Laz Alonso mini-bio: Born March 25, 1970 and raised in Washington DC, Laz always knew he wanted to be a successful actor. He remembers at a very early age, entertaining his family by playing different characters and imitating relatives and family friends. Laz attended and graduated college from the prestigious Howard University School of Business with a BBA in Marketing. After college, he worked on Wall Street as an investment banker. He eventually started his own marketing business with some partners. The company promoted mainstream products to the urban/trend-setting market. Owning and operating his own successful business freed up Laz's time to finally explore his passion for acting. Laz began taking classes in the evening to hone his craft, and it didn't take him long to begin landing roles in commercials and videos.
From D.C. to New York, Laz feels his upbringing not only taught him how to deal with the school of hard knocks, but also prepared him for his biggest goal, his acting career. Laz credits the move to NYC as his move into manhood and the city holds many great memories for him. He also credits his acting ability to these life experiences, as he able to bring a little of what he knows or has dealt with into his characters.
A star on the rise, Laz was most recently seen in the Sony Screen Gems box office hit Stomp The Yard. In the movie Laz plays "Zeke" leader of the Mu Gamma Xi fraternity. In addition, Laz can be seen later in 2007 in a starring role in the independent psychological thriller Captivity, directed by Roland Joffe. In the movie, Laz plays Detective Desantos, whom along with his partner are on the path of a serial killer that strikes once a year. The movie was shot on location in Moscow. Most recently he just landed a co-starring role in Avatar starring opposite Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana, and This Christmas starring opposite Regina King, His past movie, credits an ensemble lead role in the 2005 hit Jarhead, opposite Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx in a cast that included Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard and was directed by Sam Mendes. Some of Laz's past TV credits include guest-starring roles on "The Unit", "Bones", "CSI: Miami," "The Practice," "Navy: NCIS" and "Eyes."
When Laz isn't acting, he works on his other passion, music! He loves to create music and can spend all hours of the night producing. Having studied classical piano for seven years, he feels he has been blessed with an ear for music.
Laz currently resides in Los Angeles.
Won an Emmy Award for his participation in Budweiser's "Wassup" commercials.
Appeared in Toni Braxton's video "Hit the Freeway".
Made a cameo appearance in Aaliyah's video & tribute "Miss You".
Appeared in the 2003 Alayé calendar.
Is bilingual in English & Spanish.
