Gary Anthony Sturgis is an American actor, musician, writer, teacher and entrepreneur, known for his role as Bar Patron and other characters in the television series America's Most Wanted, and for providing the voice of Ebon in the animated series Static Shock. Sturgis is also known by the rap moniker of Illuminati, having successfully promoted a few albums on iTunes. Early life Sturgis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is the second oldest son of four born to Abraham and Sarah Sturgis. He grew up in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, and attended McDonogh Senior High School where he played piccolo and served as drum major for the band. After writing an essay for a class assignment expressing his love and desire for acting, a teacher invited him to a table read for a play, and Sturgis was cast as the understudy; later going on to play the lead role of A Raisin in the Sun. Career Sturgis made his acting debut in the romantic thriller film The Big Easy (1986). He later starred in the film Blaze (1989) as Marquez' Son. Sturgis later appeared as an antagonist in two of Tyler Perry's movies, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) and Daddy's Little Girls (2007), as well as the movie Pride (2007), starring Terrence Howard, and co-stars in the independent feature directed by Cedric the Entertainer, Chicago Pulaski Jones. He has also landed television roles in his early career such as a recurring character by the name of Caz in the General Hospital spin-off, Port Charles, as well as smaller roles on The District, NYPD Blue, Malcolm and Eddie and Girlfriends. In the mid 1990s, he began booking voice-over jobs in commercials and trailers. He served as the voice of the Monday night (and later Tuesday night) lineup on the now defunct UPN network, promoting such series as The Parkers, Moesha, Half & Half, Girlfriends, The Hughleys and many others. Simultaneously in 1997 and 1998, he was also the daily announcer for the late night talk show, VIBE, starring Chris Spencer and later, comedian Sinbad. Sturgis never had a contract for either job stating that he would just "keep coming everyday until they tell me to stop." This lasted for the duration of the network and the talk show respectively. Sturgis appeared on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter in 2002 in celebration of his voice