Barry Shabaka Henley
Veteran actor Barry Shabaka Henley draws from a rich history of acting in many high-profile films, television shows and theatre productions. He appeared in the hit Oscar-nominated film A Star is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, season 6 of ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and co-starred alongside Eddie Murphy in the biographical comedy Dolemite is His Name, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, to rave reviews.
Shabaka currently stars in the hit Chuck Lorre comedy Bob ♥ Abishola, which is in its 4th season on CBS and airs Monday nights at 8:30pm. Bob ♥ Abishola is a love story about a middle-aged compression sock businessman from Detroit who unexpectedly falls for his cardiac nurse, a Nigerian immigrant, while recovering from a heart attack. Henley plays “Uncle Tunde”, who steals every scene he’s in with Bob, played by Billy Gardell. Bob ♥ Abishola airs on Mondays on CBS at 8:30pm.
Henley can be seen in director’s Cecil Chambers Due Season where he plays Uncle Ken. He is a loving family man who takes on a father figure position after the passing of his brother.
Perhaps the biggest testament to Henley’s talent is his professional collaboration with director-producer Michael Mann, who has cast him in multiple projects including his films, Ali, Collateral and Miami Vice as well as the HBO’s series Luck starring Dustin Hoffman.
Henley’s other film work includes starring in the big budget hits The Terminal, Rush Hour, Patch Adams, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Bulworth and Carrie. He starred in Jim Jarmusch’s film Paterson, which was in Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2016. His numerous television credits include Better Call Saul, NCIS: New Orleans, Grey’s Anatomy, Black-ish, Veep and Shameless, with a recurring role on Amazon Prime’s Bosch. He also starred on Showtime’s Barbershop.
Having gotten his start on the stage, Henley has toured extensively with the theatre production of Jitney and was a featured player in Richard II, Waiting for Godot and As You Like It. He won an NAACP Image Award for his work in Rabbit Foot. Henley was the writer and star of Mingus Remixed, which premiered at the Lorraine Hansberry Theater in San Francisco. Henley has appeared in other productions of Satchmo at the Waldorf at the Court Theater in Chicago, Palm Beach Dramaworks and Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans.
Born in New Orleans, Henley currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.