Omari Hardwick

Omari Latif Hardwick (born January 9, 1974) is an American actor, poet, rapper, producer and podcaster, best known for his starring role as James “Ghost” St. Patrick, the protagonist of Starz’s Power. He is also known for his roles in Saved and Dark Blue, in Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna (2008), The A-Team (2010), Kick-Ass (2010), Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls (2010) and as Andre in BET Network’s Being Mary Jane.

Early life and education

Hardwick was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of Joyce and Clifford Hardwick III, an attorney. Growing up in Decatur, Georgia, Hardwick wrote poetry on a regular basis, and participated in many sports. For high school he attended Marist School in Brookhaven, Georgia where he excelled in baseball, basketball and football, which eventually led him to a football scholarship for University of Georgia. Even though he was a star on the field, Hardwick continued in acting and poetry, and thus minored in theater. Hardwick is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Career

After graduation, Hardwick initially pursued a career in football, hoping to join the San Diego Chargers. He declared himself for the NFL Draft, where he was not selected, after which he returned to acting.

As a struggling actor, Hardwick did odd jobs in order to pay for acting classes. After being unsuccessful, he started living in his car, and he finally got his break in the 2004 TV movie Sucker Free City. Next, he booked roles in the feature film The Guardian and a series regular role in Saved. For the role, he spent two years training as a fireman and a paramedic.

In 2002, Hardwick had a quick scene as an extra in Floetry’s “Say Yes” music video.

In 2003 and 2004, he participated award-winningly in the National Poetry Slam.

In 2010, Hardwick became a founding member of “Plan B Inc. Theater Group”, and a co-founder of “Actor’s Lounge” at the Los Angeles Greenway Theater. He also founded production company “Bravelife Films”. Hardwick was also featured in the urban lifestyle publication, Prominence Magazine for its Holiday issue.

In 2011, Hardwick received his best film reviews to date for his role as “Troy” in the critically acclaimed indie hit I Will Follow. Hardwick has guest starred on an episode of NBC’s Chase as Chris Novak, a hard luck criminal facing prison.

In 2013, Hardwick was cast in the lead role of James “Ghost” St. Patrick on the Starz crime drama-thriller, Power.

In 2016, he was featured by a South African rapper, Nasty C on a song titled “A Star Is Born”.

Hardwick co-starred in the science fiction comedy film Sorry to Bother You, which was released in theaters on July 6, 2018.

In July 2019, Hardwick was cast in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Netflix film Army of the Dead.

In January 2021, it was announced that Hardwick was cast as Gordon Oliver in the upcoming Netflix thriller series Pieces of Her, which is adapted from the Karin Slaughter novel of the same name.

Personal life

Hardwick began a relationship with Jennifer “Jae” Pfautch in the 2000s. Pfautch, who is of Native American and German descent, was disowned by her family in the aftermath for dating outside of her race. On November 19, 2008, the couple’s first child was stillborn. The two later married in June 2012 and have two children, Brave and Nova.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Circles	Lameck
2004	Within the Wall	Saul	Short film
	The Male Groupie	Act Shun
2005	Beauty Shop	Byron
2006	Speechless	Ku James
	Gridiron Gang	Free
	The Guardian	Carl Billings
2008	Miracle at St. Anna	Platoon Commander Huggs
	Linewatch	Drake / Kimo
2009	Next Day Air	Shavoo
2010	Everyday Black Man	Malik
	Kick-Ass	Sgt. Marcus Williams
	The A-Team	Chopshop Jay
	For Colored Girls	Carl Bradmore	Nominated – Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
2011	I Will Follow	Troy
2012	Sparkle	Levi
	Middle of Nowhere	Derek
2013	Kings & Beggars	Noah	Short film; also writer
	Lu	Doctor Harden	Short film
	Things Never Said	Curtis Jackson
	The Last Letter	Michael Wright
2014	Reach Me	Dominic
	Lap Dance	Dr. Don Cook
2015	Chapter & Verse	Jomo
2017	Shot Caller	Ed Kutcher
	The Runner	Rick Roslin
2018	Sorry to Bother You	Mr. _______
	A Boy. A Girl. A Dream.	Cass	Actor/Executive Producer
	Sgt. Will Gardner	Samuel “Top” Gallegos
	Nobody’s Fool	Frank Johnson
2019	American Skin	Omar Scott
2020	Spell	Marquis	Set to come to theaters and VOD October 30, 2020
2021	Army of the Dead	Vanderohe	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Sucker Free City	Dante Ponce	Television film
2005	Crossing Jordan	Ronald Pasco	Episode: “Judgement Day”
2006	Saved	John “Sack” Hallon	Main cast; 13 episodes
2008	CSI: Miami	Eddie Dashell	Episode: “And How Does That Make You Kill?”
	SIS	Donovan Rivers	Television film
2009–2010	Dark Blue	Ty Curtis	Main cast; 20 episodes Nominated – NAMIC Vision Award Best Performance, Drama (2011)
2009	Lie to Me	Benny “B” Davis	Episode: “The Better Half”
2010	Chase	Chris Novak	Episode: “Betrayed”
2012	Breakout Kings	Ronnie Markham	Episode: “Self Help”
2013–2014	Being Mary Jane	Andre Daniels	Main cast; 8 episodes Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Mini-Series (2014) Nominated – Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special (2014) Nominated – Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2015)
2013	A Christmas Blessing	Earl James	Television film Nominated – Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Mini-Series
2014–2020	Power	James “Ghost” St. Patrick	Main cast Nominated – BET Award for Best Actor (2017) (seasons 1—6)
2021	Pieces of Her	Gordon Oliver	Main cast
TBA	Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas	Vanderohe	Main cast

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Role
2000	“No More”	Ruff Endz	Store Clerk
2002	“Say Yes”	Floetry	Passenger
2011	“Break My Heart”	Estelle featuring Rick Ross	Love interest
2012	“You Make Me Wanna”	Eshe featuring Omari Hardwick	Love interest
2016	“A Star is Born”	Nasty C featuring Omari Hardwick	Himself (cameo)
2017	“Flipmode”	Fabolous, Velous and Chris Brown	Himself (cameo)
2017	“Family Feud”	Jay-Z featuring Beyoncé	Mr. President
2018	“First Began”	PJ Morton	Love interest