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Edi Gathegi

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Edi Gathegi
Gathegi in 2009
Born
Edi Mūe Gathegi[1]

(1979-03-10) March 10, 1979 (age 45)
Nairobi, Kenya
Education
OccupationActor
Years active2006–present
SpouseAdriana Marinescu (m. 2018)

Edi Mūe Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan-American actor. He appeared as a recurring character, Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka "Big Love"), in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone, Laurent in the films Twilight and its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as Darwin in X-Men: First Class. Gathegi also featured in the AMC series Into the Badlands as Baron Jacobee. He has also been a recurring character in the NBC television series The Blacklist as Matias Solomon, an operative for a covert organization. Gathegi reprised the role in the 2016–2017 season crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption.[2] He has also played a leading role in Startup, a television drama series on Crackle. Since 2022, Gathegi has played engineer and entrepreneur Dev Ayesa in the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama series For All Mankind. He is set to play the role of Mister Terrific in James Gunn's film Superman (2025).

Early life

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Born on March 10, 1979,[3] in Nairobi, Kenya, Gathegi grew up in Albany, California, U.S.[4] Gathegi attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he played basketball until a knee injury ended his career. Gathegi then began taking acting classes.[4] He studied at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2005.[5] Gathegi's career began in theatre,[6] and his stage credits include Two Trains Running at the Old Globe Theatre, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Cyrano de Bergerac, among others.[1]

Career

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Gathegi's first professional role was the Haitian Cabbie in the 2006 film, Crank. Though he had originally auditioned for the role of Kaylo, the producers gave the role to Efren Ramirez and instead offered Gathegi an appearance as the Haitian Cabbie.[6] He was skeptical at first about performing a Haitian accent but was coached by a Haitian friend.[6] In 2007, after guest-starring on Lincoln Heights and Veronica Mars, Gathegi went on to star as Bodie in Death Sentence, Darudi in The Fifth Patient, and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone. He later had a recurring role as Mormon intern Dr. Jeffrey Cole in the television medical drama House. His character was often mocked for his religious beliefs by Dr. House, who himself is an atheist. He also guest-starred in CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Life on Mars in 2008 before being cast as Laurent in Twilight. When Gathegi first auditioned for the 2008 film, adapted from the same-titled first book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, he had not heard of the series and was not aware that his character was a vampire.[7] He now has read the whole series and calls himself a hardcore fan.[7][8] He portrays Eddie Willers in Atlas Shrugged (2011), based on Ayn Rand's novel of the same name. He later portrayed another Haitian character, Jean Baptiste, in the fifth season of Justified, but was unhappy with the role and asked to be written off the show.[9][10] He has also been a recurring character in NBC's television series, The Blacklist, as Matias Solomon, an operative for a covert organization. Gathegi reprised the role in the 2016–2017 season crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption.[2] He also portrays the character Ronald Dacey on StartUp. In July 2023, Gathegi was cast as Mister Terrific in the DC Universe (DCU) film Superman (2025).[11]

Personal life

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Gathegi married Romanian Adriana Marinescu in 2018.[12]

Filmography

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Film roles
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Crank Haitian Cabbie
2007 Gone Baby Gone Cheese
The Fifth Patient Darudi
Death Sentence Bodie
2008 Twilight Laurent
2009 My Bloody Valentine 3D Deputy Martin
The Twilight Saga: New Moon Laurent
2010 This Is Not a Movie Ghost of Jimmy
2011 X-Men: First Class Armando Muñoz / Darwin
Atlas Shrugged Eddie Willers
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I Laurent Flashback only
2014 Bleeding Heart Dex
2015 This Isn't Funny Ryan
Aloha Lt. Col. Curtis
Criminal Activities Marques
2016 The Watcher Noah
2018 Pimp Kenny Wayne
Better Start Running Fitz Paradise
2019 Princess of the Row Beaumont "Bo" Willis
2020 The Last Thing He Wanted Jones
2021 Caged Harlow Reid
The Harder They Fall Bill Pickett
2023 Aporia Mal
2025 Superman † Michael Holt / Mister Terrific Post-production
Television roles
Year Title Role Notes
2007 House Dr. Jeffrey Cole Recurring role; 7 episodes
Lincoln Heights Boa 3 episodes
Veronica Mars Zeke Molinda Episode: "I Know What You'll Do Next Summer"
2008 CSI: Miami Freddie Mays Episode: "Tunnel Vision"
Life on Mars Fletcher Bellow Episode: "Things to Do in New York When You Think You're Dead"
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Skinny Dude Episode: "Leave Out All the Rest"
2011 Nikita Kalume Ungara Episode: "Girl's Best Friend"
2012 Phineas and Ferb Iggy/Various characters 2 episodes
2013 The Family Tools Darren Poynton Main role; 10 episodes
Beauty & the Beast Kyle 3 episodes
Red Widow Leon
2014 Justified Jean Baptiste 4 episodes
Wild Card Tres Unsold television pilot[13]
2015 Proof Zed Main role; 10 episodes
2015–2016 The Blacklist Matias Solomon Recurring role; 13 episodes
2015 Into the Badlands Jacobee 2 episodes
2016–18 StartUp Ronald Dacey Main role; 30 episodes
2017 The Blacklist: Redemption Matias Solomon Main role; 8 episodes[2]
2020 Briarpatch A.D. Singe Main role
2022 Guardians of Justice Mr. Smiles Supporting role 2022–present For All Mankind Dev Ayesa Main role; season 3–present[14]
Audio
Year Title Role Notes
2023 The Mantawauk Caves James Fincher Main role; podcast[15]

