, “Virginia is in my DNA and my spirit. This explains why I have a love for Virginia. It makes me even more proud to be a Virginian.”
After a career in which he’s appeared in more than 35 films and 20 television shows, including his seven-year stint on NBC’s L.A. Law as attorney Jonathan Rollins, and most recently as deputy FBI director Owen Hall in ABC’s Quantico, Underwood’s is a familiar face. He has received two Golden Globe nominations—for L.A. Law and for HBO series In Treatment—a raft of NAACP Image Award nominations and seven wins, and he earned a Grammy in 2009 for Best Spoken Word Album An Inconvenient Truth.
In 2017, Underwood added an Emmy to the list, winning for Outstanding Children’s or Family Viewing Series for Give, an NBC series he executive produced in which celebrities shine a light on the work of charities and make substantial financial gifts to help meet their needs—what Underwood describes as a “win/win type ofa show.”
Underwood’s acting career got its start when his family moved to Petersburg in 1979. His father, retired Army Col. Frank Underwood, 86, and his mother Marilyn, 82, still live in Petersburg along with his older brother, author and artist Frank Jr., and sister Mellisa, a former pro-wrestler and chef. His sister Marlo, a school teacher, lives in Richmond. It’s a tight-knit family. “I usually get back to Petersburg every Christmas,” says Underwood.
He credits his Petersburg High School English teacher Marie Maniego for being an early inspiration. “I took her English class and performed in her acting company, Playmaker Fellows, outside of school,” Underwood explains. “The first acting I did was with her in that company.”
Maniego was supportive of a lot of Underwood’s endeavors, including serving as student government president during his senior year. Plus, “She helped me bring in the Junior ROTC program,” he says.
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Underwood with Nicole Ari Parker in a 2012 production of A Street Car Named Desire.
Photo by Jeff Fasano
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Underwood as a child with his parents.
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Underwood with Richard Thomas in San Diego's Old Globe Theatre production of Othello in 2014.
Underwood landed his first professional gig at Swift Creek Mill Theatre where he appeared in Finian’s Rainbow in 1980 as one of four passion pilgrim gospeleers. (His sister Marlo was one of three “children” in the show.) In 1981, he was also cast in On The Twentieth Century at the Mill.
“I got paid $75 a week. I framed that paycheck,” he says.
Tom Width, the Mill’s artistic director, first met Underwood when Width was appearing in a television program on PBS called The Magic Shop, in which he taught language skills to second graders; Underwood was a guest on the show when he was 15. “Even at 15,” Width says, “you could see all the charisma he has that is so appealing.”
Width believes Underwood’s honorable qualities are a result of his upbringing: “He has a wonderful family that taught him the right values.”
Occasionally Underwood will stop by the Mill when he’s in town to say hello. “That speaks volumes that he remembers the first place he worked,” says Width. “We have such great appreciation for him.”
Underwood attributes his steady work—something that many actors never achieve—to “fate, God and a higher power,” he says. “It started with understanding it’s not all about you. When you think that, it can inflate your ego and be detrimental. In addition, I think having to diversify your thought process and employment opportunities is important.”
Underwood shot the series finale for Quantico in Dublin, Ireland, this spring—the series will not be renewed next year. But he’s not worried about the next step. His production company Intrepid Inc. has multiple projects in different stages of development.
“There is so much product streaming out of platforms like Netflix, Hulu, etc., and all of them need content and product,” he says. “It’s a good time to be in the business.”
At the moment he’s looking forward to vacationing in Peru with his family—wife, Desiree, and their sons, 21-year-old Paris and 17-year-old Blake, and daughter, 19-year-old Brielle. “I love to travel, and we’ve raised our kids the same way,” he says. “I always look forward to family vacation.”
Flexibility may be the key to Underwood’s success, something he developed as a kid moving to new cities and countries during his father’s military service. “The military gave me a sense of people, of humanity and the commonality of human beings,” says Underwood. “You get to know people face to face and live in those communities. I’m most grateful to have had that opportunity.” He’ll also be coming home to Virginia this summer for a family wedding. “I’m excited about that,” he says. “It’s a blessing to be near family.”
