Background
McBride was born in Chicago, Illinois, from which his nickname, Chi, derives.
Actor voice actor television actor
McBride was born in Chicago, Illinois, from which his nickname, Chi, derives.
He graduated from high school at the age of 16.
He starred as high school principal Steven Harper on the series Boston Public, as Emerson Cod on Pushing Daisies, as Detective Laverne Winston on the Fox drama Human Target, and more recently as Detective Don Owen in the short-lived Columbia Broadcasting System crime drama Golden Boy. He currently has a main role as Five-0 officer Lou Grover in the Columbia Broadcasting System drama Hawaii Five-0. He has also appeared in films such as Gone in 60 Seconds, The Terminal, I, Robot, and Draft Day.
McBride originally planned to pursue a career in music
After studying several instruments and singing with gospel choirs in his native Chicago, he relocated to Atlanta in 1986 to work for American Telephone & Telegraph Company as a billing clerk. His first success in show business came with the hit song "He"s the Champ", which parodied the marriage of boxer Mike Tyson and actress Robin Givens.
Based on the tune"s success, McBride was signed by Esquire Records and he joined the rhythm and blues band Covert. Convinced he should try his hand in front of the camera, the singer moved to Los Angeles and, billed as "Chi", landed guest spots on Fox"s In Living Color and National Broadcasting Company"s The Fresh Prince of Belorussian-Air as well as a featured role in the television movie Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation.
In 1998, he was a co-star of Mercury Rising, alongside Bruce Willis.
He was later given the role of Principal Steven Harper on the series Boston Public. Much of McBride"s work sees him playing right-hand man to the hero, as in the films Mercury Rising and The Terminal. He is notable for his television roles on Boston Public, The John Larroquette Show, House, The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, Killer Instinct and Pushing Daisies.
McBride portrayed eight different characters in the play Nagataki Sake, directed by Robert Downey, Senior
The show premiered on January 17, 2010, on the Fox Broadcasting Company.
He appeared on an episode of "Celebrity Ghost Stories", depicting an incident during 1988 before his acting career in which he was subconsciously led to the Lorraine Motel while stopped over in Memphis, and experienced psychic visions of Martin Luther King, Junior."s assassination on the 20th anniversary of the event.