actor
Personal Information
Born August 15, 1970, in Los Angeles, CA; married; children: two daughters and one son
Education: Howard University, Washington, DC.
Career
Actor, 1996-.
Life's Work
One of the fastest-rising African-American comic actors of the early 2000s was Anthony Anderson, who broke through to fame in 2000 with roles in the hit films Big Momma's House and Me, Myself & Irene. Following in the footsteps of other modern comedians such as Bernie Mac, he created comic situations modeled closely on his own life and experiences; his television series All About the Andersons (2003) drew on his relationship to his family. With his friendly, quick-witted image and his strong feel for the comedy inherent in family relationships, Anderson became a familiar face even to casual film and television fans.
Born in Los Angeles on August 15, 1970, Anderson grew up in the tough but culturally fertile suburb of Compton, California. He was born into the acting life; his mother Doris was a telephone operator and an aspiring actress who had roles as an extra in such films as Uptown Saturday Night, and she put her son on stage in a play while he was still a baby. The strong male figure in Anderson's life was his stepfather Sterling Bowman, the owner of a chain of stores with clothes for plus-sized women. "For my sixth birthday my biological father said he was going to bring me a bike but never did," Anderson recalled to Jeannine Amber of Essence. "So my real daddy went out and got me one. That's my dad."
Saw Mother Perform in Play
Anderson appeared in a television commercial at the age of five, and soon his mother inspired him to pursue acting as a career. "I remember sitting in Compton Community College...in their theater at nine years old and my mother was doing a production of A Raisin in the Sun...; man, and it just hit me," he told interviewer Tavis Smiley of National Public Radio. "I was like, you know what, that's what I'm going to do for the rest of my life." Anderson attended a performing arts high school and went on with the help of a scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C. One of his classmates at Howard was comedian Marlon Wayans.
After graduating from Howard, Anderson returned to the Los Angeles area and moved back in with his mother and stepfather--much to their displeasure, for they had told Anderson and his siblings that they needed to plan to be out on their own after they turned 18. Anderson's stepfather pushed him gradually in the direction of independence, providing him with a rich source of future comic material in the process. He installed a pay telephone and a coin-operated washer and dryer in his own home, forcing the young graduate to end his freeloading when it came to phone calls and laundry. The hope was that Anderson would join the family clothing business, but when he refused and got a job in a mall instead, his stepfather padlocked the household refrigerator. "That's how my father systematically tried to get me out of the house," Anderson explained to TelevisionWeek.
Television Career Grew
Gradually, Anderson got his life in gear and began pursuing performance opportunities. His career began with small television roles, including one on the UPN series In the House in 1995. He had a recurring role as Theodore "Teddy" Brodis on NBC's Hang Time from 1996 to 1998, and he garnered roles in episodes of such top-rated series as NYPD Blue and Ally McBeal. In 1999 Anderson broke into films with a small role in the Martin Lawrence-and-Eddie Murphy comedy Life. Film roles followed thick and fast after that, with the actor showing his range by appearing in non-comic roles like one in the martial-arts Shakespeare adaptation Romeo Must Die. He had his first starring role in the Martin Lawrence comedy Big Momma's House (2000).
Top-notch slapstick turns in several huge comedy hits over the next few years made Anderson a familiar face among both industry people and audiences. He appeared opposite Jim Carrey as one of triplet sons of Carrey's split-personality character in Me, Myself & Irene, and in Barbershop (2002) he played one of a hapless pair of thieves who steal an automatic teller machine but then find that it becomes an enormous millstone as they struggle to move it from place to place. Anderson functioned well in the flourishing African-American ensemble film genre, taking a turn in the funeral-themed comedy-drama Kingdom Come.
The year 2003 brought Anderson, whose friends call him "Ant," no fewer than four film parts, including his first lead role, in Kangaroo Jack. That comedy featured Anderson as one of a pair of friends who try to recover $50,000 in an envelope lost to an aggressive kangaroo in Australia; it received generally lukewarm reviews but topped American box-office lists for a week. Anderson also appeared that year in Cradle 2 the Grave, Scary Movie 3, and the hip-hop spoof Malibu's Most Wanted.
