Prime Video's new murder mystery thriller Cross brings to life 1 of the world's most popular crime novel characters. Based on James Patterson's book, Washington, D.C.C.The film is centered on Alex Cross, a brilliant detective and forensic psychologist who investigates both the newly emerging serial killer and the mysterious death of his beloved wife. The biggest strength of the new 8-episode series is its leading man, with 38-year-old Aldis Hodge taking the lead as a buff and confident crime solver.

Hodge is a familiar face for his past decade supporting film roles, but fans of black TV shows and movies have been waiting for actors, writers, and read on to learn more about cross-stars including his artistic hobbies.

Hodge was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, to parents who both belonged to the Marine Corps. He started as a child actor and appeared on Sesame Street episodes before making his film debut in the 1995 film Die Hard with A Vengeance. He appeared on dozens of TV shows throughout the 2000s, including Charmed, Half & Half, Girlfriend, Friday Night Light and Leveraged.

Some of his best known roles were in 2015's N.W.A.He also played MC Len in the 2020 horror movie "Invisible Man", Jim Brown in Regina King's 2020 drama "Miami Night", and Hawkman in the DC superhero movie "Black Adam." This includes:

Filmmaking is a family issue for Hodges. Aldis's brother Edwin Hodge is also an actor and previously starred in the first three purge films, as well as the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, All Mankind's Apple TV+ series and the CBS series FBI: Most Wanted.

Earlier this year, the pair released the sci-fi thriller Parallel, the first film from their company Hodge Brothers Productions. In the remake of Ray Zheng's Chinese film Parallel Forest, a grieving family consisting of his wife Vanessa (Daniel Deadwyler), husband Alex (Aldis) and brother Martell (Edwin Hodge) are confused when Vanessa discovers her own parallel universe.

In addition to appearing in films, the Hodge brothers both served as co-screenwriters and co-producers of the project.

In his 10-month cover interview for Essence, Hodge opened up about his experience as a new father. He and his wife recently welcomed their first child, a little girl, and the actor said that being a father changed his priorities.

"Whatever work I do, it has to support or complement the future I'm trying to build for her," he told the outlet. "To be there as much as I can is to let my daughter know that I am here and that it is not just for my daughter, but also for me, that is what feeds me. That's what drives me. That's what wakes me up in the morning. It's really what makes me say, okay, life is worth living. It redefines love.

"Now give me 15 Oscars and ask me what is my proudest and happiest moment — it's always about my daughter," he added.

Hodge is also an entrepreneur who has tons of artistic interests in addition to acting. While studying at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, he became interested in watchmaking, also known as watchmaking. He then worked for the Haute horlogerie brand A.He founded Hodge Atelier and is a trustee of the New York Watch Society. According to his Instagram bio, he is also an avid painter and co-founded a conceptual art studio called the 9B Collective.

Acting is one way of what I choose to do in my life, but it doesn't define everything," he told the outlet.1 "It's a nice conduit for other ventures I go into because I'm a multihyphenate entrepreneur. I own different companies in different sectors of the business. Acting is the most present thing on the profile, but for me, it has always been about entrepreneurship and creativity."