Andre Braugher's Most Memorable Roles: 12 Best Movies and TV Shows Starring the Beloved Actor

Andre Braugher, who was beloved for playing Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street, Captain Raymond Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine and countless other movie and TV show roles, died in December 2023 after battling lung cancer. He was 61.

Braugher won an Emmy for his performance in Homicide and, in addition to his prolific acting career, served as a vice chairman of New York’s Classical Theatre of Harlem. In 2024, the theatre dedicated its 25th anniversary season to Braugher.

Here are the 12 best movies and TV shows Andre Braugher starred in over the years.

Related: André Braugher’s Net Worth at the Time of His Death and How He Got His Start in Hollywood

Best Andre Braugher Movies

Glory

Braugher made his film debut in this Oscar-winning 1989 movie about Black soldiers fighting for the Union during the American Civil War. In this powerful movie, Braugher played Thomas Searles, a corporal in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He starred opposite Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington in what would become his breakout role.

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Frequency

In this science fiction thriller, Braugher stars opposite Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Elizabeth Mitchell, Shawn Doyle and Melissa Errico. Braugher plays Detective Satch DeLeon, the main protagonist in this father/son time travel movie. 

Get on the Bus

This Spike Lee film features 15 African American men who take a bus from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to attend the Million Man March. Braugher plays Flip, a vain, self-absorbed and sexist actor.

The Mist

In director Frank Darabont‘s outstanding adaptation of a Stephen King horror novella about a group of people trapped in a grocery store surrounded by mist, Braugher plays the guy who refuses to accept that something supernatural is going on, while almost everyone else is scared out of their minds. His performance as a man attempting to be rational in an uncertain crisis—unaware that the monsters are, in fact, real—is one of the most believable in the horror genre.

Best Andre Braugher TV Series

Homicide: Life on the Street

Braugher earned an Emmy in 1998 for his role as Baltimore homicide detective Frank Pembleton in this 1990s procedural. He starred for seven seasons and 100 episodes in the role that defined his early career.

Related: The Greatest TV Cops of All Time

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

For eight seasons and 153 episodes of the hit series, Braugher played Captain Raymond Holt. After his death, his co-stars were quick to pay tribute to the great actor. Terry Crews shared on Instagram that he was in disbelief that his friend and co-star was gone. “Can’t believe you’re gone so soon. I’m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts,” wrote Crews.

Gideon’s Crossing

In this medical drama that was loosely based on the experience of real-life physician Jerome Groopman and his book The Measure of Our Days, Braugher played Dr. Ben Gideon. A chief of experimental medicine at a teaching hospital, Dr. Gideon gave hope to critically ill patients. 

Law & Order: SVU

Braugher plays defense attorney Bayard Ellis on six episodes of Law & Order: SVU. On the series, he represented drug dealers before winning a sizable civil suit that inspired him to found the New York Center for Civil Liberties. 

Related: All About Andre Braugher’s Wife and Family

BoJack Horseman

In one of few voice roles, Braugher voices Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz, the governor of California, in four episodes of the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman. After his character lost his position, he regained it in a special election.

House

During Season 6 of House, Braugher guest-stars as Dr. Darryl Nolan, who is Greg House’s treating physician at Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital. In the season premiere, Braugher and Hugh Laurie give two of the finest performances in all of television.

Last Resort

In this military drama, Braugher stars as Captain Marcus Chaplin, a commanding officer of a U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the USS Colorado.

Men of a Certain Age

In this comedy-drama series, Braugher plays used car salesman Owen Thoreau Jr. He was nominated for two Emmy Awards for his rich portrayal. The show was canceled after two seasons, leaving major story threads unresolved, but Braugher’s excellent performance, alongside equally great co-stars Ray Romano and Scott Bakula, is worth the watch.

Related: The 10 Most Important Black TV Shows of All Time