Do we like Wes Chatham?
Our score: 6 out of 10. Nothing harmful or dodgy turned up, but there is also little on the public record to show what he stands for, so it sits in the middle.
Wes Chatham is the bloke who played Amos Burton, the loyal and very dangerous mechanic on The Expanse. His own story is a good yarn. He was the national face of a Tide ad campaign as a kid, and he has called himself “a chronic daydreamer” who wasn't a strong student.
He was briefly kicked out of school in his final year, and he credits a teacher who helped him finish with changing his direction. After that he spent four years in the military, working on a carrier's flight deck. He left in 2002 and went into acting.
The break came from a bit of luck. He told a mate on deck that he wanted to act. Later a film starring Denzel Washington shot on their ship, and he says that is how he got started. He told CheatSheet he “knew that I was going to be a part of telling stories somehow.”
On the harm check, nothing turned up. I found no reporting of him saying or doing anything against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet. I also found no court cases, allegations or lawsuits against him. That's a clean sheet, but a thin one: he doesn't do much public commentary, and I didn't dig deeply into who he's worked with on his latest projects.
What does show up is a craftsman who takes the work seriously. To play Amos's trauma he met with a psychologist and read a book on how trauma affects people. That's a decent sign about how he treats a character who could easily have been a cartoon thug.
I found nothing about charity or causes, so I can't give him credit there. Nothing new has turned up on him lately either. He's had a quiet run of TV and film roles, and the listings I saw put him in a few 2025 and 2026 projects.