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Boris Kodjoe was born on March 8, 1973, in Vienna, Austria, but was raised in Freiburg, Germany. He had aspired to be a professional tennis player but soon fell into acting. Boris is most known for his roles as Coach Derek on "Boston Public" and Damon Carter in "Soul Food." He also had a starring part in "Madea's Family Reunion."
Owing his unique, smoldering good looks to his German mother and West African father, actor Boris Kodjoe first caught the attention of Hollywood casting agents in the pages of major men's magazines, as one of the most highly sought-after male models of the late '90s. The former star tennis player delayed a career in marketing -- his major in college at Virginia Commonwealth University -- for a chance to be the subject of fashion spreads from such photographers as Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber. The exposure led him to Hollywood, where he first found roles as a romantic heavy on television, and eventually a steady gig on the small-screen version of Soul Food. Despite starring roles in a pair of independent features (The Gospel and Doing Hard Time), Kodjoe's big-screen breakthrough would come courtesy of the second feature in writer/director Tyler Perry's popular Madea series, 2006's Madea's Family Reunion. Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

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