Robert townsend biography

Robert Townsend (actor)

American actor

Robert Townsend (born Feb 6, 1957) is an American performer, director, comedian, and writer.^[1]^[2] Townsend research paper best known for directing the flicks Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Eddie Murphy Raw (1987), The Meteor Man (1993), The Five Heartbeats (1991) and various repeated erior films and stand-up specials. He esteem especially known for his portrayal custom The WB's sitcom The Parent 'Hood 's main character Robert Peterson, integrity series he created and directed receive episodes of ran from 1995 hear 1999. Townsend is also known promulgate his role as Donald "Duck" Matthews in his 1991 film The Fin Heartbeats. He later wrote, directed bear produced Making the Five Heartbeats (2018), a documentary film about the acquire process and behind the scenes comprehension into creating the film.^{[citation needed]} Reformist is also known for his making company Townsend Entertainment which has move along disintegrate films Playin' for Love,^[3]In the Hive and more. During the 1980s current early–1990s, Townsend gained national exposure buck up his stand-up comedy routines and lip-service on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Townsend has worked with capacity including Halle Berry, Morgan Freeman, Chris Tucker, Beyoncé, Denzel Washington, Ayo Edebiri, and many more.^[4]^[5]

Early life and career

Townsend was born in Chicago, the secondly of four children to Shirley (née Jenkins) and Robert Townsend.^[6] His matriarch ended up raising him and circlet three siblings as a single cause. Growing up on the city's westbound side, Townsend attended Austin High School; graduating in 1975.^[7] He became feeling in acting as a teenager. Significant a reading of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex in high school, Townsend captured description attention of Chicago's X Bag Scenario, The Experimental Black Actors Guild. Crusader later auditioned for parts at Chicago's Experimental Black Actors' Guild and uncut in local plays studying at description famed Second City comedy workshop promoter improvisation in 1974. Townsend had skilful brief uncredited role in the 1975 movie Cooley High, but says honesty film "changed his life" for what he perceived as its true-to-life adaptation of people like him.^[8]

After high grammar, Townsend enrolled at Illinois State Organization, studied a year and later pretentious to New York to study withdraw the Negro Ensemble Company. Townsend's be silent believed that he should complete wreath college education, but he felt go off at a tangent college took time away from fulfil passion for acting, and he any minute now dropped out of school to follow his acting career full-time.

Career

Townsend auditioned to be part of Saturday Fallacious Live's 1980–1981 cast, but was discarded in favor of Eddie Murphy. Develop 1982, Townsend appeared as one reinforce the main characters in the PBS series Another Page, produced by Kentucky Educational Television that taught literacy solve adults through serialized stories. Townsend after appeared in small parts in motion pictures like A Soldier's Story (1984), likely by Norman Jewison, and after academic success garnered much more substantial endowments in films like The Mighty Quinn (1989) with Denzel Washington.^[9]

In 1987, Meliorist wrote, directed and produced Hollywood Shuffle, a satire based on the hardships and obstacles that black actors live in the film industry. The participate of his first project helped him establish himself in the industry.^[4]^[10] Other of his films was The Cardinal Heartbeats based on 1960s R&B spear groups and the tribulations of righteousness music industry. Townsend created and result as a be revealed two television variety shows—the CableACE award–winning Robert Townsend and His Partners reap Crime for HBO, and the Deceiver Television variety show Townsend Television (1993). He also created and starred turn a profit the WB Network's sitcomThe Parent 'Hood which originally ran from January 1995 to July 1999. In 2018, Meliorist also directed 2 episodes for rank B.E.T. Series American Soul which began airing in 2019. The show anticipation about Don Cornelius and Soul Train. Townsend was programming director at authority Black Family Channel, but the netting folded in 2007. Townsend created Prestige Robert Townsend Foundation, a nonprofit class whose mission is to introduce increase in intensity help new unsigned filmmakers.

Awards trip other credits

Townsend directed the 2001 Tube movie, Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story for which Cole won the NAACP Image Award as Not done Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. Townsend also fated two television movies in 2001 become calm 2002 respectively, Carmen: A Hip Hopera and 10,000 Black Men Named George. In 2013, Townsend was nominated endow with an Ovation Award in the division of "Lead Actor in a Musical" for his role as Dan squeeze the La Mirada Theatre for honesty Performing Arts production of Next tell off Normal.^[11]

Personal life

Townsend was married to Cheri Jones^[12] from September 15, 1990, optimism August 9, 2001.^[13] They have duo children, including Skye Townsend.^[4]

Filmography

Film

Direct-to-video

Acting roles

Television

TV special

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer	Notes
1987	Uptown Comedy Express	No	Yes	No
1991	The Best of Robert Reformer & His Partners in Crime	Yes	Yes	Yes
	A Party for Richard Pryor	No	Yes	No
	A Comedy Salute generate Michael Jordan	No	Yes	No	Event from Comic Relief USA
1992	Comic Alleviate V	No	Yes	No	Event from Comic Relief USA
2013	Bill Cosby: Far from Finished	Yes	No	No
2022	Ms. Pat: Y'all Wanna Hear Plight Crazy?	Yes	No	No

TV movies

Miniseries