You know that feeling when you're watching a show and an actor shows up who just... vibrates on a different frequency? That’s Yusuf Gatewood. Honestly, if you’ve seen him work, you know he doesn’t just "play" a part. He inhabits it so deeply it’s almost uncomfortable to watch. Whether he’s a literal Horseman of the Apocalypse or a witch in New Orleans, the man brings a gravity to the screen that most A-listers would kill for.
People usually find him through the CW pipeline, but his career is way more varied than just teen dramas. He’s been around since the early 2000s, quietly putting in the work. Learn more on a connected issue: this related article.
The Originals and the Masterclass in Body Snatching
If we’re talking about Yusuf Gatewood movies and TV shows, we have to start with The Originals. It’s basically the law. Gatewood stepped into the role of Vincent Griffith, a powerful New Orleans witch, but there was a massive twist: for a good chunk of the early seasons, he wasn't playing Vincent. He was playing Finn Mikaelson, an ancient, petty vampire who had possessed Vincent’s body.
The transition was insane. One minute he’s this rigid, arrogant, thousand-year-old zealot, and the next, he’s Vincent—a man haunted by his past, desperate for peace, and constantly sweating from the sheer stress of existing. He changed his entire physicality. His voice dropped. His posture shifted. Most actors struggle to play one character well; Yusuf played two simultaneously in the same skin and made it look easy. Further analysis by Vanity Fair explores comparable views on this issue.
Basically, he took what could have been a standard "villain of the week" role and turned it into the moral heart of the entire series. By the time the show wrapped in 2018, fans weren't just watching for the vampires anymore. They were watching for Vincent’s Shakespearean monologues about the soul of the French Quarter.
That Time He Was Famine in Good Omens
After The Originals, Gatewood jumped into something completely different: the 2019 adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. He played Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
He was chilling.
Instead of a starving man in rags, Gatewood’s Famine was a sleek, corporate nightmare. He ran a high-end restaurant that served "food" that had zero nutritional value. It was satirical, weird, and deeply unsettling. He didn't have as much screen time as David Tennant or Michael Sheen, but he didn't need it. Every time he was on screen, you felt the hunger he represented. It was a masterclass in "less is more."
A Quick Look at the Big Hits
- The Originals (2014–2018): Played Vincent Griffith / Finn Mikaelson. This is his definitive TV performance.
- The Umbrella Academy (2020–2024): Played Raymond Chestnut, a civil rights activist in the 1960s.
- Good Omens (2019): Portrayed the Horseman Famine.
- The Interpreter (2005): A minor but solid film role alongside Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
- Wonder Boys (2000): His feature film debut as Howard.
The Heartbreak of Raymond Chestnut in The Umbrella Academy
When Netflix announced the second season of The Umbrella Academy, Yusuf Gatewood joined the cast as Raymond "Ray" Chestnut. He played the husband of Allison Hargreeves during her accidental detour into 1960s Dallas.
This role hit differently.
There was no magic (well, on his part) and no supernatural posturing. He was just a man fighting for civil rights in a deeply racist era. His chemistry with Emmy Raver-Lampman was the anchor of that season. When the timeline reset and Allison had to leave him behind, it genuinely hurt. He brought a grounded, human dignity to a show that is usually about talking chimpanzees and time-traveling assassins.
Ray eventually reappeared in later seasons through various timeline shenanigans, but that first introduction in Season 2 remains some of Gatewood's most soulful work.
The Early Days and "Oh, That Guy!" Moments
Before he was a series regular on big-budget streaming shows, Gatewood was the quintessential guest star. If you go back and watch CSI or Law & Order: Criminal Intent, you’ll see him pop up.
He’s one of those actors who has been "almost famous" for twenty years. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama in 2002, which explains why his technical skill is so high. He’s got that theater-trained precision. Even in a 2003 episode of Hack or a small part in the movie Barbershop: The Next Cut, he’s doing the most.
He also had a brief run on a pilot called In Between Lives (also known as The InBetween) back in 2018 where he played an FBI agent. It didn't quite take off the way his other projects did, but it showed he could play the "straight man" procedural lead just as well as the supernatural weirdo.
Why People Get Yusuf Gatewood Wrong
A lot of people pigeonhole him as just a "genre actor" because he does so much sci-fi and fantasy. That's a mistake. The reason he’s so good in The Originals or The Umbrella Academy isn't the magic; it’s the humanity.
He treats a scene about casting a spell with the same weight as a scene about a failing marriage. He doesn't "wink" at the camera. He’s not play-acting. He’s living it. Honestly, if he were given a lead role in a gritty HBO drama or a heavy-hitting biopic, he’d have an Emmy on his shelf within two years.
What to Watch Right Now
If you’re new to his work, don't just jump into the middle of a series.
- Start with The Umbrella Academy Season 2. It’s the most accessible version of his talent. You don't need to know much about the show to appreciate his performance as Ray.
- If you have the patience for a long-form story, watch The Originals from Season 2 onwards. Just skip the first season if you have to; his entrance as the possessed Vincent is where the show truly finds its feet.
- Check out Good Omens. It’s only six episodes (for the first season), and his portrayal of Famine is a weirdly fun, dark treat.
The reality is that Yusuf Gatewood is a "worker bee" actor. He doesn't do a ton of interviews. He stays off social media for the most part. He just shows up, delivers a powerhouse performance, and leaves. In an era of influencer-actors, that's refreshing.
Keep an eye on whatever he does next. Whether it's a guest spot on a procedural or another big Netflix series, you can bet it’ll be worth the watch. If you want to see an actor who actually cares about the craft—like, really cares—Yusuf is your guy.
To dive deeper, track down his early film work like The Interpreter. It's a political thriller that aged surprisingly well, and seeing a young Gatewood hold his own in that cast is a trip. Most of his catalog is currently scattered across Netflix, Max, and Prime Video, so he's never more than a few clicks away.
Actionable Insight: If you're a fan of character-driven acting, your next binge-watch should be the "Vincent Griffith" arc of The Originals. Pay close attention to his micro-expressions when he switches from being possessed to being himself; it's a technical masterclass you can study to see how body language dictates a character.