Awards and nominations

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Drama Desk Awards

  • 2018: Won along with Sean Carvajal for last-minute entrances into the Signature production of this powerful play ensured it had a happy real-life ending after replacing Reg E. Cathey in late September for an October 5th first preview[16][17]

Obie Awards

  • 2018: Won OBIE Award for his performance as Lucius Jenkins in Signature Theater Company revival of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train [18]

Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards

  • 2011: Won LADCC Award for best Lead Actor in a Play for the role of Franco Wicks in the Geffen Playhouse production of "Superior Donuts"[19]

Method Fest Independent Film Festival

  • 2019: Won Breakout Acting Award for his method performance as Beau Willis in "Princess of the Row"[20]

Ovation Awards

  • 2011: Nominated for Featured Actor in a Play for the role of Franco Wicks in the Geffen Playhouse production of "Superior Donuts"[21]

Lucille Lortel Awards

References

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  1. ^ a b Shirlene Alusa-Brown (April 7, 2008). "Edi Mue Gathegi – Slated to Shine in 'Twilight'". Jamati Online. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  2. ^ a b c Andreeva, Nellie (March 29, 2016). "The Blacklist Spinoff Starring Famke Janssen In the Works At NBC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  3. ^ Rose, Mike (March 10, 2023). "Today's famous birthdays list for March 10, 2023 includes celebrities Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde". Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Cassandra Handley (November 4, 2008). "Q&A: Twilights Edi Gathegi". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 2008-11-09. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  5. ^ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  6. ^ a b c "Twilight Lexicon Q&A with Edi Gathegi" (PDF). TwilightLexicon.com. March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  7. ^ a b Denise Martin (October 28, 2008). "'Twilight' Countdown: Edi Gathegi's vampire love". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  8. ^ Sara Castillo (August 4, 2008). "We Speak with 'Twilight's' Jacob and Laurent!". FearNet.com. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  9. ^ Bierly, Mandi (February 5, 2014). "'Justified' postmortem: EP Graham Yost dissects 'Shot All to Hell'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  10. ^ "Justified Creator Graham Yost Vents About Critical Backlash for Season Five". Vanity Fair. 17 April 2014.
  11. ^ Breznican, Anthony (2023-07-11). "Superman Legacy Cast Adds Isabela Merced, Edi Gathegi and Nathan Fillion: EXCLUSIVE". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  12. ^ "Actorul din Twilight s-a însurat, în secret, cu o vedetă din România" (in Romanian). diva.ro. 6 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Jennifer Finnigan to Star in USA Pilot 'Wild Card'". The Hollywood Reporter. 29 June 2011.
  14. ^ Ausiello, Michael (June 15, 2021). "For All Mankind Season 3: Blacklist Vet Edi Gathegi Joins Cast as Series Regular". TVLine. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  15. ^ "Mystery, Murder and THE MANTAWAUK CAVES".
  16. ^ Andrew Gans, "Signature’s Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train Delayed Two Days Following Departure of Reg E. Cathey", Playbill, September 28th, 2017.
  17. ^ "2018 Nominees". dramadeskawards.com.
  18. ^ "2018 Obies Winners and Performances". 19 May 2018.
  19. ^ "Full LA Drama Critics Circle Award Winners; A RAISIN IN THE SUN Wins 4".
  20. ^ "'Princess of the Row' Wins Audience Award at Method Fest". The Hollywood Reporter. April 2019.
  21. ^ "Kiss Me Kate Tops 2011 Ovation Award Nominations". 19 September 2011. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  22. ^ "2018 Nominations". www.lortelaward.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-23. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
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