Gaius Charles (born May 2, 1983) is an American actor known for his portrayal of Brian "Smash" Williams in the television drama, Friday Night Lights. He also played Dr. Shane Ross on the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy and a recurring role on the NBC historical-drama series Aquarius, as Black Panther leader Bunchy Carter. He also played a role on NCIS's ninth season as Jason King, an arson investigator for the Baltimore Police Department.
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Early life
Charles was born on May 2, 1983, in Manhattan, New York. He was raised in New York City and Teaneck, New Jersey.
During his childhood, Charles attended Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Teaneck, where he delivered the school announcements as a sixth-grade student. In seventh grade, he took his first acting class.
He graduated from Teaneck High School in 2001. While in high school, he took theater classes and participated in youth programs at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood.
After graduating from high school, Charles pursued his passion for acting at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama. During his senior year, he spent one semester studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, Australia.
Charles grew up as a Christian and regularly attended both Tenafly United Methodist Church and Community Baptist Church in Englewood.
Career
In 2006, Charles landed the role of Smash Williams in Friday Night Lights, a character he portrayed for three seasons. He then took a break from acting to pursue a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Drew University. During his studies, he traveled to India to study the world’s religions and to Uganda, where he preached at a local church and later raised funds to support a youth conference focused on HIV/AIDS awareness.
After completing his theological studies, Charles returned to acting and joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy as medical intern Shane Ross.
In 2017, Charles starred in the first season of NBC's television drama series Taken, based on the Taken film franchise. He has appeared in other television series such as Aquarius, in which he portrayed Civil Rights Activist and Black Panther Bunchy Carter, and Necessary Roughness.
Charles made guest appearances on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Blindspot, Comedy Central's Drunk History, in which he portrayed Muhammad Ali, NCIS, Pan Am, and Law & Order: SVU. His film credits include the independent features The Stanford Prison Experiment, Toe To Toe, and The Messenger. He's also worked on studio films like Salt and Takers. In addition to film and television, Charles starred in the Labyrinth Theater Company's production of Othello alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz. He received positive reviews for originating the roles of “EZ” in Beau Willimon's play Lower Ninth and “Malcolm” in director Thomas Kail's Broke-ology.