Film & TV / Politics
Hill Harper
born 1966 · actor, author, political candidate
Actor from CSI: NY and The Good Doctor who moved to Detroit in 2016, bought a downtown coffee roastery and ran for the U.S. Senate from Michigan in 2024.
- Born
Iowa City, Iowa
age 60- Birth name
- Frank Eugene Harper
- Detroit years
- 2016–present
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Harper, born in Iowa City to two physicians and educated at Brown and Harvard Law School, became known on television as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY and later as Dr. Marcus Andrews on The Good Doctor. He fell for Detroit while filming there and moved to the city in 2016, saying he wanted to raise his son there. In 2017 he bought Roasting Plant Coffee on Woodward Avenue in the First National Building and teamed it with Dilla's Delights, a doughnut business named for Detroit producer J Dilla, planning to use the café to train young Detroiters through his Manifest Your Destiny Foundation. In July 2023 he entered the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Debbie Stabenow, campaigning as a Detroit resident and political outsider; he lost the August 2024 primary.
Highlights
- Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY; Dr. Marcus Andrews on The Good Doctor
- Moved to Detroit in 2016
- Bought Roasting Plant Coffee on Woodward Avenue in 2017
- Candidate in Michigan's 2024 Democratic U.S. Senate primary
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 2017–
Roasting Plant Coffee (First National Building)
Status being checked
The downtown coffee roastery he bought in 2017 and paired with Dilla's Delights.