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Actor · Director

1969-07-25 · New York, USA · Male

25 series in the catalog

David Bryan Woodside (born July 25, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as the bass singer Melvin Franklin in The Temptations, Robin Wood in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Malcolm Franks in Single Ladies, Jeff Malone in Suits, Dr. Joseph Prestridge in Parenthood, the angel Amenadiel in Lucifer, and Wayne Palmer in the thriller series 24.

Early life

David Bryan Woodside was born in Jamaica, Queens, in New York City, on July 25, 1969. He was a chess champion in High School. He has a BA from the State University of New York at Albany and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

Career

Woodside got his start playing Aaron Mosley in the second season of Murder One in 1996. After the series was cancelled, he guest starred on The Practice, Snoops, The Division, and Once and Again. Woodside made a guest appearance on JAG in its final season as FBI agent Rod Benton. From 2002 to 2003, he starred in 14 episodes of the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Robin Wood, the Principal of Sunnydale High School. Woodside followed this up by playing the pragmatic Wayne Palmer, the Chief of Staff, on the Fox series 24. Introduced in the third season, he returned to reprise the role as a guest star in the series' fifth season in episodes 1–2 and 14–18 and returned as a series regular for the sixth season as the President of the United States.

Woodside had a guest role as Marlon Waylord in the 2004 CSI episode "Harvest". In 2007, he was a guest star on Grey's Anatomy in the show's 4th-season episode "Forever Young" wherein he played the character of Marcus. Woodside also guest-starred as a doctor in the series finale of the USA Network series Monk. In 2009, he starred in the first season of the US drama Lie to Me. He then had a recurring role on the CW series Hellcats. From 2011 to 2014, Woodside starred as Malcolm Franks on the VH1 series Single Ladies, playing opposite LisaRaye McCoy as Keisha Greene. In June 2014, he began appearing in Suits as Jeff Malone. In 2016, he began playing the angel Amenadiel in the Fox/Netflix series Lucifer. In 2023, Woodside starred as Erik Monks, a veteran U.S. Secret Service agent newly assigned to the vice president's daughter on the Netflix series The Night Agent. In 2025, Woodside starred as Uncle Leon in the BET+ Original Film "Fighting to Be Me: The Dwen Curry Story".

Personal life

Woodside was in a relationship with actress Golden Brooks from 2008 to 2010. They have a daughter, who was born in 2009.