Born in Nairobi on March 10, 1979, Gathegi grew up in Albany, California.

He attended The University of California, Santa Barbara for Bachelor of Arts and New York University for master Of Fine Arts. Gathegi’s first professional role was in 2006 in the film Crank Directed by Mark Neveldine.

He has played in over fifteen Hollywood roles both in film and television; these include The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Blacklist, Gone Baby Gone, This Is Not A Movie, and many others. Edi is one of the lead characters on the Netflix series, Blacklist.