Ato Essandoh OF THE DIPLOMAT

Q: What happened to the guy who played Alfredo, Sherlock’s sponsor, on “Elementary”? I saw him pop up in a few movies around the same time and figured he was going on to bigger things, but I haven’t seen him in a while.

A: Ato Essandoh did indeed go on to bigger things than his occasional role in CBS’s “Elementary” — lots of them. But he has remained a supporting star, so you could still have just missed them.

He is, however, currently in the midst of what might be his biggest thing yet: he’s a key support in the Netflix drama “The Diplomat,” playing the chief assistant to the title character, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom (played by Keri Russell of “The Americans” fame).

It remains to be seen if it’s Essandoh’s biggest role yet because that depends on the fate of the show. It released one well-received season last April (which was nominated for a bunch of awards, including an Emmy and a couple of Golden Globes), and has been renewed for a second. If its success continues, this could be the one that eclipses Essandoh’s previous work.

That includes “Elementary,” of course, but as you say, he followed that with some high-profile big-screen work as well. Most notably, he played one of the long line of unlucky CIA agents chasing the titular superspy in 2016’s “Jason Bourne,” and he’s also part of the Marvel universe thanks to his role as the humanoid alien Jones in 2019’s “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.”

Essandoh’s resume also includes some major TV work you might have missed, such as a recurring role as Isidore Latham in the early seasons of NBC’s “Chicago Med,” from 2016 to 2021, and in the short-lived Netflix sci-fi thriller “Altered Carbon.”