Mehcad Brooks was born on October 25, 1980 in Austin, Texas. Alberta Phillips, his mother, is an Austin American-Statesman editorial writer and Billy Brooks, his father, is a former pro football player. He attended L.C. Anderson High School and attended the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. He turned down several basketball scholarships and even Ivy League schools in favor of attending USC where he would eventually drop out to pursue an acting career.
In 2005, Brooks played the role of Matthew Applewhite on the ABC TV drama Desperate Housewives. In 2007, he starred in the film, In the Valley of Elah and he had a reoccurring role in the series The Game in 2008. He appeared on FOX’s TV series Dollhouse and in the second season of HBO’s True Blood in 2009. In 2010, he appeared in the ABC series The Deep End and the documentary style drama comedy television series My Generation. Brooks was then cast in the USA Network series Necessary Roughness in 2011. In 2015, he was a series regular on the CW’s Supergirl and in 2020 he played the antagonist in the Netflix movie A Fall from Grace.
In 2021, Brooks shifted to the big screen and portrayed Jax Briggs in the live action film Mortal Kombat.