Avery Brooks

An American actor, jazz musician, opera singer, activist and college professor.   Perhaps best known for his roles as Hawk for the TV series, Spencer: For Hire and Star Fleet Commander and later Captain Benjamin Sisko on the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Born Avery Franklin Brooks in Evansville, Indiana, he attended and graduated from Rutgers University, with a Masters of Fine Arts in acting and directing. Following school, Brooks began working in theatre, and in 1984, he began a 15-year career in television.  Mr. Brooks has been a tenured professor of theatre at the Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University for more than three decades, and has also completed work on his long-awaited CD.  It contains "a selection of ballads and love songs... I speak of my respect for my father, and for artists that I have listened to all my life."