Michael Brown (born August 3, 1973), professionally known as Michael Ealy, was born on August 3, 1973 in Silver Spring, Maryland. He attended SpringbrookHigh School and the University of Maryland, College Park. Ealy started his acting career in the late-1990s, appearing in a number of off-Broadway stage productions. Among his first film roles were Bad Company and Kissing Jessica Stein. His breakout role came in 2002's Barbershop, in which he plays reformed street thug Ricky Nash, a role that he reprised in the 2004