Meet the Veteran Actors Who Play Athena’s Parents on ‘9-1-1’

The Season 6 premiere of Fox’s action drama 9-1-1 ended with quite a cliffhanger for Athena’s parents, with Samuel accidentally ramming his car into his and Beatrice’s house. Athena (Angela Bassett) and Bobby (Peter Krause), who were on FaceTime with Samuel and Beatrice at the time, could only watch on in horror as Samuel’s car headed straight for Beatrice. OK, but who plays Athena’s parents on 9-1-1?

Well, it’s about time you got acquainted with Henry G. Sanders and Beverly Todd, the veteran actors have played Samuel and Beatrice in guest-starring appearances on the Fox series since its second season.

(And by the way, 9-1-1 isn’t even Henry and Beverly’s first shared screen credit: They also appeared together in the 1986 thriller film The Ladies Club.)

Henry got into acting after serving two tours of duty in Vietnam and learning he could get the G.I. Bill to pay for his acting-school education, according to the Houston Chronicle.

In the 1970s, Henry took the lead role in a student film titled Killer of Sheep, which finally got a nationwide theatrical release in 2007 after the National Society of Film Critics named it as one of the 100 essential films of all time.

The actor’s other big-screen credits include the films Rocky Balboa, Roman J. Israel, Esq., and Selma.

On TV, Henry appeared in more than 100 episodes of the CBS Western drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, playing blacksmith Robert E. He has guest-starred in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Grey’s Anatomy, and American Horror Story, and for the last six years, he’s been playing farmer Prosper Denton on the OWN drama Queen Sugar.

Beverly is a People’s Choice Award-winning actress who was mentored by Sidney Poitier and who collaborated with him on the Broadway play Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights and the films The Lost Man, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!, and Brother John. Her other film credits include Leon on Me, Crash, and The Bucket List.

The actress was previously married to TV and film producer Kris Keiser, and the former couple had a son, Malik, who at 18 years old was beaten to death outside a teen dance club in Salt Lake City in 1989.

Following Malik’s death, Beverly and Kris set up a scholarship in his name as part of the Kwanza Foundation, a charitable organization started by a group of Black actresses, as the Los Angeles Times reported in 1991. “Because your child is dead, doesn’t mean that you stop being a parent,” Beverly told the newspaper at the time. “You still think about your kid. It’s just that the thoughts have no place to go.”

In addition to her 9-1-1 role, Beverly recently guest-starred on the TV shows Queen Sugar, L.A.’s Finest, How to Get Away With Murder, and For the Love of Jason.

Catch this duo in action as 9-1-1 Season 6 continues on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.