Dorien Wilson

With an easy charm and winning smile, Dorien Wilson made his way as an actor with numerous television roles, often portraying successful African-American characters with white-collar or academic careers in sitcoms. His breakthrough role came with a 1991-96 co-starring run on HBO's acclaimed adult-themed sitcom "Dream On." Wilson portrayed smooth-talking chat show host Eddie Charles, best friend of main character Martin Tupper (Brian Benben), both slightly neurotic single men with especially active social lives. The two had one of the more equal and believable interracial friendships depicted on television, with little dependency on standard black/white jokes for laughs and he garnered a CableACE Award nomination in 1994. While appearing on "Dream On," Wilson did guest stints on series including "Murphy Brown" (CBS), "Seinfeld" (NBC), "Friends" (NBC) and "Martin" (Fox) and had recurring roles on "Living Single" (Fox) and "Cleghorne!" (The WB).