Roger Cross – Biography

Roger Cross was born in Jamaica and lived there until he was eleven when he and his family moved to Canada’s west coast settling in Vancouver. There were no signs in his early life that he was interested in acting. In fact when he graduated from Trinity Western University in Langley B.C., he took with him a degree in Aviation and General Studies. He has said that he was drawn to acting simply out of “curiosity” and something to do, “just for fun.” He began his career as a part time stunt performer.

Like anything else, it`s usually a long journey from extra or stunt performer to being offered a lead role in a series. For Roger Cross the early part of that journey was filled with small roles in both series and made-for-television movies. Roles where he was identifed by what he was, not who he was. Roles like Fire Rescue Leader, Officer #2, Guard or Paramedic. He appeared in four episodes of The X Files but each time he played a different character. In one he played someone named Agent Rice, in another he was Officer Green in a third Lieutenant Brophy and then he was Private Kittel. This usually happens when the roles are small and casting director doesn’t worry about the actor being recognized as having been previously on the show as someone else. Answering his interest in aviation and his quest to find something to do just for fun, he must have enjoyed being cast as “a Pilot” in 1993`s Look Who’s Talking Now.

But that slow path was also a sure path and his roles became larger and the more screen time he got the greater the chance he would be spotted by other directors and producers looking for a talented fresh face. He had been in the biz about nine years in 1998 when he was offered his first costarring role in the series First Wave. The Canadian series was shot in Vancouver and costarred Sebastian Spence, Rob LaBelle and Traci Lords.

Cross is probably best known for his role with Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer’s fellow agent, Curtis Manning (pictured above), on the hit series 24 appearing in 45 episodes between 2005 and 2007. More recently fans of the CTV series Motive will recognize Cross as Staff Sergeant Boyd Bloom in the first two seasons.

Blessed with a magnificent voice, the last few years have seen Roger Cross turn up on video games like Infex, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and BioShock Infinite. More recently, he plays the role of Detective Donovan McAvoy on the series Coroner

Also see: A filmography for Roger Cross

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