Wood Harris Age and Net Worth 2027: The Wire Star

Wood Harris is 58 years old in 2027, and his net worth is estimated at $2 million. He is best known as Avon Barksdale, the drug kingpin he played on HBO’s The Wire. His career in film and television, from Remember the Titans to the Creed films, built his fortune.

Harris did not become famous overnight. He spent years in theatre and small television roles after earning a master’s degree in acting from New York University. His first film role came in 1994, in the basketball drama Above the Rim, alongside Tupac Shakur. It took six more years before Remember the Titans made his face familiar to moviegoers, and two more before The Wire made him unforgettable. Since then, he has worked without stopping, building more than 60 film and television credits across three decades.

This article covers Wood Harris age, his early life in Chicago, his career, and how he built an estimated net worth of $2 million by 2027. All net worth figures for public figures are estimates based on public reporting, and they can change as new information appears. Where sources disagree about his wealth, this article says so plainly.

Who Is Wood Harris?

Wood Harris is an American actor, producer, and musician. His full name is Sherwin David Harris. Friends in his Chicago neighborhood gave him the nickname “Wood” because some people found “Sherwin” hard to pronounce. The nickname stuck, and he has used it for his whole career.

Most people know Harris as Avon Barksdale, the calm and ruthless drug kingpin on HBO’s The Wire. That role made him famous, but it is only one part of a long career. He has played heroes and villains, athletes and musicians, police officers and criminals. He played rock legend Jimi Hendrix in a television film, high school football star Julius Campbell in Remember the Titans, and boxing trainer Tony “Little Duke” Evers in the Creed films. In recent years, he has played basketball star Spencer Haywood in Winning Time and a father, Eric, in the Netflix series Forever.

Harris is known as a character actor, which means he often plays supporting roles rather than the lead. That kind of career rarely makes headlines, but it can last for decades. Harris has worked steadily since the early 1990s, and his performances have earned him three Black Reel Awards. He is still taking on major roles in 2027, more than 30 years after his first film.

Wood Harris Early Life and Education

Wood Harris was born Sherwin David Harris on October 17, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois. He is 58 years old in 2027, turning 58 on his birthday on October 17 of that year. He grew up in Chicago in a working-class family. His father, John Henry Harris, was a bus driver, and his mother, Mattie, was a seamstress. He is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris, who is best known for playing Eugene Young on the legal drama The Practice.

Harris found art early. By the age of 12, he was focused on drawing and painting. He also loved basketball. He played for St. Joseph’s School in Chicago, the same school featured in the award-winning documentary Hoop Dreams. Basketball stayed with him through college, where he played on the team at Northern Illinois University while studying theatre.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts from Northern Illinois University. He then went to New York University for a master’s degree in acting. His time there was not smooth: at one point, he was dismissed from the program for tardiness, but his classmates petitioned to have him reinstated, and he finished the degree. After graduate school, he worked in off-Broadway stage productions in New York. His first major film role came while he was still at Northern Illinois University, when he was cast in the basketball drama Above the Rim. That stage and classroom training gave him the range he would later show on screen, from quiet menace to warm humor.

Wood Harris Career

In 2002, Harris was cast as Avon Barksdale in The Wire, an HBO crime drama created by David Simon. Avon was the head of a drug organization in Baltimore: calm, smart, patient, and ruthless when he needed to be. Harris played him as a man who understood power and loyalty, not as a simple villain. The character was loosely based on the real-life Baltimore figure Nathan Barksdale.

Harris was part of the main cast for the first three seasons, from 2002 to 2004, and he returned as a guest star in the fifth and final season in 2008. Avon spent much of the later seasons in prison, but his presence shaped the whole story. His partnership and rivalry with Stringer Bell, played by Idris Elba, became one of the great duos in television drama. Critics praised Harris for making Avon feel real: a man who lived by a code, even a violent one.

The Wire did not get huge ratings when it first aired. Its fame grew slowly, through DVD box sets and streaming, until it was widely called one of the greatest television shows ever made. As the show’s reputation grew, so did the standing of its cast. For Harris, Avon Barksdale became the role that defined him to audiences, even though he had already been working for nearly a decade.

The same year The Wire began, Harris also starred as Ace in the crime film Paid in Full, playing a cocaine dealer based on the real life of Azie Faison. The film became a cult classic. Together, the two 2002 roles could have trapped him as a screen criminal forever. Instead, Harris spent the years that followed proving he could play almost anything, from coaches and fathers to cops and musicians.

Wood Harris Movies and TV Shows

Before The Wire, Harris had already shown his range. His film debut was Above the Rim in 1994, where he played Motaw alongside Duane Martin and Tupac Shakur. In 2000, he had two breakthrough roles in the same year. He played Jimi Hendrix in the Showtime television film Hendrix, and he played Julius “Big Ju” Campbell, a high school football captain, in the Disney sports drama Remember the Titans, opposite Denzel Washington. The Titans role earned him his first two major award nominations, from the NAACP Image Awards and the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

After The Wire, his film career kept growing. He played Guch in the dark comedy Next Day Air in 2009 and the villain Kay in the science fiction film Dredd in 2012. In 2015, he appeared as Gale in the Marvel film Ant-Man and reunited with his Wire co-star Michael B. Jordan in Creed, playing Tony “Little Duke” Evers, the trainer who coaches Adonis Creed. He returned for Creed II in 2018 and Creed III in 2023. In 2017, he played Nandez in the science fiction film Blade Runner 2049. In 2023, he played Dru Joyce II in Shooting Stars, and in 2025, he played Laredo in the film One Battle After Another.

