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He’s back!

Murfreesboro native and former Hertford County Deputy Sheriff Aqeel T. Ash-Shakoor returns to the hit TV police drama Law & Order: SVU on Thursday, May 8, revising his role of Precinct Commander Inspector Borsits. He originally played that part during the 2023 season of Law & Order: SVU and again the following season.

He and his fellow actors and actresses suffered through a long strike as the industry remained locked in contract negotiations for the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG AFTRA) and the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA).

In March of this year, Ash-Shakoor received the long -awaited telephone call from his manager, Brandon Cohen of BAC Talent.

“Brandon said I was returning to Law & Order: SVU Season 26 as the Precinct Commander,” Ash-Shakoor said. “I patiently waited in faith, while continuing to audition and submit self-tapes for various films and TV shows.

“It’s all just a matter of time before things begin to move again as the industry has gone through some positive changes,” he added. “As a retired United States Marine Corps Gulf War veteran, we were taught and trained to improvise, adapt, and overcome all situations.”

Ash-Shakoor was back on the set on Law & Order: SVU filming his a new episode of Season 26 Episode 21 “Aperture,” as Precinct Commander along with the regular cast of the show: Mariska Hargitay (Captain Olivia Benson), Ice-T (Sergeant Odafin Tutuola), Octavio Pisano (Detective Joe Velasco), and Aime’ Donna Kelly (Captain Rene Curry).

“As I entered the makeup trailer, I was met by Ice-T who says, ‘hey man, welcome back’,” Ash-Shakoor recalled. “It made it all complete once I got onset and me and Mariska traded laughs about our last edgy scene together in Season 24.”

Ash-Shakoor says he has been blessed to be part of Dick Wolf’s long line of successful TV shows. Wolf is an award-winning producer who specializes in crime dramas and non-fiction television. He’s best known for the Law & Order franchise, which launched in 1990 and includes six police and courtroom dramas.

Ash-Shakoor has also had roles in Chicago Med’s seventh season as FBI Agent Russo as well as the TV series “FBI.”

He has also found work on the big screen, landing a role in the movie “Shirley” – the story of Shirley Chisholm, the nation’s first Black congresswoman who made a bid for U.S. President in 1972. Oscar winner Regina King plays the role of Chisholm.

In that movie, Ash-Shakoor portrays James Farmer, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement who served alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., in nonviolent protests to dismantle segregation and organized the first “Freedom Ride” in 1961.

Born in 1970, Ash-Shakoor attended Murfreesboro High School and was a graduate of the final class there (1988) prior to the consolidation of both Ahoskie and Murfreesboro High Schools. He played baseball, basketball, and football all four years.

After high school, Ash-Shakoor joined the United States Marine Corps and continued playing football as a strong safety for three years of his Marine Corps career. He served as a United States Marine Security Guard at the US Embassies of Bonn, Germany; Havana, Cuba (US Interest Section); and the US Embassy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps as a Gulf War Veteran at the rank of Staff Sergeant.

After relocating his family and himself back in Hertford County in July 2000, Ash-Shakoor begin working as a Deputy for the Hertford County Sheriff’s Office for the next seven years before returning to college to earn his Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Administration from Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, VA and then earning his Masters of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Everest University in Tampa, FL. He would then go onto work as a Drug Court Probation & Parole Officer in the Norfolk, VA Probation and Parole Office.

In 2010, Ash-Shakoor returned to North Carolina, employed by the Bertie County Probation and Parole Office.

His first acting role was in 2010 when he played lead as Jesus Christ in a church play titled, “I’ll Rise Again,” at the C.S. Brown Cultural Arts Center located in Winton.

Since that time, Ash-Shakoor’s movie career began to blossom. He had roles in TV movies “Turn of The Cheek” and “Cain and Abel.” He later co-starred as Pastor Donald Turner in the Amazon Studios/ Netflix comedy series, “A League of Their Own,” a spinoff of the original Penny Marshall feature film.

He portrayed an NC State Police Officer in the HBO Max Limited Series, “The Staircase” and followed that with an appearance on the big screen with his role in “On Sacred Ground.” It’s a story about a journalist and oil company executive finding themselves on opposite sides of the fight during the construction of the contentious Dakota Access Pipeline that runs through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

Shortly after relocating to Lansing, MI in 2013, Ash-Shakoor and his wife graduated and received their Doctorate Degrees in Ministry from the Chaplaincy International Canadian Association (C.I.C.A.) University & Seminary, Houston, TX. They were appointed Ambassadors At-Large to the United Nations, and planted their church ministry, Walking With Christ Worship Center.