Age: 27 | Hometown: Silver Spring, Md.
Reggie harris isn't a bad guy-he just plays one on TV.
If you're walking around campus, you might see the second-year law student hitting the books, but if you're watching reruns of the series Hack, you might see him as a troubled youth involved in a high-end burglary ring.
"Normally, the way I look, I guess generally first people consider me for roles that are generally the good guy-I'm not usually getting to play the bad guy," Harris says. "And so here I got to be this total bad ass, you know, this thief-slash-mugger. It was a great role-I loved it. It was just really unbelievably cool."
Harris, whose first gig was as a teenage spokesperson for Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes, has now done "literally hundreds" of spots on commercials, TV series, films and plays. But he has always balanced his interest in acting with his academic and social aspirations.
While an undergrad, also at Duke, Harris had to choose between the competing time commitments of pledging and acting.
"All of the pledge requirements were such that I couldn't pledge and play here," Harris says. "So even though I loved the idea of pledging and I wanted to be in a fraternity, I really, really liked being in a play."
Acting won out, but Harris still managed to get a taste of fraternal brotherhood. With a friend, Harris used his computer science know-how to help run the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's website for his RA, who held a position in the organization. Harris spent "most of his time" with the Alphas-at least at first.
Eventually, Harris' commitments to the theater caused him to branch out around campus and fit in with many different social groups.
"It really kind of forced me to integrate myself, or to not separate myself from the student body," Harris says. "The fraternities were there; the structure was there for me to just hang out with other black students. I kind of made a choice not to just do that-it really opened my eyes in terms of life experience."
It's a decision that Harris does not regret. After graduation, Harris spent two years dedicating himself to his acting career, and is now pursing a law degree as well as a Masters in English in hopes of running his own production company. Now, back at Duke, Harris wants his chance at joining Alpha Phi Alpha.
It's not quite Old School-Harris won't get to pledge like the undergraduate candidates-but Harris' paper application will still give him the opportunity to be a part of something he feels he missed the first time around.
"There's something to be said about someone with whom you can discuss certain parts of your life, and you know that based on the reality of their race that they've had the same or very similar experiences," he says.
Harris joined the Black Law Students Association upon entering law school. Though he remains close with his friends from his undergraduate years, he has been able to meet new people that he can rely on and work with in the field.
"It's very good in terms of networking, in terms of just knowing other people within the law field, which is already a field which is dominated by whites," Harris says.
Even the pressures of law school, though, have failed to stop Harris's passion for acting-he is currently working on a film, acting in the upcoming law school play and working with a friend to write a film of his own. For Harris, acting will always be a part of his life-no matter what role he is playing.
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