Biography

A veteran television, theatre, and film actor who was seen on NBC's ER for fifteen seasons as Paramedic Dwight Zadro, won the SAG Award for Best Dramatic Ensemble four times. His film/cable credits include The Player's Club, HBO's Laurel Avenue, TNT's Lily in Winter opposite Natalie Cole; a three year stint on "One Life to Live"; and has made countless television appearances -- Shameless, Detroit 187, Cold Case, to name a few.

Writing credits include the award-winning short, Something for Nothing (which he directed), starring Sharif Atkins and Brent Jennings, and The Art of Theft, winner of the Feeding Frenzy Screenwriting competition.

His extensive stage credits range from Broadway's "King Hedley II" (performed as Mister, alongside Viola Davis and Leslie Uggams) , "A Few Good Men", "Prelude to a Kiss" to "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and "Fences" at Kennedy Center, NY Public Theatre's "East Texas Hotlinks", Cleveland Playhouse's African American production of "The Glass Menagerie."

His recent theatrical productions include the critically acclaimed performance in Los Angeles as the legendary jazz saxophonist, Charlie "Bird" Parker in "BIRD LIVES!" Under his belt, he also has 132 performances of the one-man show, "Thurgood" which was a hit at both the Pittsburgh Public Theatre and the Florida Studio Theatre. Other recent productions also include "The Road Weeps, the Well Runs Dry" at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (NAACP Best Ensemble Award)

His relationship with August Wilson and his work extends back to when as a teen, Montae originated the role of Youngblood in the very first production of "Jitney" at the Allegheny Repertory Theatre in Pittsburgh. August later wrote a letter of recommendation for Montae, so that he could receive his conservatory actor training at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts. Since then, Montae has performed in 9 of the 10 August Wilson "Pittsburgh Cycle" plays. In October 2015, he will appear in The Piano Lesson, and will become the first actor to do all 10 of the Wilson plays.

He's a University of Pittsburgh grad; earned his MFA from Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts. He's a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity; is active in the South LA area with his non-profit organization Successful Youth Los Angeles. More info: MontaeRussell.net. When praises go up, you know the rest...