Omar Epps

This hunky 30-something actor is likely most known for his role as a sexy doctor on the popular hit T.V. medical drama series, House since 2004, although he got his start in acting back in the early 1990s and is also a musician. Omar Epps, born July 23, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, was interestingly involved in screenwriting and music before breaking into the film industry as an actor.

When he was only 10, he started writing screenplays, and in 1991 formed the rap group “Wolfpak” with his brother. He first appeared in 1989’s The Green Flash, which starred Gene Silvers, but his debut (and breakthrough) lead role came three years later in Ernest Dickerson’s Juice (1992), co-starring Tupac Shakur (the late rapper), Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins, Khalil Kain, and Cindy Herron; Samuel L. Jackson and Queen Latifah also appeared in this violent film about four inner-city young men growing up in Harlem and getting caught up in a double murder. 

His follow-up works included the college football drama The Program in 1993, with James Caan and Halle Berry; Major League II (1994), co-starring Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger, among others; and 1995’s Higher Learning, opposite Kristy Swanson, and also including Jennifer Connelly, Ice Cube, Tyra Banks, Laurence Fishburne, and Regina King.  Epps enjoyed a brief stint in a 10-episode recurring role as Dr. Dennis Grant on the hit T.V. series ER during the 1996 to 1997 season, which at that time starred George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Eric La Salle, Anthony Edwards, Julianna Margulies, and Sherry Stringfield.  

After his time on ER, Epps jumped right back into film work with a short-lived role on Scream 2 (1997), starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and Sarah Michelle Gellar; as Lincoln Hayes in The Mod Squad (1999), co-starring Claire Danes and Giovanni Ribisi; in an emotionally multidimensional role in 1999’s The Wood, and alongside LL Cool J, Nia Long, and Stanley Tucci in In Too Deep, also in 1999. Epps continued to receive work and praise in films such as When Willows Touch (with James Earl Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith), Love and Basketball, Dracula 2000, and Conviction. However, 2004 proved to be the biggest year yet for Epps. He landed the lead role of drug dealer/boxer Luther Shaw opposite Meg Ryan in Against the Ropes; and the role of Marlon, Jude Law’s character’s best friend, in Alfie. 

In 2004 Epps also managed to snag a main role as Dr. Eric Foreman in the new hit medical drama House that premiered in fall 2004, co-starring Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard. Epps is currently still involved and busy with the show, which is now in its third season.