Mekhi Phifer

Mekhi Phifer ( ; born December 29, 1974) is an American actor. He portrayed Dr. Greg Pratt on NBC's long-running medical drama ER until 2008 and had a co-starring role opposite rapper Eminem in the 2002 feature film 8 Mile. He was a recurring cast member on the Fox crime show Lie to Me in the role of Ben Reynolds before season 3, and also starred as CIA officer Rex Matheson in Torchwood: Miracle Day. Early life Phifer was born on December 29, 1974, in Harlem, New York City. He grew up in a single-parent household with his mother, Rhoda Phifer, a high-school teacher. Career In 1994, 18-year-old Phifer attended an open-casting call for director Spike Lee's Clockers, beating over a thousand others to get the lead role as a narcotics dealer embroiled in a murder cover-up. He followed that role with another in the comedy spoof feature High School High (which also starred his former wife Malinda Williams) and continued by co-starring in the horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. He also starred in the film Paid in Full in 2002.