He was born into a musically talented family. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Travis Crawford, was a tenor who graduated from Tougaloo College in Mississippi in 1901. Crawford toured the country singing with the Delta Rhythm Boys in the 1930s. Brooks also is musically inclined having played jazz piano, and has performed as the great baritone/actor/scholar Paul Robeson in the play entitled "Paul Robeson". He sang the lead in the A. Anthony Davis opera "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X", and performed as "Theseus" and "Oberon" in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Washington's Arena Stage. Long affiliated with Rutgers University, he was the institution's first Black MFA graduate. Additionally, he served as the National Black Arts Festival's (NBAF) Artistic Director throughout the 1990s in Atlanta, Georgia. An actor, activist, musician, director, and educator of epic proportions, Brooks was quoted in an interview about his work with NBAF and his performances: "If I were a carpenter, I'd find a way to empower using that skill. I'm using as much as God has given--my mind, my voice, my heart, my art forms. This is the highest form of expression on the planet from God, to me, to you".
Associate Professor of Theater Arts Rutgers University, New Jersey [1976-present] Raised from the age of 8, in Gary, Ind. In 1993 he was inducted into the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni. He served as Artistic Director of the Atlanta, Georgia-based "National Black Arts Festival" from 1993 to 1996. He is a tenured professor of Theatre at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Taught courses for Rutgers University while working on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He videotaped his lessons for his students at the studio, occasionally while still in his character's uniform! Children: Ayana, Asante, Cabral Benjamin Sisko, Brooks's character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was ranked #50 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue]. Has a very, very close relationship with Cirroc Lofton, the actor who played his son on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine He was the only actor to appear in every episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.