His ruddy complexion suggests menace, yet Vondie Curtis Hall, while playing his share of thugs, has also appeared on TV as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama "Chicago Hope" (from 1995 to 1999) and as a poignant drag queen who commits suicide in an episode of NBC's "ER" during the 1994-95 season. Classically trained at Juilliard, the Los Angeles-raised Curtis Hall made it to Broadway in 1985 with "Dreamgirls" and also scored critical praise for his work in the off-Broadway production of "Williams and Walker" (1986).

After bit roles in "Shakedown" and "Coming to America" (both 1988), Curtis Hall earned larger roles in Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" and "Black Rain" (both 1989). But it was not until 1992 that he made an impact in John Sayles' "Passion Fish". In 1994, Curtis Hall graduated to a leading role in "DROP Squad", which co-starred his wife Kasi Lemmons, and played supporting parts in "Sugar Hill" and Spike Lee's "Crooklyn". He next supported John Travolta and Christian Slater in "Broken Arrow", Alec Baldwin in "Heaven's Prisoners" and Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" (all 1996). Also in 1996, Curtis Hall wrote and directed his first feature, the dark "GRIDLOCK'd" (released in 1997), which co-starred Tim Roth and the late Tupac Shakur as junkies.

Curtis Hall began working in TV around 1989 on the premiere episode of "A Man Called Hawk" (ABC) and went on to co-star in the short-lived "Cop Rock" (ABC, 1990), play a recurring role as a train porter who was courting Lilly (Regina Taylor) on the acclaimed NBC drama "I'll Fly Away" (1991) and earned an Emmy nomination as a drag queen who commits suicide on an early episode of "ER" (NBC). In January 1995, he joined CBS' "Chicago Hope" as Dr. Dennis Hancock, the voice of racial conscience.