Corey Antonio Hawkins (born October 22, 1988) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role in the TV series The Walking Dead (2015–2016), as well as his portrayal of Dr. Dre in the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, the latter of which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. He's also known for his performances on Broadway starring in Six Degrees of Separation (2017) and Topdog/Underdog (2022), both of which earned him nominations for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

That same year, Hawkins starred in the Fox network series 24: Legacy (2017), along with Jordan Vogt-Roberts' monster film Kong: Skull Island. In 2018, he was featured in Spike Lee's biographical crime-comedy BlacKkKlansman, which earned him a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. Hawkins received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award, for his portrayal of Paul in the Quibi series Survive (2020).

His other roles include Michael Bay's action-comedy 6 Underground (2019), Jon M. Chu's musical film In the Heights (2021), and Joel Coen's 2021 historical thriller film The Tragedy of Macbeth. He starred in the 2023 film adaptation of The Color Purple.

Hawkins was born in Washington, D.C., where he was raised by his mother, a police officer.^[1] He attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City, a member of the drama division's "Group 40".^[2] While studying at Juilliard, Hawkins received the prestigious John Houseman Award for excellence in classical theatre.^[3] Upon graduation, he began a career starring Off-Broadway^[4] and guest-starring on television. Hawkins garnered a brief role in Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 and went on to star opposite Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in Universal Pictures' action-thriller Non-Stop.^[5]

In 2013, Hawkins made his Broadway debut as Tybalt in the revival of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, acting alongside Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Owens. In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Hawkins would join the cast of AMC's The Walking Dead as Heath, a key character from Robert Kirkman's comic series.^[6] Hawkins played Dr. Dre in the biopic Straight Outta Compton, from Universal Pictures, which was theatrically released on August 14, 2015,^[7] and grossed $201 million at the box office.

In 2017, Hawkins began playing a lead role in the 24 reboot 24: Legacy on Fox.^[8] Also that year, he co-starred in the film Kong: Skull Island,^[9] alongside Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Hiddleston.^[10] In spring 2017, Hawkins played a limited-engagement run on Broadway in the play Six Degrees of Separation opposite Allison Janney and John Benjamin Hickey.^[11] He received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.^[12]

Hawkins performed "God Bless America" for the men's singles final at the 2017 U.S. Open.^[13] In January of 2024, it was announced that Hawkins would replace Jonathan Majors for The Man In My Basement^[14] after the latter was charged with 2 misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment against ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.