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A Satellite Award winner, Billboard-charting artist and graduate of Yale University, Adam Davenport has worked as an actor on such internationally-renowned stages as The Metropolitan Opera opposite Anna Netrebko and Sondra Radvanovsky, Lincoln Center opposite Emmy winner/Tony nominee Martha Plimpton, Carnegie Hall and Theatre Row. A citizen of Serbia and the United States, Davenport was born in Harvey, Illinois, one of the poorest neighborhoods in America and overcame many obstacles in his youth to graduate from Yale University's film school cum laude. Davenport directed Academy Award and Emmy winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and Tony and Emmy nominee David Harbour (Stranger Things) in his thesis film Midnight Son, shot by Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated cinematographer Tom Stern (long-time collaborator of Clint Eastwood). For his efforts, Davenport became a recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker Award, a distinction shared by Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Soderbergh on their first filmmaking efforts. Most notably, the short was archived by the United States Library of Congress as historian David Meeker cited it in his filmography of jazz on screen as the film's jazz score was used as a counterpoint to the dark subject matter of the story.
At 26, Davenport became the youngest director in the Playwright/Directors Unit of the Actors Studio: his interview was with Academy Award winner Martin Landau. At the Studio, Davenport directed readings and workshop productions of new scripts and classic plays with some of the most celebrated actors in the industry, including Long Day's Journey Into Night (with Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Alfre Woodard, Academy Award nominee Laurence Fishburne and Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard), A Delicate Balance (with Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Ed Harris, Golden Globe winner Frances Conroy, Emmy winner Jane Lynch and Alicia Silverstone), Sweet Bird of Youth (with Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Sally Kirkland, SAG Award nominee Amy Landecker and Nick Stahl), and his own adaptation of John Kaye's novel The Dead Circus (with Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall, Golden Globe winner Matt Bomer, Emmy nominee Giovanni Ribisi, Emmy nominee Zachary Quinto, Emmy nominee Jason Ritter, SAG nominee Vinessa Shaw and Kimberly Elise) and Lost Lake (with SAG nominee Frances Fisher).
Davenport was the producing partner for Academy Award winner Melissa Leo for ten years. After playing a significant role on her Oscar campaign for The Fighter, he co-produced the feature film Furlough, starring three Academy Award winners (Melissa Leo, Whoopi Goldberg and Anna Paquin), which was released theatrically by IFC Films. After working as a screenwriter in his twenties and optioning spec scripts to numerous A-list production companies including Arthur Sarkissian Productions (the Rush Hour franchise) and Hugh Jackman's producing partner John Palermo, Davenport left Los Angeles and began to study acting in New York City under Stella Adler's protege Milton Justice, who coached the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Benicio Del Toro, Kyra Sedgwick and Kathy Bates. It was on the stage where Davenport first began to garner notice for his range of quirky, off-beat and eccentric character portrayals, from a hot-tempered commodities broker who loves cocaine in Last of the Caucasians at The Barrow Group to a Trinidadian immigrant who manipulates women sexually to advance himself in Trinidadian/British playwright Mustapha Matura's Nice at The New Perspectives Theatre.
Adam made his New York stage debut in the 2015 opera adaptation of Tom Wolfe's "The Bonfire of the Vanities," directed by Michael Bergmann and produced at the Hecksher Theatre, the original site for Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. The following year, he performed Lauridsen's "Luc Aeterna" and the North American premiere of Howard Goodall's "Eternal Light: A Requiem" with an international ensemble at Carnege Hall. He simultaneously performed in the Off-Broadway production of Naked Boys Singing and Verdi's Aida at The Metropolitan Opera while both productions were running.
Davenport made his screen acting debut in Colombian filmmaker Esteban Uribe's Cleanse Pest, Rest as a transgender sex worker who becomes a victim of a hate crime. He was subsequently cast to play Hercules in Alex Ewen's musical feature film Project Olympus, produced by Road Warrior Entertainment; according to Indiewire, he may be the first African-American actor to play the hero. Davenport then appeared on several television shows, including the HBO series High Maintenance and the Starz series Sweetbitter, and he was subsequently accepted into the Television Academy. Over his career, Davenport typically played supporting roles but was able to avoid being typecast as he often physically changed his appearance or voice from role to role. Says his collaborator and mentor, acting legend Sally Kirkland: "Adam is a character actor in a leading man's body." He is a member of Actors Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild.
As a musician, Davenport received critical acclaim for his debut single "My Return Address Is You," released by Universal Music Group, which broke into the Top 40 of the Billboard Dance Club Chart, where it charted for ten weeks and surpassed tracks from the likes of Zedd, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. The achievement also made Davenport the first African-American artist/producer in history to eponymously chart on Billboard for Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Davenport won an Independent Music Award at Lincoln Center for the project and was subsequently invited into the Recording Academy where he is a voter for the Grammy Awards. In January 2020, Davenport was honored as the Electronica Artist of the Year from the International Music and Entertainment Association (IMEA). Davenport released his subsequent records on established labels in Europe, including Alveda Music (Greece), Distar Records (Italy), Black Hole Recordings/Gameroom Records (Netherlands), Sound Red (Bulgaria), Housesession Records (Germany) and Break It Down Music (Netherlands).
Davenport relocated permanently to Europe and began working with filmmakers in Eastern Europe; he is one of the first actors of African descent to work in Serbian cinema. Legendary Serbian actor/director Radis Bajic, creator of the most watched television series in Serbian history, cast Davenport as real-life WWII pilot James Alonzo Walker in Heroji Halijarda. Stevan Filipovic, cast Davenport in Pored Nas, the sequel to his film Pored Mene, which won Best Film at FEST International Film Festival and was the highest grossing film of the year in Serbia when it was released. Filipovic also hired Davenport as the acting coach for the film. Davenport also worked as the acting coach for the Slovak film Vitaj Doma, Brate!, directed by Peter Serge Butko, starring Rober Jakab, one of the stars of Slovak and Czech cinema.
Davenport most recently worked opposite SAG nominee Erin Moriarty and Jamie Campbell Bower in Gary Fleder's True Haunting (Sony) and Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Kate Hudson in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix), which closed the 66th London Film Festival and is directed by Academy Award nominee Rian Johnson. Both productions were filmed in Serbia. As part of his work in the ensemble of Glass Onion, Davenport won a Satellite Award for Best Ensemble, Motion Picture and received Best Ensemble wins from Atlanta Film Critics Circle, Boston Online Film Critics Critics Association, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, New York Film Critics Online, Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards and Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards. He also shares a Critics Choice nomination for Best Acting Ensemble with the cast of Glass Onion.
Davenport is the Founder and Artistic Director of The International Acting Studio (TIAS), with studios in Belgrade and Budapest overseeing the coaching and development of nearly 100 actors in Europe, including well-established actors such as Jelena Gavrilovic, Slaven Doslo, Andrea Osvart, Kata Dobo and Barnabas Reti. He has helped actors from the region secure roles on international productions, such as The Crown for Netflix, and studio projects for Universal, Sony, Amazon Prime and Legendary Pictures. He is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers and the only acting teacher in Serbia and Hungary certified to teach the Oscar-winning Chubbuck Technique. He was trained and certified directly by Ivana Chubbuck herself, one of the most famous and influential acting teachers living today.
Davenport is also a Webby Awards nominee and also has served on the nominating committee for the NAACP Image Awards. He will star opposite César-winning French cinema icon Fanny Ardant in Personal Trainer, which will be the first English-language LGBTQ+ feature film to be shot in Serbia and Eastern Europe.
