Welcome to the Evolving Man Project’s ‘Evolved Man of the Week’ profiles. Each week we will highlight an individual that embodies what it means to be an evolved man, famous and non-famous men alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to American actor, author, and former attorney, Hill Harper.
Harper was born in Iowa City, Iowa, the son of Harry Harper, a psychiatrist, and Marilyn Harper. He has been acting since the age of 7. Harper graduated from Bella Vista High School in 1984. He then graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1988. In 1992, Harper graduated with a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. In addition, he also received his Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During his years at Harvard, he was a full-time member of Boston’s Black Folks Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed black theater troupes in the country. He was an extra in Spike Lee’s 1992 movie Malcolm X. While a student at Harvard, Harper befriended fellow black Harvard Law student and future President of the United States, Barack Obama.
During the years Hill Harper has appeared in numerous television shows, and films. These shows and films include; NYPD Blue, Married with Children, Homeland, CSI: NY, The Good Doctor, For Colored Girls, He Got Game, Concussion, and numerous other shows and films. He has won many awards and honors over the years, which includes; being intiated intomember of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He’s been nominated and won multiple NAACP Awards for his acting and writing. He’s been honored in People Magazine’s as one of Sexist Man Alive in 2007 and 2014. Hill Harper has received several honorary doctorates from many colleges and universities, such as Howard University, Westfield State College, and many others institutions of higher learning. He also a noted author and has several books published.
Here is Hill Harper in his own words about his own mortality and what true wealth means:
“What I realized very clearly through that journey was that it doesn’t matter how much celebrity you have or how much money you have or how well you’ve saved or if your 401(k) is solid, if you don’t have your health, and if you don’t have your loved ones and relationships with your family, then none of it means anything,”…”Money is important. It is an important resource to have to help us build the life we want, but we overvalue it. There are so many other wealth factors in our lives. If we identify them as such, we can actually identify what true wealth is.”
Today we honor Hill Harper has our Evolved Man of the Week.
Evolving Man Project 