Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Malcolm-Jamal Warner has become known in the entertainment business for his seasoned acting talents and his accomplishments in music, directing and producing. As an Emmy-nominated actor and Grammy award winning poet, Warner has positioned himself as one of the most accomplished talents in the industry today. As a staple in television and film for over 30 years, Warner first rose to national prominence by starring on the celebrated and long-running classic television series The Cosby Show. His work on the show garnered him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and set the stage for him to have a long career in the public eye. 

Presently, Warner can be seen starring on FOX’s hit medical drama The Resident. Originally cast for a three-episode arc at the end of season one, he quickly became a fan favorite and promoted to a series regular as cardio-thoracic surgeon AJ Austin aka ‘The Raptor,’ whose uncontrollable personality makes him a liability within the hospital walls. The Resident, which also stars Matt Czuchry, follows the lives and duties of staff members at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, while delving into the bureaucratic practices of the hospital industry. Season six is currently airing.

In addition to The Resident, Warner can also be seen in FOX’s much anticipated courtroom anthology series, Accused, which debuted in January 2023. Prior to The Resident, he was seen as a series regular on ABC’s drama series Ten Days in the Valley opposite Kyra Sedgwick. He also made headlines in 2016 starring as A.C. Cowlings opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. on the critically acclaimed, award-winning FX series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson. Additional recent credits include: Amazon’s Sneaky Pete, TNT’s Major Crimes, Suits on USA, American Horror Story: Freak Show for FX, Sons of Anarchy for FX, Community, The Michael J. Fox Show, Hawthorne, The Cleaner and “Dexter.” In 2011 Warner produced, directed and starred in the BET original series Reed Between the Lines opposite Golden Globe Award- winner Tracee Ellis Ross. On the film front his short film Muted (starring opposite Chandra Wilson) won the HBO Short Film Competition at the American Black Film Festival in 2014.

As a seasoned director Warner has worked on a host of television series, including The Resident, being a regular director (and producer) on the comedy series Malcolm & Eddie, and also having directed several episodes of The Cosby Show, All That, Keenan & Kel, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sesame Street, and the AIDS awareness video Timeout: The Truth about HIV, AIDS, and YOU, which starred Magic Johnson and Arsenio Hall and earned Warner the NAACP Key of Life Image Award. His short film, This Old Man, received critical acclaim on the theater festival circuit.

On the film front Warner released a powerful, spoken word short film entitled You Can’t Hear Me in May 2017. The five-minute short displays Warner, spoken word artist-producer David Bianchi, and spoken word artist Chris Wood citing poetry that highlights some of America’s civil and social ills including systematic oppression, deportation and mass incarceration. Warner made his feature film debut in Paramount Pictures’ Drop Zone, and was also seen in Warner Bros’ Pictures Fools Gold opposite Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson and Donald Sutherland. He also co-starred in the independent films Restaurant with Adrien Brody, A Fare to Remember, and The List with Wayne Brady. He recently starred in the short film Wannabe, which was a runaway hit at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as the film short Shot, starring Noah Wiley.

On stage Warner has starred in the off-Broadway plays Three Ways Home; Cryin’ Shame, for which he received the NAACP Theater Award for Best Supporting Actor; Freefall at the Victory Garden Theatre in Chicago; and A Midsummer Nights’ Dream at the La Jolla Playhouse in California. Warner received critical acclaim for his West Coast debut of his one-man theatrical production of Love and Other Social Issues. He returned to the stage in September 2014, reprising Sidney Poitier’s role as Dr. John Prentice in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in Boston at The Huntington Theatre. Warner has held this role before, previously performing in the play at Washington, D.C.’s esteemed Arena Theater.

When not acting and directing, Warner is a poet and a bass player. In 2015 Warner nabbed his first Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance as a Featured Performer”on Robert Glasper’s version of the Stevie Wonder classic Jesus Children of America. Lalah Hathaway was also featured on the track. Warner’s jazz-funk band Miles Long has performed in several major jazz festivals, including the Playboy Jazz Festival, and has opened for high profile artists including Earl Klugh and the late Luther Vandross, and he has also performed at the historic Apollo Theater. In September 2015 Warner released his third album, Selfless, which brought an evolution of music to the table, melding spoken word and soul music into once cohesive album. His fourth album, Hiding In The Plain View, was released in September 2022 and has garnered him a second Grammy nomination for the inaugural Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. All of Warner’s independently distributed CDs, The Miles Long Mix Tape, Love and Other Social Issues and Selfless, have become popular on the underground music scene, can now be purchased on iTunes and MalcolmJamalWarner.com.