- Power star Omari Hardwick is an actor, musician, former football player, and a poet.
- Here's everything you ever wanted to know about the actor, who's gearing up for season 6 of the hit Starz show.
Omari Hardwick is an actor, writer, poet, and artist most known for his role as James "Ghost" St. Patrick on the Starz hit drama Power. And yet he's nothing like any of the alter egos he plays on TV. Hardwick, who is most famous for his roles in Being Mary Jane, Sorry To Bother You, and I Will Follow, has slowly emerged as one of Hollywood's hottest leading men due to his nuanced and strong performances. Though his wife, Jennifer "Jae" Pfautch, is his rock, he's faced and overcome plenty of hardship.
Omari Hardwick's career started in sports.
After college, Hardwick took a spot with the San Diego Chargers as a defensive back after becoming one of the All-Time Georgia Football Lettermen during his time at the University of Georgia (where he minored in acting.) When his football career faltered, he took on plenty of other jobs while trying to act: He was a substitute teacher and coach at a day school in Los Angeles; he sold women’s shoes at Nordstrom; worked at a catering hall; and even took jobs as a security guard.
He's faced unemployment and homelessness.
After landing an acting job in a pilot directed by Spike Lee, Hardwick quit all of his side gigs to focus on his ascent to stardom—only for the project to fall apart due to various lawsuits. Consequently, he became broke, unemployed, and lived out of his car for a time. “I thought I was cool,” he said to Ebony. “I wasn’t doing student films but a substantial project. We thought it would have become a version of The Wire, so it was ironic my moment of homelessness was post my first real [acting] job."
One unexpected hand came to help him get on his feet. Hardwick found himself struggling to make the payments on his car lease, so Oscar winner Denzel Washington and his wife, Pauletta, gave him $1,500 so it wouldn't be taken away. Hardwick had served as a mentor to their oldest son, BlacKkKlansman's John David Washington. But unfortunately, “the car got repossessed, ultimately, because I couldn’t sustain it,” Hardwick told Ebony.
He soon would book 2005's Beauty Shop, 2008's Miracle at St. Anna, 2010's For Colored Girls, and 2012's Sparkle, among other roles. And yes, he eventually repaid the Washingtons.
He's got a deep love for his side hobby, writing poetry.
In addition to being an actor, Hardwick is also an accomplished poet and spoken-word artist, having written over 4,000 poems. Growing up in Decatur, Georgia, Hardwick was known for his poetry writing (alongside his athleticism). He has won the National Poetry Slam twice, and currently hosts the Poetics podcast on Luminary, where Hardwick asks rappers to read their own poetry before dissecting it in interviews.
“I’m asking rappers to come in and sit down and recite a poem,” Hardwick told Billboard. “Lose the machismo. Poetry has a vulnerability that rap and MC'ing doesn’t. You gotta be vulnerable. That kind of takes it to another level and gives [artists] a different look.”
He also helped found the Omari Hardwick Bluapple Poetry Network, an after-school spoken-word poetry program that is free to students across South Florida.
Sorry ladies, he's off the market.
Hardwick has been married to former publicist Jennifer "Jae" Pfautch since 2012, and they are the proud parents of daughter Nova and son Brave. Hardwick had a child who passed away during the filming of Dark Blue, a topic he spoke about with Lance Gross in an interview in 2017.
Hardwick has worked closely with Ava DuVernay.
Hardwick is one of the few actors who has worked with Oscar-nominated writer/producer/director Ava DuVernay twice, starring first in her 2010 film I Will Follow, and next in 2012's Middle of Nowhere alongside Emayatzy Corinealdi and David Oyelowo. With the latter film, DuVernay became the first Black woman to take home the directing award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
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