Nelsan Ellis Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Nelsan Ellis (b. November 30, 1977) is an award-winning American film and television actor and playwright. He is well known for his role as Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series True Blood, which he has been playing since 2008. Ellis was born in Harvey, Illinois. When Ellis and his siblings were younger, their mother, a single parent after her divorce from her children's father, broke down over the death of her brother. Ellis and his siblings became wards of state as a result. They were then raised in Bessemer, Alabama by their grandmother. In Alabama, Ellis attended Jess Lanier High School... MORE

Nelsan Ellis (b. November 30, 1977) is an award-winning American film and television actor and playwright. He is well known for his role as Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series True Blood, which he has been playing since 2008. Ellis was born in Harvey, Illinois. When Ellis and his siblings were younger, their mother, a single parent after her divorce from her children's father, broke down over the death of her brother. Ellis and his siblings became wards of state as a result. They were then raised in Bessemer, Alabama by their grandmother. In Alabama, Ellis attended Jess Lanier High School for a year, then transferred to McAdory High School. He moved back to Illinois at 15, where he lived with his maternal aunt, and graduated from Thornridge High School in Dolton, Illinois, in 1997. At 17, Ellis joined the Marines, but quit not long afterwards. At 21, he enrolled in Juilliard, where he befriended True Blood-colleague Rutina Wesley. LESS