Delroy Lindo
Few actors lend such instant distinction and credibility to projects as Delroy Lindo does. Fewer pull it off by merely walking into a room. Lindo does so delectably in Kidnapped, the tense new NBC drama, in his role as a veteran FBI agent whose retirement is rudely interrupted by a sensitive case. With his large, powerfully lean frame, sad eyes, and expressive face, Lindo offers up quite the visual feast. The 53-year-old actor is able to shift between ire and graciousness without a hitch, and this has become a trademark of the characters he plays, whether it’s an ingenious criminal in Get Shorty, a jaded angel in A Life Less Ordinary, or a troubled foreman in The Cider House Rules. Lindo has a way of making every character deeper than it was written on paper. His television roles have been mostly movies — as the flamboyant Negro League star Satchel Paige in HBO’s Soul of the Game, the dignified explorer Matthew Henson in TNT’s Glory & Honor, and tortured Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in Showtime’s Strange Justice. The idea of catching Lindo on a weekly basis seems just about perfect.