Mehcad Brooks

Early life

Brooks was born and raised in Austin, Texas, where he attended L.C. Anderson High School. Brooks is the son of Austin American-Statesman editorial writer Alberta Phillips and former pro football player Billy Brooks; his stepfather is lawyer Gary Bledsoe. After graduating from high school in 1999, he attended the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. Brooks mentioned on a September 2010 episode of The Wendy Williams Show that he turned down basketball scholarships and offers from Ivy League schools in favor of going to USC. He then left to pursue an acting career.

Career

Brooks' early work includes being a Calvin Klein underwear model.

From 2005 to 2006, Brooks played the role of Matthew Applewhite on the ABC TV drama Desperate Housewives. He appeared in Glory Road, portraying Harry Flournoy, an athlete at Texas Western University when the five starting black players beat Kentucky for the national championship. He acted in the 2007 film In the Valley of Elah. He guest starred opposite Tia Mowry as her boyfriend, Jerome, on the TV series The Game in 2008. In 2009 he appeared on FOX's TV series Dollhouse. Brooks played Benedict "Eggs" Talley in the second season of HBO's True Blood. Beginning January 2010, he appeared as attorney Malcolm Bennet in the now-canceled ABC series The Deep End. He plays the "new boyfriend" in a recent State Farm Insurance television commercial alongside former The Game co-star Gabrielle Dennis.

Brooks appeared in the ABC documentary-style dramedy television series My Generation, which premiered in Fall 2010. The show was canceled after only two episodes. He was among the cast on the USA Network series Necessary Roughness which debuted on June 29, 2011. The show featured Brooks as Terrence "TK" King, a football player for the New York Hawks whose anger issues cause his team to require him to see therapist. In 2013, Necessary Roughness was cancelled. Brooks guest starred in the episode "Personal Fouls" of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Prince Miller, a basketball superstar who was once one of his coach's (Dan Lauria) prodigies, the coach under suspicion of being a sexual predator in 2012 and a guest role on JJ Abrams new show 'Alcatraz' episode 6 as a bomb disposal expert. In 2013, Brooks was featured in a public service announcement for the Center for Reproductive Rights. As of 2015, he plays James "Jimmy" Olsen on the CBS/The CW drama Supergirl.

In the media

He appeared in the July 2010 issue of GQ, alongside Emanuela de Paula.

He also appeared in a 2013 video for the Center for Reproductive Rights marking the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Personal life

He is the son of former NFL wide receiver Billy Brooks.

Brooks has stated in an interview with IGN that he is an avid player of video games, including the Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and Madden series.

His older brother, Billy Brooks Jr., was a regular on the now defunct Spill.com. He was in a relationship with Creature co-star Serinda Swan until their break-up in 2011.