Movie Credits
Catch a Fire	(2006)
[ Tim Robbins ][ Sydney Pollack ]
Glory Road	(2006)
[ Jon Voight ][ Josh Lucas ][ Damaine Radcliff ][ Sam Jones III ][ Austin Nichols ]
Friday Night Lights	(2004)
[ Iggy Pop ][ Jay Hernandez ][ Lucas Black ][ Garrett Hedlund ][ Billy Bob Thornton ]
Spartan	(2004)
[ Clark Gregg ][ William H Macy ][ Val Kilmer ][ William H. Macy ][ Aaron Stanford ]
Biker Boyz	(2003)
[ Tyson Beckford ][ Djimon Hounsou ][ Laurence Fishburne ][ Terrence Howard ][ Rick Gonzalez ]
Pieces of April	(2003)
[ Sean Hayes ][ Armando Riesco ][ Oliver Platt ]
Antwone Fisher	(2002)
[ James Brolin ][ Denzel Washington ][ Kevin Connolly ][ Sung Kang ][ Malcolm David Kelley ]
White Collar	(1999)

Derek Luke was an all but unknown actor who was still working a day job when Denzel Washington plucked him from obscurity in 2002 for the leading role in his first directorial effort, Antwone Fisher. Born in Jersey City, NJ, in 1974, Luke displayed a precocious interest in drama at the age of four, telling his mother he wanted to be an actor, and, in 1995, he moved to California in hopes of making a career for himself in film and television. The 1,000-dollar nest egg Luke brought with him didn't last long, but, determined to get his foot in the door of the business, he took jobs that would allow to meet people in the entertainment industry — first serving as an usher for television tapings at the Universal Pictures studios and later as a sales clerk at a shop selling candy, gifts, and sundries on the Sony Pictures Studios lot. While there, Luke became acquainted with Antwone Fisher, a screenwriter who had a development deal with the studio, and learned that Fisher's memoir about his turbulent early life was being made into a film. Luke became even more interested when he learned Denzel Washington was interested in directing the film, but, despite landing an audition for the project, the picture was put on hold before casting could be completed. In the meantime, Luke continued to work at the store and landed bit parts on the sit-coms The King of Queens and Moesha before auditioning for Antwone Fisher a second time in 2001. While Luke wasn't happy with his reading, Washington was convinced the actor had the right emotional pitch for the character, and, several weeks later, the Hollywood veteran stopped by the Sony Studios store to tell Luke he'd won the part. After completing Antwone Fisher, Derek Luke was soon cast in two 2003 features, Pieces of April and Biker Boyz.Though still every bit the dramatic powerhouse that he was in Antwon Fisher, Luke's impressive acting abilities would be somewhat buried in such subsequent efforts as Spartain, Friday Night Lights, and Glory Road before a credit-topping role as South American Apartheid freedon-fighter Patrick Chamusso in Phillip Noyce's 2006 biopic Catch a Fire promised to once again put him back in the spotlight.