Damien Leake

Leake is a top sprinter in masters athletics. On June 16, 2018, he set the American M65 record in the 100 meters, 12.31 +1.3 seconds, in Grass Valley, California.

Just after his eleventh birthday, he joined his parents attending Martin Luther King, Jr.'s March on Washington. When King was assassinated less than five years later, Leake began what has become a form of silent protest by remaining seated during the U.S. national anthem. The protest almost caused him be tried in court-martial when he was in the Army, stationed at Fort Dix. In 2016, a similar protest by Colin Kaepernick caught mass media attention and the ire of then President Trump.

Starting with a role in 1973's Serpico, Leake has had a continuous career appearing in some 70 motion pictures, plus numerous television and stage acting roles. Through the 1980s he was typecast as a "a tender, sensitive . . . half-crazed killer" including roles in Death Wish and Apocalypse Now.

“Does it ever occur to you that the playing of the national anthem has no place at a sporting event, period? Those of you who know me from high school may remember that I decided to start sitting during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner on April 4th 1968, and have been sitting ever since.”

Damien Leake (born August 12, 1952, in The Bronx, New York City) is an American actor and record-holding masters track and field athlete.