Why Raymond Chestnut From Umbrella Academy Season 2 Looks So Familiar

Season 1 of Netflix's smash hit The Umbrella Academy ended with the apocalypse that the titular "family" of superheroes had spent the entire season trying to prevent. It all came down to that old science fiction standby, time travel, thanks to the abilities of Number Five (Aidan Gallagher). It seemed like a good plan at the time — the only available plan, really — but alas, it went predictably awry when the Hargreeves siblings found themselves scattered throughout Dallas in the early 1960s, chronologically separated from each other. When Five arrives in the past — the last one to do so — he finds an America seemingly occupied by the Soviet Union, and it's slowly revealed that his siblings have found themselves in wildly varying situations.

An amnesiac Vanya (Ellen Page), whose manifestation of her powers brought about the end of the world in the first place, is living a quiet life as the nanny to the young son of a kindly couple. Diego (David Castañeda) is in a mental asylum, positive that the assassination of John F. Kennedy is imminent. Luther (Tom Hopper) is working as a bodyguard for Jack Ruby, who was infamously tied to the real-world killing of Kennedy. And Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), who has somehow regained her voice, is married to a determined civil rights activist named Raymond Chestnut.

It was an audacious way to begin the new season, but some viewers may have been a bit distracted by the strikingly familiar face of the actor who portrays Chestnut. His name is Yusuf Gatewood, and he's been carving out an interesting career in television and film for the last two decades. Here's why Raymond Chestnut from season 2 of The Umbrella Academy looks so familiar.

Gatewood is the rare actor who is seemingly able to move easily between the film and television worlds, having been quite active in both for his entire career. His first gig was in the small role of Howard in Curtis Hanson's 2000 dramedy Wonder Boys, in which the budding thespian got to share the screen with the likes of Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Katie Holmes, and Alan Tudyk. He then segued into TV, popping up in one-off appearances in series such as Hack, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its spin-off series CSI: Miami, and Lincoln Heights.

Gatewood also appeared in the 2005 thriller The Interpreter, which afforded him the opportunity to work with legendary director Sydney Pollack, not to mention A-list actors Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. He would next appear on the big screen as Clarence in the little-seen 2014 horror flick House at the End of the Drive, then as Derek in 2016's well-received comedy sequel Barbershop: The Next Cut. 

In 2019, you might have caught Gatewood's work on either the big or small screen. He appeared briefly as a troubled war vet in David M. Rosenthal's challenging remake of Jacob's Ladder, and he starred as Famine in the totally bonkers Amazon miniseries Good Omens, a production which once again surrounded him with legends such as David Tennant, Jon Hamm, Miranda Richardson, Michael McKean, and Brian Cox. If none of these credits are ringing any bells, though, then you just may be a fan of the CW supernatural drama that's responsible for raising the star's profile significantly since 2014.

That would be the year that Gatewood joined the cast of The Originals, the Vampire Diaries spin-off which ran for five seasons between 2013 and 2018. Gatewood made his debut on the final episode of the first season as Vincent Griffith, a witch who is at times possessed by the spirit of Finn Mikaelson, the eldest sibling of the hybrid werewolf-vampire family ruled over by Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan). His strong will and determination to break free from his coven left him susceptible to this possession — but he was also known to be exceptionally powerful, and of a more empathetic and peacekeeping disposition that other witches of his coven.

The role was a very meaty one, allowing Gatewood to explore the differences in personality between Vincent and Finn, and the actor was promoted from guest star to main cast member during The Originals' second season. It's undoubtedly the role which he's still best-known for — but somehow, we have a feeling that won't be the case for long. While his IMDb page doesn't currently list any projects in the works, The Umbrella Academy season 2 is sure to give the talented actor his biggest profile boost yet, and we can't wait to see what his future holds.