James Roch (born June 6, 1983) is an American model and actor. After playing football for Stanford University and (briefly) the Oakland Raiders, Roch began appearing in national commercial and print ad campaigns before getting into acting full-time.[1] He is best known for the role of Nurse Kenny Fournette on the NBC drama The Night Shift.

JR Lemon
Born
James Roch Lemon II

(1983-06-06) June 6, 1983 (age 41)
OccupationActor
Years active2009–present

Early life

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Roch was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating high school, he attended Stanford University and played running back on the Stanford Cardinal football team while also earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science & Engineering in 2005. He played briefly for the Oakland Raiders, but was cut during 2006 training camp. After moving to the Los Angeles area to continue his football training, he went on to pursue modeling and acting.[2]

Career

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Roch was an action-capture actor for the Madden NFL series of video games from 2009 through 2012.[2] In 2017, Roch portrayed Devin Wade, the protagonist of Madden NFL 18's "Longshot" story mode.[3] His first film role was as the main character Jenkins in the little-known stoner comedy Bad Batch. He next appeared in the 2012–13 Web series Shadow Love before getting his big break in 2013 when he was cast in his first major film role: playing Oliver in Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas.[4] Most recently, he appeared as Nurse Kenny Fournette, a main character on the NBC medical drama The Night Shift,[5] which ran for four seasons (2014–2017).[6]

Filmography

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Film and television

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Year Title Role Notes
2010 Bad Batch (as J.R. Lemon) Jenkins film
2012–2013 Shadow Love (as J.R. Lemon) Amir 10 episodes
2013 A Madea Christmas Oliver film
2014 Hawaii Five-0 Jordan Lewis Episode: " Ho’oilina "
2014–2017 The Night Shift Nurse Kenny Fournette Main cast, 45 episodes
2015 Whitney Reporter TV movie
2021 Black Lightning Cousin Donald Episode: "Painkiller" (backdoor pilot)
2021 FBI Terrance Episode: "Know Thyself"
2022 Grey Elephant Will film
2023 Law & Order: Organized Crime Deputy Inspector Ray Thurman Recurring, 8 episodes

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2017 Madden NFL 18 Devin Wade Protagonist of Longshot
2018 Madden NFL 19 Devin Wade Protagonist of Longshot: Homecoming

References

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  1. ^ Pendleton, Tonya. "Football Player Turned Actor JR Lemon Works 'The Night Shift'". blackamericaweb.com. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  2. ^ a b "JR Lemon, Celebrity". tvguide.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  3. ^ Smith, Joel (August 22, 2017). "Madden NFL 18's Longshot Proves to Be a Real Touchdown". Operation Sports. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "'Madea's' JR Lemon, Robert Bailey, Jr. Work NBC's 'Night Shift'". chicagodefender.com. 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  5. ^ "The Night Shift Cast Bios -- Kenny". nbc.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  6. ^ Porter, Rick (November 17, 2016). "'The Night Shift' renewed for Season 4 on NBC". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
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