Background

Parker was born in Norfolk, Virginia, to Carolyn, a 17-year-old mother at the time. His mother never married his biological father, but did wed the man who gave Parker his last name. Parker has four younger sisters. According to a DNA analysis, some of his ancestry is from Cameroon. During Parker's time in middle school, his mother fell in love with Walter Whitfield, who was stationed in Bath, Maine, in the United States Air Force. Although his mother married Whitfield and moved to Maine, Parker, despite the physical distance after the move, remained close to his biological father emotionally. His father died when Parker was eleven, however. Parker became involved in classroom fights and home power struggles with his stepfather, Whitfield. Parker moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia to stay with his maternal uncle, Jay Combs, a former wrestler, at age 14. Nate's great-grandmother got sick and his mother moved back to Hampton Roads, Virginia and lived in the Churchland High School zone, where Nate joined her. Sharing a three-bedroom apartment with four uncles, his mom, aunt, and grandmother, Parker said "we didn't have many material things but we loved each other unconditionally."

Parker was accused of rape while a sophomore at Pennsylvania State University in 1999 and was cleared of those charges in 2001. Parker married Sarah DiSanto—a native of Erie, Pennsylvania whom he met while they were attending Penn State—in Erie's Frontier Park during the summer of 2007. He is a University of Oklahoma alumnus.

Athletic career

Because Parker looked up to Combs, Combs was able to get Parker started in Wrestling at Princess Anne High School. Parker placed third in the Virginia High School League state wrestling championships as a junior while attending Churchland after reuniting with his mother. Carolyn Whitfield moved to the Great Bridge High School district so Parker could participate in its powerhouse wrestling program. He was a member of the 1997-98 state champion Great Bridge wrestling team and was a state champion 135-pound (61 kg) wrestler who placed third in the High School National Wrestling Championships, while becoming a high school All-American. He earned a full scholarship to wrestle at Penn State University.

At Penn State, Parker was nationally ranked as a freshman. After transferring he continued to be ranked as a redshirt junior 141-pound (64 kg) wrestler. In 2002, he placed fifth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association wrestling championships and became an All-American at Oklahoma. Following his fifth-place finish, he was ranked second nationally as a redshirt senior. In 2003, he earned an undergraduate degree in computer programming from Oklahoma. After graduating from Oklahoma, he worked as a computer programmer until he was noticed at a modeling convention in Dallas, Texas, while accompanying a model friend.

Acting career

Parker's first profession was as a computer programmer, which he described as being "in a cubicle writing code". Then, he attended an event in Dallas with a model he was in a relationship with. Los Angeles talent manager Jon Simmons noticed Parker at the convention and talent search while Parker was waiting for his friend to finish her audition. Simmons felt Parker had "the look" and inquired about whether Parker was an actor or a model. After Parker denied both, he asked Parker to read a monologue from The Fast and The Furious. He then asked Parker to videotape himself doing lines from Antwone Fisher and Parker delivered a video within a week. Simmons told him to move to Los Angeles, California right away. Parker packed his clothes and computer and moved to sleep on another aspiring actor's couch. He quickly landed a part in a television commercial. Bit parts and guest appearances followed. He has been working with acting coach Cary Anderson since arriving in Los Angeles. As of early 2008, Parker continued to live in North Hollywood, California with his wife, mother and three of his sisters in a 650-square-foot (60 m2) one-bedroom apartment.

Parker played the male lead in Rome and Jewel, a hip-hop take on Romeo and Juliet in 2006. He had a smaller role in Pride, about an African American swim team, but one that allowed him to display his athletic physique.

Denzel Washington directed The Great Debaters and selected Parker for the role of Henry Lowe. Parker heard Washington requires biographies of the characters that he directs. He wrote a 100-page biography of the Henry Lowe character. To prepare for his role and write a character biography, he read the works of James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, W.B. Yeats, Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. The character was based on the real-life debater, Henry Heights. Parker's character is the love interest of Jurnee Smollett's character and has a bad-boy streak. Parker also performed on the soundtrack. Parker, and co-stars Forest Whitaker, and Denzel Washington were nominated for the 2008 NAACP Image Awards in the best supporting actor category, which Denzel Washington won.

In The Secret Life of Bees he played the love interest of Alicia Keys' character. The movie co-starred Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Sophie Okonedo and was written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood based on the book of the same name by Sue Monk Kidd.

In 2014 he reunited with his The Secret Life of Bees director Gina Prince-Bythewood playing the male lead in her film Beyond the Lights. His performance was nominated for a Black Reel Award for Best Actor and a Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.

Directing

For years Parker was interested in making a film based on the life of Nat Turner. In 2014 he announced that he had funding and was working on assembling his team, and that the film would be called The Birth of a Nation in an ironic tribute to the famously racist 1915 film of the same name. In addition to writing and directing Parker cast himself as Turner. Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer and Gabrielle Union were also cast in key roles. Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the distribution rights to the film for $17.5 million at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, which broke the record for the most paid for a Sundance Film Festival production surpassing Little Miss Sunshine, which had been acquired by Searchlight for $10 million ten years earlier.

Public charity

Parker aspires to provide scholarships to youth between the ages of 17 and 25 at Wiley College through the 100 Men of Excellence Initiative. He has been a supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of America as well as a program called Peace4Kids, which is a program for foster youths and underprivileged youth in South Los Angeles, California where kids are involved in daily activities that stimulate and nurture creativity and intellect. Parker also coaches a wrestling team of 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds at Rosemead High School and he assists in coaching wrestling at Rio Hondo College. Parker was an active supporter of and volunteer for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Dirty	Duster
2005	Cruel World	Techno
2007	Pride	Hakim
2007	The Great Debaters	Henry Lowe
2008	Felon	Officer Collins
2008	Tunnel Rats	Private Jim Lidford
2008	Rome & Jewel	Rome
2008	The Secret Life of Bees	Neil
2010	Blood Done Sign My Name	Ben Chavis
2012	Red Tails	Capt. Martin "Easy" Julian
2012	Arbitrage	Jimmy Grant
2012	Red Hook Summer	Box
2013	Ain't Them Bodies Saints	Sweeter
2014	About Alex	Ben
2014	Beyond the Lights	Kaz Nicol
2014	Every Secret Thing	Kevin Jones
2014	Non-Stop	Zack White
2014	Eden	Slim
2016	The Birth of a Nation	Nat Turner	director, writer and producer

Television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
2004	Cold Case	R. J. Holden	Season 1, Episode 22: "The Plan"
2005	Kurtlar vadisi	Male Model	Season 4, Episodes 96 & 97
2006	The Unit	Darryl	Season 2, Episode 11: "Silver Star"

Awards and nominations

• Black Reel Award
  • 2015, Nominee: Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Beyond the Lights
  • 2009, Nominee: Best Ensemble The Secret Life of Bees
• Image Awards
  • 2015, Nominee: Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Beyond the Lights
  • 2009, Nominee: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture The Secret Life of Bees
  • 2008, Nominee: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture The Great Debaters

[ Source: Wikipedia ]