His television work after The Wire was just as steady. He starred as Barry Fouray in the VH1 series The Breaks in 2016 and 2017, and as Brooke Payne in the BET miniseries The New Edition Story in 2017, a role that won him a Black Reel Award. He played Damon Cross on Empire during its fifth and sixth seasons, the drug lord Pat on the Starz series BMF, and Spencer Haywood on Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which won him another Black Reel Award in 2022. In 2025, he took a main role as Eric, a father, in the Netflix series Forever, which won him a third Black Reel Award and nominations for a Critics’ Choice Award and an NAACP Image Award in 2026.

Harris has also worked on stage and in music. In 2012, he played Harold “Mitch” Mitchell in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, alongside Blair Underwood. He produced his own debut album, Beautiful Wonderful, which was intended for release in 2005. In 2012, he narrated the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary film Benji. His awards tell the story of a steady rise:

Harris built his career the steady way, one strong role at a time. Other actors who took very different paths to long careers include Jim Parsons and Raymond Cruz, whose age and net worth stories are covered in full on this site. As of 2027, Harris is still working at a high level, with Forever continuing and more film projects in the works.

Wood Harris Net Worth in 2027

Wood Harris has an estimated net worth of $2 million in 2027. Estimates for his wealth vary more than usual, so that number needs an honest explanation. Celebrity Net Worth lists his net worth at $500,000, a figure the site last updated in August 2024. Most other sources estimate between $2 million and $3 million. A few older or less careful pages give numbers as low as $500,000 or as high as $8 million, but those extremes sit far from the middle of the range. The $2 million figure used in this article is the estimate most sources agree on. Harris has never publicly confirmed his own finances, so the real number may be higher or lower.

His wealth was built the way most working actors build wealth: slowly, over many jobs. No salary figures for his individual roles have been made public, and no single blockbuster payday has been reported. Instead, his income comes from more than 60 acting credits across film and television over 30 years. Long-running television work pays steadily, and supporting roles in hit films like Creed, Ant-Man, and Blade Runner 2049 pay well. Reruns and streaming of The Wire, which found its huge audience years after it aired, have kept his best-known work earning long after filming ended.

His income comes from several sources:

• Film acting salaries, including the Creed films and other studio movies
• Television salaries, including The Wire, Empire, BMF, Winning Time, and Forever
• Producing work and his music album
• Narration and stage work, including Broadway and the ESPN documentary Benji

Harris does not live like a celebrity who chases attention. He keeps a low profile, and little is known about his homes, cars, or spending. That privacy is one reason estimates of his wealth differ so much: with no public record of his deals, every figure is a guess built on the size and number of his roles. What is certain is that three decades of steady work in hit shows and films have given him a comfortable living, even if the exact number stays private.

Wood Harris Awards and Nominations

His awards tell the story of a steady rise:

Wood Harris Personal Life

Wood Harris married Rebekah Harris in 2001, and the couple has two children. The family has lived in New York City, and Harris has kept his family life out of the spotlight for his whole career. He rarely discusses his wife or children in interviews, and he does not share details about his home life on social media.

Some websites disagree about whether Harris and Rebekah are still together, and a few gossip pages describe her as his ex-wife. No divorce has been confirmed in reliable reporting, and his biography still lists her as his spouse, so this article follows that record. Readers should treat the gossip claims as unverified.

Outside of acting, Harris has stayed close to basketball, the sport he played in school and college and the subject of his first film role. He is also close to his older brother, Steve Harris, and the two brothers have worked together on screen, including in an episode of Justified. Harris splits his time between acting work in Los Angeles and New York and a private family life that he guards carefully.

Wood Harris Social Media

Harris keeps his private life off social media. He rarely discusses his wife or children in interviews, and he does not share details about his home life on social media.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is Wood Harris in 2027?

Wood Harris is 58 years old in 2027. He was born on October 17, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois, and he turns 58 on October 17, 2027.

What is Wood Harris net worth in 2027?

Wood Harris has an estimated net worth of $2 million in 2027. Estimates vary widely, from $500,000 to $3 million, because his salaries and spending have never been made public. The $2 million figure is the estimate most sources agree on.

What is Wood Harris best known for?

Wood Harris is best known for playing drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on HBO’s The Wire from 2002 to 2008. He is also known for Julius Campbell in Remember the Titans, Ace in Paid in Full, and Tony “Little Duke” Evers in the Creed films.

Is Wood Harris related to Steve Harris?

Yes. Wood Harris is the younger brother of actor Steve Harris, who is best known for playing Eugene Young on the legal drama The Practice. Both brothers were born in Chicago to Mattie and John Henry Harris.

Is Wood Harris married?

Wood Harris married Rebekah Harris in 2001, and they have two children. He keeps his family life private, and no divorce has been confirmed in reliable reporting.

Conclusion

Wood Harris is 58 years old in 2027, with an estimated net worth of $2 million built over more than 30 years of steady acting work. He never needed one giant payday. Instead, he built his career the way the best character actors do: one strong role at a time, from Above the Rim and Remember the Titans to The Wire, the Creed films, and Forever. Avon Barksdale made him famous, but the full list of his work shows an actor who can play almost anyone. With three Black Reel Awards, a hit Netflix series, and new films still coming, Harris remains one of the most respected working actors in Hollywood.

Michael Carter

Hi, I’m Michael Carter, I write simple, everyday size guides so you can picture any measurement in seconds.