Pay Phone Resurfaced as Gag
Meanwhile, Anderson and writing partner Adam Glass had been working on a big leap back into the world of television for the portly 270-pound actor: an idea and then a pilot episode for a weekly sitcom, starring Anderson and based in large part on his own experiences after he moved back in with his parents after college. Finally, after three years of meetings, the WB network signed on and premiered All About the Andersons in 2003. The pay phone and padlocked refrigerator resurfaced as plot elements in the show, although new characters (such as an eight-year-old son) were introduced and other details altered. Critics and audiences gravitated toward Anderson's enthusiastic personality, but the series suffered from uneven scripts. People opined that "the show gets close to a kind of truth that it's not really brave enough to confront," and it was canceled after a year.
Anderson bounced back easily, starring in the films Hustle & Flow and My Baby's Daddy, and signing on to appear in at least 10 episodes of a crime drama, The Shield, on the FX cable network in 2005. That marked a new challenge for the actor; he was set to take on his first dramatic television role, as a former drug dealer whose claims to have reformed were questionable. Happily married with two daughters and a son, Anderson was an unlikely candidate for the Hollywood rumor mill, and a rape charge leveled against the actor by a Memphis woman in 2004 was thrown out by a judge who termed the accuser's testimony some of the most suspicious he had ever heard. Continuing to expand his reach and hone his technique, Anderson seemed set to remain a fixture of both large and small screens in years to come.
Awards
Selected: Acapulco Black Film Festival, Rising Star Award, 2001.
Works
Selected works
Further Reading
Periodicals
— James M. Manheim
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Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Buy this Movie |
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| Anthony Anderson | |
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Anderson in Los Angeles, California. Photograph taken May 22, 2010 |
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| Born | Anthony Anderson[1] August 15, 1970 Los Angeles |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Spouse | Alvina Anderson (1995–present) |
Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The Shield and Law & Order. He has also had supporting roles in films such as Transformers, The Departed, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London and Scream 4.
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Anderson was born and raised in Compton, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. His mother, Doris, was a telephone operator and actress, and his stepfather, Sterling Bowman, was a native of Little Rock, Arkansas who moved to Los Angeles to work in the steel mill industry before opening a chain of three clothing stores. Anderson has stated that his first attempt at stand up comedy was a failure.[2] He appeared at The Comedy Act Theater billed as comedian "Tasty Tony, the One and Only, and if there's another, he's a phony."[citation needed] When his stage name was announced, he was booed off the stage before ever saying a word. Although this experience was a blow to his ego, he did meet his future friend and fellow comedic actor Guy Torry there, who consoled him after the show and encouraged him to keep getting up on stage. He and Guy would later act together in the Eddie Murphy film titled Life.[3] Anderson is an alumnus of the Hollywood High School Performing Arts Magnet's Class of 1988 and Howard University. He trained with actors such as Avery Brooks, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis.[4]
His television work includes a lead role in the teen series Hang Time as Teddy Broadis. He had many one-off and guest roles on major series such as NYPD Blue, Malcolm & Eddie, In the House, and Ally McBeal. Recurring roles were on several series such as 'Til Death and The Bernie Mac Show. He was the central character in the series All About the Andersons, which lasted for one season on The WB.
Anderson joined the cast of the long-running NBC crime drama television series, Law & Order in 2008. He previously starred in two other crime series, Fox's K-Ville (as one of the lead characters) and Fox's cable channel FX's The Shield.[5]
Anderson is in an Atom.com Web show Matumbo Goldberg.
Since his film debut in Liberty Heights, Anderson has been performing as an actor, often in comedic roles, for many years. Among his more prominent feature films are: Kangaroo Jack, My Baby's Daddy, Hustle & Flow, and Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.[6] In June 2010, he was cast in a minor role in Scream 4.[7]
In 2009, Anderson directed a one-minute short film featuring his Law & Order co-star, Jeremy Sisto. The short was made for the Responsibility Project, a joint initiative of NBC and Liberty Mutual Group. The short aired during the Law & Order episode "Reality Bites" on October 16, 2009.
