Thomas Jefferson Byrd was an American actor.
He made his Broadway debut alongside Whoopi Goldberg in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in 2003, earing a Tony nomination for his performance.
Byrd is perhaps best known for being a character actor in Spike Lee movies, working with the director on eight films: Clockers (1995), Get on the Bus (1996), Girl 6 (1996), He Got Game (1998), Bamboozled (2000), Red Hook Summer (2012), Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014), and Chi-Raq (2015), as well as appearing in Lee's series adaptation of She's Gotta Have It.
He also guest starred in the television series The Last O.G., Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Living Single, and In the Heat of the Night.
Byrd died October 3, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 70.