André Lauren Benjamin

André Lauren Benjamin was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 27, 1975, the only child of real estate agent Sharon Benjamin and collections agent Lawrence Harvey Walker. His single mother raised him in Atlanta, East Point, and Buckhead, where he attended Sarah Smith Elementary School, Sutton Middle School, Northside High School, McClarin Success Academy, and Tri-Cities High School. He was a childhood friend of Fonzworth Bentley. Benjamin has made appearances in Families, The Shield (he plays Robert Huggins, a character that originated in an episode titled "On Tilt" from Season 3 in 2004), Be Cool, Revolver, Semi Pro, and Four Brothers. He was also cast as Percival in Outkast film Idlewild, released on August 25, 2006, alongside the album of the same name. He voiced a crow in Charlotte's Web, a movie adaptation of the 1952 children's book.

As of November 2006, Benjamin voiced Sunny Bridges, a prize-winning musician who gives up touring to teach at his alma mater, in Class of 3000, an animated series on Cartoon Network which he also produced. He has also worked with Esthero on a promotional version of "Jungle Book" which was on a Wikked lil' grrrls sampler, but never made it to the actual album due to issues with Esthero's label, Warner Bros. The following year, Benjamin appeared in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro with Woody Harrelson and Will Ferrell. He also starred in Battle in Seattle, a 2007 film about the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests.

Benjamin was a member of Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender's production company A Band Apart until its close in 2006. Benjamin then formed his own company, Moxie Turtle. In May 2012, Benjamin began filming a biographical film about Jimi Hendrix entitled All Is By My Side. It premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2013. His performance was met with critical acclaim and earned him a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. In 2016, Benjamin had a recurring role as Michael LaCroix on the second season of the anthology crime drama series American Crime.

In 2018 Benjamin starred in Claire Denis' first English-language film High Life.