Actor Malik Yoba née Abdul-Malik Kashie Yoba was born on Sept. 17, 1967, in the Bronx, New York.

His role as NYPD Detective J.C. Williams on the hit FOX police drama series New York Undercover propelled the performer into stardom in 1994.

Yoba and co-star Michael DeLorenzo, who is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent, carried the series, making history in the process as the first actors of color in American television history to lead a police drama.

The only actor to appear in all 89 episodes until the show’s cancellation in 1998, Yoba earned three consecutive NAACP Image Awards in 1996, 1997 and 1998 for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series.

Other well known roles that Yoba has played in the past include the Jamaican bobsledding Yul Brenner in Cool Runnings, the superpowered Bill Harken on the Si-fi drama series Alphas and the doomed husband Gavin in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? and Why Did I Get Married Too?

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(Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for HBO)