William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and
stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's
Russell Simmons
Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...
' ''
Def Comedy Jam
''Def Comedy Jam'' is an HBO television series produced by Russell Simmons.
The series had its original run from March 7, 1992 to May 2, 1997. Simmons was inspired to make Def Comedy Jam by The Uptown Comedy Club in Harlem, New York and Jerry Le ...
'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase "
booty call
''Booty Call'' is a 1997 American buddy comedy film, written by J. Stanford Parker (credited as Bootsie) and Takashi Bufford, and directed by Jeff Pollack. The film stars Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, Vivica A. Fox, and Tamala Jones.
Plot
Rushon ...
", described as a late night call to a potential paramour with the intention of meeting strictly for sex.
Early life and family
Bellamy was born in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Bellamy is a cousin of basketball player
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...
.
He attended
Seton Hall Preparatory School
Seton Hall Preparatory School, generally called Seton Hall Prep or "The Prep", is a Roman Catholic all boys' high school located in the suburban community of West Orange in Essex County, New Jersey, operating under the supervision of the Arch ...
in nearby
South Orange, New Jersey
South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...
(now located in West Orange). He majored in economics at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
.
Career
For many years, Bellamy was a staple on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
, a VJ and the host of several MTV programs including ''
MTV Jamz
BET Jams is an American pay television network controlled by BET Networks and owned by Paramount Media Networks. The channel features hip-hop and urban contemporary music videos. The network, formerly known as MTV Jams, was rebranded under the B ...
'' and ''
MTV Beach House
''MTV Beach House'' was a one-hour music video block that first aired in 1993. The first year was hosted by comedian Bill Bellamy, and the following years were hosted by Carson Daly.
In June 2017 MTV confirmed Beach House would be rebooting later ...
''. He went on to star in a number of movies, including ''
Fled
''Fled'' is a 1996 American buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad.
Plot
An interrogator prepares a man to ...
How to Be a Player
''Def Jam's How to Be a Player'' is a 1997 sex comedy film, starring Bill Bellamy, Natalie Desselle and Bernie Mac. The film was directed by Lionel C. Martin, and written by Mark Brown and Demetria Johnson.
The '' How to Be a Player Soundtrack'' ...
'', ''
Getting Played
''Getting Played'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy television film directed by David Silberg, starring Vivica A. Fox, Bill Bellamy, Carmen Electra, and Stacey Dash. The film is about three beautiful women, who decide, on a bet, to select and ...
'' and ''
Any Given Sunday
''Any Given Sunday'' is a 1999 American sports drama film directed by Oliver Stone depicting a fictional professional American football team. The film features an ensemble cast, including Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, Jam ...
''. He also appeared on two episodes of the TV show ''
Kenan and Kel
''Kenan & Kel'' is an American buddy comedy sitcom created by Kim Bass. The show originally aired on the Nickelodeon network for four seasons, from July 15, 1996, to July 15, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, the series follows mischievous Kenan ...
''. Additionally, he voiced Skeeter on the Nickelodeon television show ''
Cousin Skeeter
''Cousin Skeeter'' is an American children's sitcom, that originally aired on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2001. It starred Robert Ri'chard as Bobby, a young boy whose life changed when his strange cousin Skeeter came to live with his family. With Sk ...
''.
In 2002, Bellamy had a co-starring role in the
Fox Network
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...
Peter Facinelli
Peter Facinelli (born November 26, 1973) is an American actor and film and television producer. He starred as Donovan "Van" Ray on the Fox series '' Fastlane'' from 2002 to 2003. He played Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the ''Tw ...
and
Tiffani Thiessen
Tiffani Amber Thiessen (born January 23, 1974) is an American actress who starred as Kelly Kapowski on NBC's ''Saved by the Bell'' (1989–1993), as Valerie Malone on Fox's ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1994–98), and as Lori on Netflix's ''Alexa & ...
. He also appeared frequently as a "roundtable" guest on the late night E! talk show ''
Chelsea Lately
''Chelsea Lately'' is an American Late night television, late night Television comedy, comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler which was broadcast on E! The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and was produced ...
''. Bellamy hosted seasons 5 and 6 of NBC's ''
Last Comic Standing
''Last Comic Standing'' was an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, then again in 2014 and 2015. The goal of the program was to select a comedian from an initially large group ...
'' reality show (2007 and 2008). In 2014, he had a recurring role as Councilman Powell on the
TV Land
TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...
original series ''
Hot in Cleveland
''Hot in Cleveland'' is an American television sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White.
The series, which was TV Land's first original series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highe ...
''. He voiced Marcus Hill, a playable character in the 2005 updated version of the '' NARC''
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
.
In 2016, Bellamy played FBI Agent Sanders, the partner of Dolph Lundgren's character, in ''
Kindergarten Cop 2
''Kindergarten Cop 2'' is a 2016 American comedy film starring Dolph Lundgren and directed by Don Michael Paul. It is a standalone sequel to the 1990 film ''Kindergarten Cop'', starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.Orange, B. Alan"First Look at Dolph Lund ...
''.
Bellamy hosted ''
Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes?
''Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes?'' (also known as ''Who's Got Jokes?'') is a one-hour televised stand-up comedy competition hosted by Bill Bellamy which airs on cable television network TV One.
The original run was from August 22, 2006 until Oct ...
'' on TV One. He was also an executive producer for it. In 2020, he starred in the Netflix miniseries '' Self Made.''