Detailed Biography

Mekhi Thira Phifer is an NAACP Image Award winning American actor. He is perhaps best known for his multi-year role as Dr. Greg Pratt on NBC's long-running medical drama ER and his co-starring role opposite Eminem in the feature film 8 Mile.

Personal life

Phifer was born in Harlem, New York City, the son of Rhoda Phifer, a high school teacher; he grew up in a single-parent household with his mother.

Phifer has a son Omikaye with his former wife, actress Malinda Williams. His second son, Mekhi Thira Phifer Jr., was born to his Malagasy fiancee Oni Souratha in Los Angeles on 30 October 2007.

Entertainment career

In 1995, Phifer attended an open casting call for director Spike Lee’s Clockers, beating over a thousand others to get the lead role as a narcotics dealer embroiled in a murder cover-up. He followed that role with another in the comedy spoof feature High School High and continued by co-starring in the fright flick I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr. He is perhaps best known for his role as Gregory Pratt on the medical drama ER, that he started in April 2002. Phifer left the show in September 2008, in the first episode of Season 15. His character was tragically killed off in the conclusion of the season 14 finale cliffhanger involving an ambulance explosion that was rigged to kill an injured FBI informant . During his 6 years in the show, he was nominated twice for an NAACP Award.

Phifer’s television credits include the movies The Tuskegee Airmen , HBO's Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground , and Brian's Song . He received additional notice for his performance opposite singer Beyoncé Knowles on MTV’s alternative take on the Carmen legend with the movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera . Phifer guest-starred in the series Homicide: Life on the Street and New York Undercover. Likewise, he earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for another TV movie, A Lesson Before Dying, opposite Don Cheadle. In 2009, Phifer began a guest-starring arc on the Fox drama Lie to Me.

Among Phifer’s other big-screen credits are Soul Food, The Biography of Spud Webb, Hell’s Kitchen, NYC, Tears of a Clown, O , and the thriller Uninvited Guest . He appeared in Impostor as well as Paid in Full and director Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile, opposite Eminem He was mentioned in the song "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. He is going to be a regular on the Fox Crime Drama Lie to Me having just been promoted from recurring character to the Main Cast in the 2nd season.

Filmography

Television appearances

Music videos

Other activities

Phifer was the 2004 winner of the Celebrity Poker Showdown Championship, defeating Neil Patrick Harris during the fourth season. Phifer plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Love Our Children USA charity. Phifer is chairman of the board of trustees of The Vine Group USA. a non-profit organization established in 2000 to provide educational resources to universities in Africa. He has signed up with Full Tilt Poker.

Phifer is an owner of six Athlete's Foot athletic shoe store franchises in California.