Stan Brown

Stan Brown is an actor and educator whose credits include the original Broadway production of Water for Elephants, The Bespoke Tailoring of Mister Bellamy, The Old Man at the Bar, Modern Love, and television series including Homicide: Life on the Street, In the Heat of the Night, and I’ll Fly Away. He is the W. Rockwell Wirtz Professor of Acting at Northwestern University. Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre in 1984 and an MFA in acting in 1989 from the University of South Carolina. He was a founding company member of Trustus Theatre in Columbia, South Carolina. While earning his MFA, he was named a graduate acting fellow at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., where he received the core of his classical actor training. He was also mentored by the late Cicely Berry, director of voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 2024, he made his Broadway debut as Camel in Water for Elephants. His screen credits include projects directed by Robby Benson, Doug Liman, Alexander Jeffery, Charles Correll, James A. Contner, Winrich Kolbe, and Gail Liberti-Kennedy. His television and film work includes Homicide: Life on the Street with Richard Belzer; In the Heat of the Night with Carroll O’Connor; Modern Love with Burt Reynolds and Rue McClanahan; and I’ll Fly Away with Regina Taylor and Roger Aaron Brown. Brown received the Louisiana Film Prize’s Best Actor award for The Bespoke Tailoring of Mister Bellamy.