In 1995, he married his college sweetheart, Alvina. The couple have two children. They currently live in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Anderson has diabetes, and has been active in diabetes awareness.[8]
On July 28, 2004, Anderson was charged with aggravated rape of a woman who police say was assaulted after being lured into a production trailer on a Memphis, Tennessee movie set. According to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, Anderson and Wayne Witherspoon attacked the woman, who was an extra. The woman told police that Witherspoon forcibly removed her clothes once she was inside the trailer. She told investigators that Anderson, who was already in the trailer at the time, joined the assault, according to a graphic criminal complaint. The woman told police that Anderson and Witherspoon "both assaulted her with their hands and took pictures of her while she was nude." A witness told officers that he heard the woman screaming and managed to unlock the trailer's door. At that point, the naked woman ran from the vehicle, which was parked on the grounds of the Shelby County Corrections Center, where scenes from director Craig Brewer's Hustle & Flow were being shot.[9] However, on October 5, 2004, a judge dismissed the charge and said that testimony by the accuser was some of the most "suspicious" he has ever heard. Judge Anthony Johnson said the accuser's testimony fell short of producing the probable cause needed to support the charge.[10]
On September 16, 2004, Anderson and Warner Bros. Television were named in a $900,000 suit by a woman who claimed Anderson made suggestive comments, grabbed her genitalia and sexually assaulted her in his dressing room on the All About the Andersons set.[11]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Liberty Heights | Scribbles | |
| Life | Cookie | ||
| Trippin' | Z-Boy | ||
| 2000 | Romeo Must Die | Maurice | |
| Big Momma's House | Nolan | ||
| Me, Myself & Irene | Jamaal Baileygates | ||
| Urban Legends: Final Cut | Stan Washington | ||
| 2001 | See Spot Run | Benny | |
| Exit Wounds | T.K. Johnson | ||
| Kingdom Come | Junior Slocumb | ||
| Two Can Play That Game | Tony | ||
| 3 Strikes | Guard | uncredited | |
| 2002 | Barbershop | J.D. | |
| 2003 | Kangaroo Jack | Louis Booker | |
| Cradle 2 the Grave | Tommy | ||
| Malibu's Most Wanted | PJ | ||
| Scary Movie 3 | Mahalik | ||
| 2004 | My Baby's Daddy | G. Bong | |
| Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London | Derek Bowman | ||
| Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle | Burger Shack Employee | ||
| 2005 | The Bernie Mac Show | Bryan Brown | season 5 |
| King's Ransom | Malcolm King | ||
| Hustle & Flow | Key | ||
| Hoodwinked! | Detective Bill Stork | ||
| Alone in the Dark | Photo of missing person (cameo) | ||
| 2006 | Scary Movie 4 | Mahalik | |
| The Last Stand | Jay | ||
| Arthur & the Invisibles | Koolomassai | ||
| The Departed | Trooper Brown | ||
| 2007 | Transformers | Glen Whitmann | |
| 2010 | The Back-Up Plan | Dad | |
| 2011 | Scream 4 | Detective Perkins | |
| The Big Year | Bill Clemens | ||
| 2012 | Scary Movie 5 | Mahalik |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–1998 | Hang Time | Teddy Broadis | |
| 2001 | My Wife and Kids | Marriage Counsellor, Dr. Buchay | |
| 2003–2004 | All About the Andersons | – | |
| 2004–2005 | The Shield | Antwon Mitchell | |
| 2006 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Lucius Blaine | |
| 2007 | K-Ville | Marlin Boulet | |
| 2008–2010 | Law & Order | Detective Kevin Bernard | |
| 2008 | Samantha Who | Rafael Grace | |
| 2010–present | Golf in America | Host[12] | |
| 2011 | Psych | Wrongly convicted Chef Thane |
Anderson has also made guest appearances on Entourage, Veronica Mars, and Food Network Star. Playing for the Alzheimer's Association, Anderson won $250,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–present | Matumbo Goldberg | Matumbo Goldberg |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anthony Anderson |
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