Demetrius Lavel Schley, known professionally as Lavel Schley, is an American actor. Schley was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. Though he was raised primarily by his mother in the State of Kansas, USA. His full name, (Demetrius) is Greek, (Lavel) French, and (Schley) Germanic. Lavel grew up in a working class family in Wichita, Kansas. He attended Haysville Campus High School where he excelled at sports, specifically basketball. After foregoing a future in sports he then attended the University of Kansas for a time before beginning his pursuit of an acting career. He made a string of minor television appearances on Grown-ish (2018) as a college student before landing a major role as Officer Andre Bentley in CBS crime drama series East New York (2022). Lavel made his film debut in 2022, playing the younger version of Reuben, the estranged friend of title character, Otto, played by Tom Hanks in Marc Forster's comedic-drama A Man Called Otto (2022)