Desean Terry Steps Into FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS at CTG/Mark Taper Forum

Actor Desean Terry will step into the starring role 'Hero' in Suzan-Lori Parks' powerful drama, Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum beginning May 3 until closing on May 15, 2016.

Directed by the insightful Jo Bonney and making its West Coast premiere, in this devastatingly beautiful new play set during the Civil War, a slave named Hero (Terry) is offered his freedom if he joins his master (Michael McKean) in the ranks of the Confederacy. The choice is to leave the woman and people he loves for what may be an empty promise. His decision brings him face to face not only with a nation at war with itself, but with what freedom truly means.

Terry is excited by the opportunity to share this story, which earned Parks a 2015 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama and the 2014 Horton Foote Prize, along with being named a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Terry adds, "I am thrilled to be working with a playwright like Suzan-Lori Parks because of her expansive vision, and skill, in challenging our perspective and artistic expression of the Black experience."

Nominated for two NAACP awards and honored numerous times by the Kennedy Center ACTF, Terry has worked all over the country in film, television and theatre. Most notably, at Center Theatre Group he originated the role of "Fish" in the World Premiere of Marcus Ramirez's The Royale (NAACP nomination) and appeared alongside Cicely Tyson in A Trip to Bountiful. In addition, Terry's theater experience includes The Antigone Project (Off-Broadway) and Slippery When Wet at the Penumbra Theatre. Born in Belize and raised in Los Angeles, Terry earned his Bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount University and a graduate diploma from the prestigious Juilliard School. Later, he founded his own theatre company, the Black Playwright's Bloc, a theatre company dedicated to producing the work of African-American playwrights.

On-camera, Terry has made numerous appearances on popular shows, including recurring roles on Southland and Sleeper Cell; and guest starring on Grey's Anatomy, Shameless, Scorpion, ER, Monk, Harry's Law, The Night Shift, House, and NCIS: Los Angeles. His film work includes roles in Post Grad, God's Army, Somebody's Mother, States of Grace, Bolden, Callers, and the upcoming indie film Happier.