Reginald VelJohnson

Infobox actor
name = Reginald VelJohnson


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birthname = Reginald Vel Johnson
birthdate = Birth date and age|1952|8|16
birthplace = Queens, New York, U.S.
deathdate =
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othername =
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occupation = Actor
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Reginald VelJohnson (born Reginald Vel Johnson; August 16, 1952) is an American actor of film, stage and television, best known for his role as Carl Winslow on the sitcom "Family Matters" and as LAPD Sgt. Al Powell in the hit film "Die Hard" (1988) and the sequel "Die Hard 2" (1990).

Biography

Personal life

VelJohnson was born in Queens, New York, the son of Eve, a nurse, and Dan Johnson, a hospital attendant. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/47/Reginald-VelJohnson.html Reginald VelJohnson Biography (1952-2008) ] ] His father left the family when VelJohnson was thirteen years old, and his mother subsequently remarried to John Reilly. [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800057267/bio Reginald Veljohnson Biography - Yahoo! Movies ] ] In high school, he was classmates with George Tenet and porn star Ron Jeremy. [ [http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/confarchive/2002/0110/qconfidential.html Queens Tribune Online, QConfidential ] ] VelJohnson attended New York University. He has homes in Los Angeles, California and Raleigh, North Carolina.

VelJohnson is often mistaken for actor James Avery and vice-versa, a joke that was played out on an episode of "Family Matters", and has also been brought up several times on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", in which James Avery stars. The joke was also brought out in "Like Mike", when Calvin is being hosted by a family that resembles the Banks' family from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". VelJohnson plays the father.

VelJohnson is also known for his extremely extensive hat collection. This collection was featured in People Magazine.

Career

VelJohnson was known for playing police officers in movies and on television. However, his first appearance was as an extra in the 1978 film "The Deer Hunter". He later made appearances as uniformed characters. In "Ghostbusters", he had a brief appearance as a jail guard, and in "Crocodile Dundee", he plays a limo driver. VelJohnson played Sgt. Al Powell in the 1988 hit "Die Hard" and later reprised the character in the 1990 sequel "Die Hard 2", albeit in a much smaller role. VelJohnson also played a police officer alongside Tom Hanks in "Turner and Hooch" (1989) and a minor role in the 2002 film "Like Mike". VelJohnson replayed his role of Sgt. Al Powell in the Gamecube video game title, ; also in 2002.

Since the end of "Family Matters", besides making a few guest appearances on TV shows, VelJohnson did mostly theater work. He wrote a critically acclaimed series of short stories called "Division Street"Fact|date=October 2008. One of them, called "Sunday Evening Haircut", was made into a short film in 2005, which starred Reginald himself, alongside Kiki ShepardFact|date=October 2008. VelJohnson made notable guest appearances in several TV shows, including "The Equalizer", "Diagnosis Murder", "Twice in a Lifetime", "Will & Grace", "Monk", "", "Eve", "Crossing Jordan", "The Parkers", "That's So Raven", "Chuck" and "Bones".

In 2007, he appeared in the short films "Reverse", "Nerve Endings", and "Time Upon A Once" which were made during the reality show "On the Lot". [http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=26]

In the comic book "Invincible", the title character attends Reginald VelJohnson High School. The school's principal, whose name is Bob Hill, is also modelled after VelJohnson.

Filmography

References

External links

*imdb name|id=001817|name=Reginald VelJohnson
* [http://tv.yahoo.com/reginald-veljohnson/contributor/1047914/bio Reginald VelJohnson] at Yahoo TV