Eriq La Salle is an actor, director, producer, and award-winning author arguably best known to TV audiences for his portrayal of the commanding Dr. Peter Benton on the critically acclaimed NBC medical drama series “ER.” His work on “ER” earned La Salle seven NAACP Image Award nominations (three wins), seven SAG Award nominations (four wins), three Primetime Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination.
Educated at Julliard and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, La Salle’s acting credits range from Broadway to iconic film roles opposite Eddie Murphy in Coming to America, Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in Logan. La Salle has maintained his prolific acting career while simultaneously working steadily as a director on some of TV’s top-rated shows.
La Salle just recently wrapped executive producing and directing the latest season of “Chicago P.D.,” which was his fourth season on the show as the key producing director. He has also directed multiple episodes of “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Justice,” “The Night Shift,” “Under the Dome,” “CSI: Cyber” as well as episodes of shows like “Madam Secretary,” “Lucifer,” “APB,” “Training Day,” “The Librarians,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Rosewood,” the Showtime pilot “Soul Food” and more.
La Salle is in a first-look deal with Universal Television and is working on developing two new series for them – a drama based on the novel The Moonlight Heist by Michael Harvey about a broken-hearted Boston police detective, and a premium thriller series called “Ripper” about a tortured sheriff who teams up with a disgraced London detective to hunt down Jack the Ripper in the American Wild West.
La Salle made his feature film directorial debut with Rebound: The Legend of Earl “The Goat” Manigault for HBO about the legendary street basketball player, Earl Manigault, famously known as “The Goat.” Rebound starred Don Cheadle (as Earl Manigault), James Earl Jones and Forest Whitaker. La Salle also produced, directed and starred in the psychological thriller Crazy as Hell as well as the independent feature film Salton Sea.
In 2013, La Salle published his debut novel, Laws of Depravity, to stunning reviews, including the coveted Kirkus Star, Reader’s Choice Best Thriller of 2013 and overwhelming five-star reviews. La Salle has since released the second book in Martyr Maker thriller series, Laws of Wrath, as well as a prequel novella called Laws of Innocence.
