Background
Atkins was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A native of Pittsburgh, Atkins relocated with his family to Chicago when he was six years old.
Atkins was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A native of Pittsburgh, Atkins relocated with his family to Chicago when he was six years old.
His grade-school stage roles failed to spark the kind of lifelong enthusiasm usually experienced by future thespiansm, and it wasn't until enrolling in Northwestern University that the acting bug truly bit. By the time Atkins had earned his bachelor's degree in 1997, his calling had become crystal clear to the burgeoning star. A series of stage roles in local Chicago productions saw Atkins impressively honing his craft to a fine point before making the transition to the screen with supporting performances in such television efforts as Early Edition.
He earned his bachelor's degree in theatre/speech from Northwestern University in 1997. While at Northwestern in 1996, Atkins was initiated as a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity (Iota Chapter)
An actor, who first caught the attention of television viewers thanks to his role as the handsome Dr. Michael Gallant on the long-running medical drama ER, former stage actor Sharif Atkins made the transition from stage acting to screen acting with an ease that gave notable testament to his remarkable range.
In 1999, he made the transition to feature films with a bit part in Light_It_Up. Atkins subsequently essayed a handful of small but memorable television appearances that helped to drive his career in the following years. Starting in 2001, he donned scrubs for a two-and-a-half-year stint as an idealistic young doctor on ER. Though Atkins would take a brief trip into the history of television as a musically inclined performer in the 2001 made-for-television feature The_Big_Time, it was his subsequent turn as a Chicago cop reassigned to Hawaii on the aptly titled NBC series Hawaii that earned the actor top billing and placed him on the cusp of true stardom. Jason Buchanan, Rovi
He gained fame for his role as Dr. Michael Gallant, a character that debuted in the eighth season (2001) of the NBC Universal Television medical drama ER. He left ER after the 2003-2004 season. In 2004, he went on to star in the short-lived police drama Hawaii as former Chicago Police Department Detective John Declan, who transferred to an elite crime unit of the Honolulu Police Department. Atkins continued to make guest appearances in both the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons of ER, with his character returning on leave from duty in Iraq as a U.S. Army physician. His character was killed in Iraq at the end of the 2005-06 season. Atkins also portrayed the recurring character Gary Navarro in the acclaimed series The 4400, Navarro is a telepath.
Currently, Atkins plays the recurring character Special Agent Clinton Jones in USA Network's White Collar.
He has appeared as Assistant United States Attorney Rivers in the CBS drama The Good Wife. He has also appeared on an episode of Criminal Minds and guest-starred in season 8 of CSI:Miami.