An Evening with Eriq LaSalle

CMA & CCCA Present: An Evening With Actor Eriq La Salle
Hosted by Camille Tucker

Actor Eriq La Salle joins Camille Tucker in an engaging evening discussing film, writing thrillers and television.

Actor/director Eriq La Salle is best known to worldwide television audiences for his award-winning portrayal of the commanding Dr. Peter Benton on the critically acclaimed and history-making medical drama ER. Educated at Juilliard and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, his credits range from Broadway to film roles opposite Eddie Murphy in "Coming to America" and Robin Williams in "One Hour Photo." La Salle has maintained a prolific acting career while at the same time working steadily as a director, taking the helm for HBO and Showtime in addition to episodics such as Law & Order, CSI: New York and A Gifted Man, to name a few. In 2012, he marked the beginning of the third element of his triple-threat career with the publication this summer of his first book in a trilogy, the page-turning thriller Laws of Depravity.

He has recently written two thrillers--Laws of Wrath, the book James Patterson calls “All thriller, no filler—a white-knuckled treat," and, Laws of Depravity, named one of the best indie books of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews.

"Laws of Depravity will take you on a heart-pounding ride of vengeance, murder and atonement, never letting you rest until you've reached the final page. Eriq La Salle deftly draws unforgettable characters who tangle with good and evil and seek spiritual understanding and forgiveness for some of the most dastardly deeds human beings are capable of committing. Drawing on his talent as an acclaimed actor and director, Mr. La Salle digs deep into his characters' psyches, delivering a group of bruised and tarnished individuals you won't soon forget." 
-- Neal Baer, co-author of Kill Switch and former Executive Producer of “Law and Order S.V.U."

Camille Tucker is an instructor in the Cinema and Media Arts Department. Camille received her M.A. in theology and film from Fuller Seminary. She did her undergraduate work at University of California, Los Angeles, where she received a degree in English literature with a minor in creative writing. She has sold screenplays to Sony, Universal, New Line, Fox TV and Disney studios and has worked with producers such as Robert DeNiro, Jane Rosenthal, Marc Platt, Todd Garner, John Singleton, Debra Chase and the late Whitney Houston. She has produced six short films that have screened at the Sundance, Heartland, Pan African and San Luis Obispo film festivals. She won Best Narrative Short at the 2013 Roxbury International Film Festival with Cellular, a short film that she wrote, directed and produced. At Fuller, her primary focus was on Imago Dei in relation to the portrayal of women in Scripture and cinema. In her free time, Tucker has taught filmmaking to children and youth at the Harambee School, the Bill Duke Youth & Media Bootcamp, Diamond in the Raw Foundation, Hillside Arts Academy and the Make a Film Foundation.