This year’s family reunion features one U.Va. alum who is celebrating homecoming just a few weeks late. Sean Patrick Thomas, who was very active in the Drama Department during his years here, is returning to represent the latest film in a career that has taken him from the U.Va. Grounds to Hollywood and now back again. Thomas was an English major on his way to a career in law when he first caught the acting bug, deciding to audition for a role in a Drama Department production of A Raisin in the Sun. He would later appear in the TV adaptation of the play, opposite Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Lathan and Audra McDonald.

After graduation, he landed small roles in films including Courage Under Fire (1996), Conspiracy Theory (1996) and Can’t Hardly Wait (1998). In the meantime, he honed his craft by earning an M.F.A. in drama from New York University. His first taste of mainstream notoriety came in 1999 with a pivotal role in Cruel Intentions, in which he co-starred opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe.

More notoriety came when he was cast in the role of Temple Page on the critically acclaimed TV series The District, winning Movieguide’s 2003 Grace Award for Best Television Performance by an Actor.

In 2001, Thomas returned to the big screen for his first starring role, opposite Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance for Me, an interracial love story set on Chicago’s South Side. The role earned him two MTV Movie Awards, one for Male Breakout Performance and one for Best Kiss (with Julia Stiles). He also captured the Male Standout Performance Award at the 2001 Movieline Magazine Young Hollywood Awards. Thomas was part of one of the movie world’s most successful recent franchises with his role as Jimmy James in the smash-hits Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business. The films, which starred Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer and Queen Latifah, both opened at number one with the sequel taking in $25 million on its opening weekend.

He recently wrapped production on The Burrowers, a unique take on the western genre, from Lionsgate, and was last seen in the Darren Aronofsky film The Fountain, opposite Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.