Wes Chatham — Acting | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Wes Chatham (born 11 October 1978) is an American actor best known for his roles as Amos Burton in the science fiction series The Expanse (2015–2022) and Castor in The Hunger Games film series (2014-2015).

Chatham was born in Atlanta and grew up in North Georgia. Wes's parents divorced when he was two and he spent most of his childhood with his mother, sister, and brother. On a whim, Wes's mother took his sister to a audition for a Tide commercial in Savannah, Georgia and brought him along. While waiting for his sister in the lobby, the casting director discovered Wes and, at the age of seven, he received his first acting job for Tide.

At the age of thirteen, Chatham moved in with his father and, without a lot of supervision and as a restless and rebellious teen, he was kicked out of high school and sent to a second chance school in Lawrenceville to finish his education. While attending classes, a professional theater company out of Atlanta started a mentoring program with the school and Chatham was chosen to write a play that was later performed by his classmates. From this experience, Chatham found his passion for the arts.

After graduating high school, Chatham joined the military as an aviation firefighter on the flight deck of the USS Essex, working in crash and salvage for four years. Chatham's break into acting came just three months before his tour was finished when Denzel Washington chose his ship to shoot the movie Antwone Fisher. While searching for some authentic military personnel for the film, Chatham was discovered by casting director Robi Reed and given his first movie-making experience; that's when he decided he wanted to pursue his lifelong dream of acting. Following Antwone Fisher, Reed convinced Chatham to make the move to Hollywood and shortly thereafter cast him in his first series regular role on Showtime's Barbershop.

Chatham gained further attention acting alongside Tommy Lee Jones as Corporal Steve Penning in Paul Haggis's In the Valley of Elah (2007) and as Frank Benedict, George W. Bush's fraternity brother, in Oliver Stone's biopic W. (2008). The following year, Chatham landed another series regular role on CBS' hit TV show The Unit as Staff Sergeant Sam McBride, working with showrunners David Mamet and Shawn Ryan. Chatham also starred as Brian in the supernatural horror film Husk (2011).

In 2011, Chatham was a part of the ensemble cast of The Help, portraying Carleton Phelan, the brother of Emma Stone's character. In 2012, the film won Outstanding Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and went on to receive four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. In 2012, he landed his first title role in Joel Silver's The Philly Kid; as a fan of mixed martial arts, Chatham dived into the character of Dillion McGwire, performing all of his own stunts. Chatham gained wider recognition for playing Castor in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) and Part 2 (2015), an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling young adult dystopian novel, before landing a starring role as Amos Burton in the SyFy series The Expanse (2015-2022).