Aldis Hodge

Intro

Aldis Hodge is an American actor known for Alec Hardison in Leverage, Noah in Underground and Alex Cross in the television series Cross. His films include Straight Outta Compton, Hidden Figures, Brian Banks and One Night in Miami, alongside the superhero production Black Adam. His career moves between ensemble work and leading roles, with characters drawn from contemporary fiction, historical drama and comic-book storytelling. Outside acting, he has pursued design and watchmaking, describing those interests as part of a wider commitment to making art.

Career snapshot

Born in North Carolina and raised in New York and New Jersey, Hodge began performing as a child. His brother Edwin Hodge is also an actor. Early screen work preceded the adult roles through which he became more widely known, including appearances in television and feature films. He later studied at ArtCenter College of Design, where an interest in architecture and design developed alongside acting. That combination of performance and visual work is important to his own account of his professional identity, rather than a hobby added after screen success.

The entry point

Leverage began in 2008 and cast Hodge as Alec Hardison, the technical specialist in a team using confidence tricks and other skills against powerful wrongdoers. Hardison’s expertise is essential to the group’s operations, while his relationships with fellow team members give the series much of its humor and continuity. Hodge worked with Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf in the original company. He later returned to the character in Leverage: Redemption, reconnecting with a role that had become a familiar part of his television career.

Screen identity and style

Underground gave him a markedly different assignment as Noah, an enslaved man pursuing freedom. Other projects asked him to portray historical figures: MC Ren in Straight Outta Compton, Levi Jackson in Hidden Figures and the title character of Brian Banks. These roles belong to distinct stories and periods, from the formation of a rap group to the lives surrounding NASA’s pioneering Black women and a wrongful-conviction case. The Hidden Figures photograph here records his attendance at the film’s New York celebration in December 2016, rather than a scene from the drama.

Collaborations and patterns

In Regina King’s One Night in Miami, Hodge played Jim Brown alongside performers portraying Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Cassius Clay. The film imagines a conversation among the four men after Clay’s victory over Sonny Liston, using a real historical gathering as the starting point for dramatic fiction. Hodge’s work then ranged from James Lanier in The Invisible Man to Hawkman in Black Adam. Those productions require very different relationships to action and spectacle, showing the variety of film assignments within the same stretch of his career.

Era reflection

Cross placed him in the title role of James Patterson’s detective and forensic psychologist, with Ben Watkins developing the television series. Skydance’s production announcement also identified Hodge as a producer, adding responsibility beyond the central performance. The project follows a character with an established readership and earlier screen adaptations, while offering a television treatment with its own cast and stories. His other sustained dramatic television work includes Decourcy Ward in City on a Hill, another role involving law, institutions and the pressures surrounding an investigation.

Legacy and rediscovery

Hodge has written about teaching himself watch design while studying at ArtCenter, where his classes focused on other design disciplines. In his first-person account for Hodinkee, he connects the detailed work of horology with a broader artistic purpose. That perspective sits alongside the acting résumé, which encompasses the wit of Hardison, the historical context of Noah and the investigative work of Cross. The gallery’s public-appearance photographs provide a visual record across several years, while the selected credits point toward the different forms of storytelling he has undertaken.

Selected screen roles

• Leverage: Alec Hardison — 2008–2012
• Straight Outta Compton: MC Ren — 2015
• Underground: Noah — 2016–2017
• Hidden Figures: Levi Jackson — 2016
• One Night in Miami: Jim Brown — 2020
• Black Adam: Hawkman — 2022
• Cross: Alex Cross — from 2024

A career in pictures

Three distinct photographs document Hodge’s public appearances in 2011, 2016 and 2019, including the New York celebration of Hidden Figures.

New York appearance (2019)

Aldis Hodge

Photographed in New York in 2019.

Earlier public appearance (2011)

Aldis Hodge

A separate photograph taken in May 2011.

Hidden Figures celebration (2016)

Aldis Hodge

At the SVA Theatre in New York for the global celebration of Hidden Figures; NASA photograph.

Rewatch notes

• Plays Alec Hardison in Leverage and Leverage: Redemption.
• Portrays Jim Brown in One Night in Miami.
• Has pursued watch design alongside his acting career.