Rhasaan Orange as Tek (Thomas Edward Kramer) on "Days of Our Lives"
Rhasaan Orange is the youngest of five children and grew up in New York City. As a child, Rhasaan Orange and his father were given the opportunity to study at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. While growing up in New York Orange's father, Gerald Orange, worked as a bodyguard and martial arts coach for Robert DeNiro. DeNiro "hooked it up," Rhasaan Orange explains. "DeNiro vouched for my entire family, anyone who wanted to get into the business, and my father and I took up the offer for the scholarship."
Rhasaan Orange's first real acting job was when he was 3-years old and appeared on "A Christmas Eve on Sesame Street." More recent credits for Rhasaan Orange include roles on "Sex And The City," in which he played a pretentious Puerto Rican, "Jack & Jill," "The Andy Dick Show" and on the pilot for NBC's "A.U.S.A." with Scott Foley. Rhasaan Orange also appeared in the independent feature "Row Your Boat" with Jon Bon Jovi and did a short film with Gary Busey entitled "A Sight for Sore Eyes" that premiered at The Palm Springs Film Festival. Rhasaan Orange credits DeNiro in "Raging Bull" and Billy Dee Williams in "Lady Sings the Blues" as "the kinds of characters that I can't stop trying to mimic after watching." Rhasaan Orange also had a guest starring role on UPN's successful situation comedy, "Half and Half."
Rhasaan Orange collects old soul, jazz and rap records; some of his favorites include Curtis Mayfield, Steve Arrington (from "Slave"), Black Sheep, Pete Rock and EPMD. In fact, Rhasaan Orange was named after jazz great Rhasaan Roland Kirk. Rhasaan Orange's name is often a topic of conversation. "Everyone thinks 'Orange' is a made up stage name and they try to pronounce it in different ways, with more flair," Rhasaan Orange said. "It is simply 'Orange,' like the fruit."
Rhasaan Orange enjoys playing and coaching basketball, which he does for 13 and 14 year olds on the weekends. Rhasaan Orange does Karate and is currently studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu with Eddie Bravo at Tenth Planet. Rhasaan Orange is single and lives in Los Angeles. His birthday is August 25.