Alfred Langston "Finesse" Mitchell (born June 12, 1972) is an American actor, author and stand-up comedian. From 2003 to 2006, he was a cast member on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

''.Jinelle Shengulette
"Comedian Finesse Mitchell to perform at the Comedy Club"
''

Democrat and Chronicle The ''Democrat and Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving the greater Rochester, New York, area. At 245 East Main Street in downtown Rochester, the ''Democrat and Chronicle'' operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production fa ...

'', June 3, 2014. Mitchell has also appeared on such television shows as ''

Showtime at the Apollo ''Showtime at the Apollo'' (formerly ''It's Showtime at the Apollo'' and ''Apollo Live'') is an American variety show that first aired in syndication from September 12, 1987 to May 24, 2008. In 2018, the series returned on Fox with Steve Harvey h ...

'',

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's ''

ComicView ''ComicView'' is an American stand-up comedy show that aired on BET on Tuesdays and Fridays from September 1992 to December 2008. In May 2014, BET announced the return of ''ComicView''. The show has been the launching pad for such comedians as D. ...

'', ''

Comedy Central Presents ''Comedy Central Presents'' is an American stand-up comedy television series created for Comedy Central. It is the network's main half-hour program which highlights either one or a series of stand-up comedians each episode. In 2011, the series e ...

'',

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

's ''

A.N.T. Farm ''A.N.T. Farm'' is an American teen sitcom which originally aired on Disney Channel from May 6, 2011 to March 21, 2014. It first aired on May 6, 2011, as a special one-episode preview and continued as a regular series starting on June 17, 201 ...

'', and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Late Friday ''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...

''.

Early life

Finesse Mitchell was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, where he was a member of the football team and the

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

fraternity.

Career

Mitchell made his first

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

appearance on

’s ''

Comic View ''ComicView'' is an American stand-up comedy show that aired on BET on Tuesdays and Fridays from September 1992 to December 2008. In May 2014, BET announced the return of ''ComicView''. The show has been the launching pad for such comedians as D ...

'' in 1999 where he instantly became a favorite among the show's loyal followers. Shortly after Comic View, Mitchell moved to both

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he had several appearances on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn ''The Late Late Show'' is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show o ...

'' and two on ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

.'' In 2003, Mitchell became a featured player on ''Saturday Night Live.'' After two seasons, in 2005 he was promoted to full cast member. His screen time was drastically reduced after this promotion. On September 20, 2006, ''Saturday Night Live'' announced that the show was dropping Mitchell,

Chris Parnell Thomas Christopher Parnell (; born February 5, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006 and played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on ''30 Rock''. In animation, he voices Cyril Figgis ...

and

Horatio Sanz Horacio Sanz (born June 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is a Chilean-born American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006. Early life Sanz was born on June 4, 1969 in Santi ...

from the show due to budget cuts. After ''SNL'', he has continued to perform stand-up comedy and appeared in the films ''

Who's Your Caddy? ''Who's Your Caddy?'' is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Don Michael Paul and starring Big Boi, Lil Wayne, Andy Milonakis, Faizon Love, Terry Crews, Tony Cox, Jeffrey Jones and Jesper Parnevik. It is the first film produced by Robert L. ...

'' ''

The Comebacks ''The Comebacks'' is a 2007 American satirical comedy film directed by Tom Brady. This film is a parody of the clichés and plots of the sports film genre. In the UK, Greece, Finland, Australia and New Zealand this film is called ''Sports Movie''. ...

'' and ''

Mad Money ''Mad Money'' is an American finance television program hosted by Jim Cramer that began airing on CNBC on March 14, 2005. Its main focus is investment and speculation, particularly in public company stocks. Cramer defines "mad money" as th ...

''. From 2008 to 2009, Mitchell made several appearances on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

'' as a guest correspondent and on ''Tyra'' and ''Chelsea Lately'' as a guest panelist. In 2010, he appeared in the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

sketch series ''

Nick Swardson's Pretend Time ''Nick Swardson's Pretend Time'' is a TV sketch comedy show created by and starring actor and comedian Nick Swardson. The show premiered on Tuesday, October 12, 2010, at 10 p.m. EST on Comedy Central and ran for two seasons, with the final first ...

''. With the help of

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

’s son, QD3, Mitchell released his stand-up comedy

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

titled ''Snap Famous''. His 2007 book, ''Your Girlfriends Only Know So Much'', gives dating advice to African-American women. In 2012, he participated in

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

's dating game show '' The Choice''.Rodney Ho
"TV: A Second Act for Atlanta Comic Finesse Mitchell"
''

The Press of Atlantic City ''The Press of Atlantic City'' is the fourth-largest daily newspaper in New Jersey. Originally based in Pleasantville, it is the primary newspaper for southeastern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The newspaper designated market runs from Ware ...

'', July 22, 2012 Mitchell recurred as Darryl Parks, Chyna's (

China Anne McClain China Anne McClain (born August 25, 1998) is an American actress and singer. McClain's career began when she was seven years old, portraying Alexis in the film ''The Gospel'' (2005), and then China James in '' Daddy's Little Girls'' (2007). Sh ...

) father on the

sitcom ''

''.Zak Stemer
"Finessing the issue: Finesse Mitchell’s Sunday"
, ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', August 25, 2013. In January 2015, he appeared at

Ron White Ron White (born December 18, 1956) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and author, best known as a charter member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Nicknamed "Tater Salad", he is the author of the book ''I Had the Right to Remain Silent But ...

’s Comedy Salute to the Troops. In 2016 he recurred as Harvey in the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

series ''

Roadies Roadie refers to support personnel who travel with a band on tour. Roadie or roadies may also refer to: * ''Roadie'' (1980 film), a 1980 film starring Meat Loaf * ''Roadie'' (2011 film), a 2011 American comedy film * ''Roadies'' (TV series), an A ...

''. He had a role in the film ''

Barely Lethal ''Barely Lethal'' is a 2015 American action comedy film directed by Kyle Newman, written by John D'Arco, starring Hailee Steinfeld, Sophie Turner, Jessica Alba, Dove Cameron, and Samuel L. Jackson. Steinfeld stars as Agent 83, a teenage intelligen ...

''. On December 4, 2019, Mitchell was cast as a series regular, playing Irwin on the Fox comedy '' Outmatched''. The character is the best friend of main character Mike. In 2022, he appeared on the Netflix baking competition ''

Is It Cake? ''Is It Cake?'' is a 2022 game show style cooking competition television series created by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, and hosted by Mikey Day. The series premiered on Netflix on March 18, 2022. Contestants create cakes that replicate comm ...

'' as a judge.

Personal life

On September 13, 2008, he married Jessica Santos in Atlanta. On May 20, 2011, Mitchell and Santos divorced. He married again, in September 2013, to Adris DeBarge, daughter of singer

El DeBarge Eldra Patrick "El" DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the family group DeBarge. Popular songs led by El DeBarge include "Time Will Reveal", "Who's Holding ...

. Their eldest daughter was born in March 2015. Elle Kate is their youngest daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Finesse 1972 births Living people African-American male actors African-American male comedians American male comedians American male film actors American stand-up comedians American male television actors Miami Hurricanes football players Male actors from Atlanta Male actors from Miami University of Miami alumni Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American male actors American impressionists (entertainers) American sketch comedians 21st-century American comedians Comedians from Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people