Erik LaRay Harvey is an American actor known for his roles as Dunn Purnsley in Boardwalk Empire, Willis Stryker / Diamondback in Luke Cage, and his role in The Charnel House (2016).
Harvey was born in Washington, D.C. In his youth, he aspired to be a dentist, but was drawn into acting when he saw a theatrical performance of The Wiz. Harvey graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in 1991.
Harvey has performed in feature films, television series, and TV movies. Early TV roles include two episodes of Law & Order (1994 and 1998); two episodes of NYPD Blue (1997 and 2003); Now and Again; and Third Watch. He appears in two additional Law & Order series: ' (two episodes; 2003 and 2013) and ' (one episode; 2005). Roles in feature films include Twister, The Caveman's Valentine and Rounders.
His two major roles have been on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire as Dunn Purnsley (2011âÂÂ2013) and the Netflix series Luke Cage as Willis "Diamondback" Stryker.