[Photo: Zuma Press]

Hill Harper is always busy. He’s a very interesting man in that he’s personal friends with President Obama and he’s written two books that made the bestseller lists. But he’s also always working in the film industry between shooting CSI: NY too. (Not to mention the fact that he’s incredibly good-looking…the man has and does it all!)

Right now, he has several prjects in the works for the big screen. Here’s what IMDB has to say about them:

Hill has done so much to help inspire and even mentor the African-American youth of today. The film Bring Your ‘A’ Game is another example of that. He’s in great company in the film too with other stars such as Jamie Foxx, Ice Cube, Chris Rock, Spike Lee, Louis Gossett Jr, Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs & Russell Simmons. Wow! That’s some cast! Here’s what it’s about:

Bring Your ‘A’ Game: a documentary film in which a 17 year old African-American male encounters prominent Black male icons (’A’ Gamers) from diverse fields in a hip, computer-generated video game-style world.

Shanghai Hotel seems like a very different type of film, but also with a serious tone. Here’s the premise:

The Shanghai Hotel is the story of a young woman named Yin Yin (Eugenia Yuan), who illegally buys her way to the USA from communist China hoping to make a better life for herself and her family. After a long, treacherous journey stowed away in a the dark hull of an overcrowded cargo ship, Yin Yin arrives in New York City for what she thinks will be the beginning of a better life.

The movie The Red Robin isn’t about the family restaurant down the street…and it also stars Hill’s former co-star on CSI: NY, Claire Forlani. Here’s the basis of the plot:

The Red Robin: a nobel prize winning psychiatrist adopted orphans he treated from around the world. 30 years later, on his deathbed, one of his son’s accuses him of experimenting on the children on behalf of the US government.

And this is a very interesting movie for the history buffs:

Rescue at Pine Ridge: the true (and as-yet-untold) story of the US Army’s 9th Calvary (Buffalo Soldiers) and the events leading up to their valiant rescue of the 7th Calvary on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

These films seem to me to suggest that Hill decides upon which projects to join based on their social responsibility. See? He really is a terrific guy!

Hill Harper, like many of his CSI: New York co-stars (see CSI: NY Actors Step Out Too), kept very busy during the writers strike. With three movies coming out later this year, he has a lot to show for this effort.

In Shanghai Hotel, Hill Harper stars as Carlos, an altruistic bike messenger and law student. Carlos tries to help Yin Yin (Eugenia Yuan), who came to New York for computer job training, only to find herself subjected to slavery as a prostitute.

Hill Harper show up briefly at the very end of this trailer, but it clearly shows –French Connection trailer-style- the magnitude of obstacles that Yin Yin and the other girls face, even with outside aid from the likes of Carlos.

Interesting? Sensational? Fantastic? Perhaps. After watching this trailer, what do you think?