Boris Kodjoe went to America to play tennis. A modelling scout spotted him on a college campus, and the plan changed.
Kodjoe was born in Vienna, Austria, on 8 March 1973. His father, Eric Kodjoe, was a Ghanaian physician; his mother, Ursula, was a German psychologist of Jewish descent. He grew up in Germany, speaking German, and played tennis at a high level as a teenager.
From tennis to modelling
A tennis scholarship took Kodjoe to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. At 6 feet 3 inches tall, he stood out on campus, and a talent scout signed him to the Ford Modeling Agency. Modelling work followed in fashion campaigns and magazines, and it gave him a route into acting.
Soul Food
His breakthrough came with Soul Food, the Showtime drama series based on the 1997 film. From 2000 to 2004 he played Damon Carter, a sports agent, and the role earned him an NAACP Image Award nomination. On the set he met Nicole Ari Parker, who played Teri Joseph. The two married in 2005 and have two children, and they have become one of the best-known couples in Black Hollywood.
A long career on screen
Kodjoe followed Soul Food with films including Brown Sugar (2002), Madea’s Family Reunion (2006), The Gospel (2005) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). On television he appeared in Real Husbands of Hollywood, Kevin Hart’s parody series, which brought a second NAACP nomination, and he joined ABC’s firefighter drama Station 19, a spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy, as Captain Robert Sullivan.
He has also directed and produced, and he and Parker have worked together on stage and screen. Parker’s own career kept growing alongside his: in 2021 she joined And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City revival, as Lisa Todd Wexley, one of the new principal characters.
The Ghana connection
Kodjoe has spoken about his father’s Ghanaian roots and has made trips to Ghana, including during the 2019 Year of Return, when he was among the celebrities who visited as part of the campaign to bring the diaspora back. His surname is itself a common Ghanaian name, and Ghanaian fans have long counted him among the international stars with roots in the country.
Family and advocacy
Kodjoe and Parker’s daughter, Sophie, was born with a rare spinal condition, and the couple set up a foundation to raise awareness and support families dealing with it. Kodjoe has also spoken publicly about fitness, health and fatherhood, and the family’s life has been shared with fans on social media for years.
He arrived in Virginia with a tennis racket and German as his first language. It was his Ghanaian father’s surname that ended up on the film posters.
