Charles Porter, who produced Find faitha 2025 film starring Paula Patton, Loretta Devine and Keith David, and championing inspiring independent cinema, has died. He was 47 years old.
Porter died Monday at his home in Calabasas after a 17 1/2-year battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, his family said. The Hollywood Reporter.
As an actor, Porter has appeared in television series including The Parkers, Home, Without a trace And Bone and starred as pioneering Black NASCAR driver Wendell Scott in the 2011 ESPN film Wendell Scott: a racing story.
As the founder of Black Bench Productions, Porter developed, packaged, produced and financed independent films, championing stories of faith, family, resilience and redemption while creating opportunities for Black artists and filmmakers.
He was the driving force behind Find faithwritten and directed by LazRael Lison. The film, produced in collaboration with Summer House Pictures and Third Eye Productions, was released theatrically through Fathom Entertainment before streaming on Lifetime.
For BET+, Porter produced A miracle before Christmas (2022), starring David, LeToya Luckett and Romeo Miller, and Christmas Angel (2023), starring Miller, DaniLeigh, Skyh Black, Elise Neal and Tamar Braxton. These were also produced in collaboration with Summer House.
His other producing credits included the thrillers Nailed (2006), Beaten (2014) – he also starred in those two – and Point of grace (2023).
Charles Frederick Porter II was born on March 13, 1979 in Oxford, England (his father was in the Air Force and his mother is British). He came to the United States at age 3 and attended Rumsey Hall, a preparatory school in Washington Depot, Connecticut, and the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
He then attended Duke University, where he earned a degree in cultural anthropology and, at 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, he was a four-year football letterman and one of the best defensive tackles in the ACC. (A back injury ultimately ended his goal of playing professional ball.)
Porter moved to Los Angeles in 2002 and appeared on the ESPN game/reality show Beg, borrow and bargain. In addition to his television acting roles, he has also appeared in films including Holla (2006), Johnny was (2006) and Peppermint (2018).
Porter was an executive producer and early investor on Last mealsan upcoming feature film from Sentient Entertainment and HanWay Films that stars Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Tessa Thompson and Michael Shannon. At the time of his death, he was developing a series of religious films.
Porter was also a successful model, appearing in Italian Voguefeatured in an international Adidas campaign and on the runway for the Ebony Fashion Fair. And as an author he has published three books of poetry: Get to know, Choose your path And Enjoy the trip – and I was working on B+inspired by his blood type change following one of his three bone marrow transplants.
He and his wife of 18 years, Candice Tab Porter, expressed gratitude to the City of Hope and Dr. Stephen J. Forman “for their dedication and compassionate care.”
Away from Hollywood, Porter was a beloved youth soccer coach, personal trainer and mentor in Malibu, Calabasas and Westlake Village and the founder of Brainwashed for Greatness, dedicated to positivity and personal growth.
Besides his wife, an entertainment marketing executive and former Hollywood publicist, survivors include his daughters Layla Rose Porter, 9, and Juliette Jasmine Porter, 6; mother Dorothy Fourmeax; brother Sydney Sparks-Fourmeax; sister Natalie Zoré; mother-in-law Jeeny Miller; sister-in-law and production partner Renée Tab; brothers-in-law Amir Tab and Chris Tuffin; and nephews Alexander and Tristan Tuffin and Kayla, Phillip and Austin Zore.
His wife, sister-in-law and best friend and former Duke teammate William L. Hill were with him when he died. According to his family, his guiding philosophy has remained the same: “Never stop.”
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