Born in Brooklyn, New York on May 16th, 1973, Omar was raised by his mother, an elementary school principal. She not only instilled discipline and a strong working ethic in her students, but also in her own kids at home. Epps comes from a very talented family - all of his aunts are singers, and his grandfather played upright bass for Sarah Vaughan. It is therefore no surprise that Omar is not only a gifted actor, but a talented musician as well.
Epps made his acting debut in the well-regarded urban crime drama, Juice in 1992. He was only 18 years old when he got of Q(uincy). The movie also featured Flex Alexander (UPN’s One on One) and George Gore Jr. (ABC’s My Wife & Kids). He also appeared in the HBO movie, Daybreak (1993) with Cuba Gooding Jr. Other roles include characters in such films as The Program (1993), Higher Learning (1995), and Scream 2 (1997). Omar made an appearance on the very short-lived NBC series Here & Now (1992) that started Malcolm Jamal Warner.Omar also landed a recurring role on NBC's popular television drama, ER in 1994. Although he only stayed one season as Surgical Resident Dennis Gant, his appearances left and indelible mark on audiences, who finally had a face to go with the name. Epps still credits ER for truly launching his career.
Omar has also made attempts at a professional music career as well. He and his cousin (going under the moniker of G-Sharp) formed Da Wolfpack, a rap group. Together they released an album in the summer of 1996. However, their music dreams never quite came true as the album was not much of a hit. He appeared on the soundtrack for the failed movie Kazzam starring Shaquille O’Neal. He did a song with Lisa Lopez of TLC.
Luckily for Omar, his acting career was looking up. He was finally being taken seriously as a leading actor by Hollywood. He was chosen as one third of a trio of young delinquents recruited by the police to help fight crime in The Mod Squad, and was cast opposite big screen heavyweights Bruce Willis and Nick Nolte in Breakfast of Champions. Unfortunately, neither film fared very well at the box office, but it nevertheless shows the growing trust Hollywood has in Omar. Besides, all actors have ups and downs, and Omar has had some recent ups as well. Both In Too Deep, and The Wood were deemed box office successes and were incredibly popular with fans.
Next came Love & Basketball with Omar’s real life girlfriend Sanaa Lathan from NBC’s Lateline.
After Love & Basketball, Omar did Dracula (2000) and Brother (2002) to close out the year 2000.
He did a few odd movies until he got decent press for the movie Against The Ropes (2004) as Luther Shaw.
He also did his first vidoe game voiceover-O.E. in the video game Def Jam: Fight for New York.
He returned to network tv in the Fox series House as Dr. Eric Foreman, a vast departure from the doomed Dennis Grant.
He is now married to the former Keisha Spivey in 2004.
He also has a daughter that was born in 1993. K'mari Mae, his secodn daughter was born in 2004.
2005 Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for: "House, M.D." (2004)
2003 Nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for: Conviction (2002) (TV) 2001 Nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for: Love & Basketball (2000)Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s) 2001 Nominated MTV Movie Award Best Male Performance for: Love & Basketball (2000)
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s) 2000 Nominated for Award Film - Choice Actor for: Love & Basketball (2000)
Film - Choice Chemistry for: Love & Basketball (2000) Shared with: Sanaa Lathan
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