Clark Johnson : Role - Augustus “Gus” Haynes
Birthday : 10 September 1954
Birth Place : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Height : 6′2″
Gender : Male
Clark Johnson was born on 10 September 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. He is also credited as Clark ‘Slappy’ Jackson” “Clarque Johnson”, and “J. Clark Johnson” sometimes. He was born as the son of an African American father and a white Mother. He moved to Canada along with his family. He joined the Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. He is the brother of jazz singer Molly Johnson and actress/singer Taborah Johnson.
His skill in football helped him to get admission in the Eastern Michigan University, based on a partial scholarship. There, he was caught stealing turkey dogs from the cafeteria and was kicked out for this reason. He has also studied from the University of Ottawa and concluded his film major from the Ontario College of Arts. He has played for a short spell with the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers before he was drafted by the Canadian Football League. Then he made up his mind to make his career in a something else and started trying for some type of job.
As an actor, he started appearing in the feature films in 1981 and he acted in several films, such as ‘Killing ‘em Softly’, ‘Colors‘, ‘Wild Thing’, ‘Adventures in Babysitting’ and ‘Nowhere to Hide‘. In his early days, he has acted in the television shows like ‘Night Heat’ and ‘Hot Shots’.
He got a regular role in the television series ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’, in 1993 and he played the role of “Detective Meldrick Lewis” during its seven season run. He has also directed some of the episodes of this series. Then he appeared in ‘The Wire’ as the city desk editor of the ‘The Baltimore Sun’ and the name of his character is ‘Augustus ‘Gus’ Haynes“. He has also been the director of its pilot, second and fifth episodes and the series final.
He has also directed some of the episodes of ‘Third Watch’, ‘The Shield’, ‘Sleeper cell’, ‘NYPD Blue‘ ( one episode), ‘The West Wing’ (one episode) and a single episode of ‘Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’. He has also directed other television series like ‘Fast Track’, ‘Welcome To Paradox‘, ‘City of Angels’, ‘The Beat’, ‘La Femme Nikita’ and ‘The City’. He directed some of the productions for the big screen such as ‘The Sentinel’, ‘S.W.AT.‘, ‘The Jury’, etc.
He earned the nomination for an Emmy Award in 2002 for the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for ‘The Shield’. He was nominated for the Black Reel Award in 2007 for the Best Director for ‘The Sentinel’. He became a nominee for Image Award - 1999 for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ and for Genie Award in 1996 for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for ‘Rude‘. He was also nominated for the Gemini Award for the Best Guest Performance in a Series by an Actor for ‘E.N.G.” in 1995.
Role in The wire
Clark Johnson is playing “Augustus ‘Gus’ Haynes” in ‘The Wire’ tv show. He is the city desk editor of the newspaper ‘The Baltimore Sun’. He remains in-touch with many people working at the Baltimore Police Department. He is hard working, experienced and principled editor and keeps his reporters motivated. At the same time, he can be a critic for the team, when required.
