Mykelti Williamson
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| Mykelti Williamson | |
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| Born | Michael T. Williamson March 4, 1960 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Other name(s) | Mykel T. Williamson |
| Spouse(s) | Sondra Spriggs (1997-present) Cheryl Chisholm (1989-1994) Olivia Brown (1983-1985) |
Mykelti Williamson (born March 4, 1960) is an American film and television actor.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Williamson was born Michael T. Williamson in St. Louis, Missouri; Mykelti is pronounced like "Michael Tee". He is the son of Elaine, a certified public accountant, and a father who was an Air Force Non-Commissioned Officer.[1]
Williamson began performing at the age of nine. Along with acting, he also danced as an alternate member of The Lockers troupe on Soul Train along with Fred Berry (star of TV show What's Happening). At the age of fifteen, Williamson relocated to Los Angeles with his family. While in high school he excelled in athletics, particularly football and basketball. But acting was his first love and he no longer pursued sports.
[edit] Career
Williamson began acting professionally after graduation. His first TV appearances include Starsky and Hutch, Hill Street Blues, China Beach, and Midnight Caller. His film debut was in Streets of Fire (1984). His credits include Wildcats (1986) with Goldie Hawn, Miracle Mile (1989), The First Power (1990) with Lou Diamond Phillips, Free Willy (1993), Forrest Gump(1994) Waiting to Exhale (1995),Heat (1995) with Al Pacino, Con Air (1997) with Nicolas Cage, "Three Kings" with George Clooney (1999) and Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999).
Williamson is known as Private Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue in the Academy Award winning 1994 film Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks. He also received favorable reviews when he played Negro League baseball player Josh Gibson in the HBO film Soul of the Game (1996).
Williamson has made many guest appearances in movie and film. His most recent film appearances have been Ali (2001) with Will Smith and ATL (2006) with T.I. (Tip Harris). He was a juror in the 1997 TV movie remake of Twelve Angry Men. In 2002, he co-starred as Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful crime drama Boomtown.
He was invited to join AMPAS in 2005.
[edit] Personal life
Williamson was married to Miami Vice actress Olivia Brown from July 2, 1983 - 1985. His second marriage was to Cheryl Chisholm from 1989 - 1994; they have a daughter, together, Phoenix Williamson. On January 5, 1998 he was arrested for allegedly stalking Chisholm and stabbing her companion. He was released on $180,000 bail next day; in September, jurors acquitted him of attempted manslaughter in the stabbing of his ex-wife's companion.
Since April 26, 1997 he has been married to Sondra Spriggs; and together they have two daughters, Nicole and Maya.
