Gaius Charles stars as phenomenal running back Brian "Smash" Williams, in NBC's critically acclaimed drama "Friday Night Lights." He has also guess stared on in the NBC drama series, "Law and Order SVU" and the "The Book of Daniel."

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Charles received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama, and graduated magna cum laude. He has extensive stage credits including, "Spunk"  "Candide" and "The Wild Party" all at CMU. Regionally he has appeared in the Princeton Shakespeare Festival productions of "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Comedy of Errors." Additional stage performances include "The Clink" with the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in Sydney, Australia and The Lower 9^th at the Flea Theater in NYC. 

Charles' has a variety of hobbies and a passion for public speaking, aviation, and writing.

He will also appear in two independent feature films set for a 2009 release, "Toe to Toe", and "The Messenger" staring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson.