Ethan Herisse (born September 24, 2000) is a Haitian-American actor. He is best known for his role as young Yusef Salaam on the Netflix original series When They See Us (2019) and as Elwood in the Academy Award nominated film Nickel Boys (2024).
Herisse was born in Miami, Florida to Haitian parents and spent his early childhood in Randolph, Massachusetts.
Herisse had aspirations to be a basketball player until he accompanied his younger sister to an acting class and soon began performing. After his parents asked him if he wanted to pursue acting seriously at age 11, the family moved to Los Angeles, California.
In 2024, Herisse received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from University of California, Irvine.
Herisse spent his middle and high school years in Burbank going to auditions between classes, acting in guest roles on shows like The Mindy Project, About a Boy, and Key & Peele.
At 17, Herisse was cast in his breakthrough role as Yusef Salaam, a real-life member of the Central Park Five, in Ava DuVernayâÂÂs Netflix miniseries, When They See Us. He was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Limited Series or Dramatic Special at the 51st NAACP Image Awards in 2020.
Herisse landed the lead role of Elwood in RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys (2024), an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel.