Obba Babatundé (born Donald Cohen; December 1, 1951) is an American actor. A native of

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York City, he has appeared in more than seventeen stage productions, thirty theatrical films, sixty made-for-television films, and two prime-time series.

Early life and education

Babatundé was born in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It has a popular large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis, St Albans, and Cambria Heights to the ea ...

, New York City. As a child, he attended public schools. He was attracted early to theater and from a young age would sing, dance and act for his family. He attended Jamaica High School where he was a well-rounded student who, in addition to appearing in the Sing '68 school musical program, was a student aide and a member of both the track and cross country teams. After graduating from Jamaica High School in 1969, he started teaching at a private school for students of color. He also pursued acting jobs in New York, gaining some roles

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

. Learning that his ancestry included people from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, he adopted a name made of Yoruba words: ''Obba'', for "king", and ''Babatunde'', meaning "father has returned again."Chika Udeh, "Everything You Must Know about Hollywood Icon Obba Babatunde"
''Buzz Nigeria'', 2018

Acting career

Babatundé has said a breakthrough role was gaining a part in a 1976 touring company of ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'', starring

Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (; born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. After beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, she garnered acclaim for her role in the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical ''Hallelujah, Baby!'', winning a T ...

and Richard Roundtree. Since then he has performed in many other stage productions. His first Broadway performance was in '' Timbuktu!'' in 1978. He performed with Liza Minnelli in the documentary film “Liza In New Orleans” in 1980. He is known for starring as the original C.C. White in ''

Dreamgirls ''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. It is based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, and p ...

'', for which he was nominated for a 1982 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical. After performing on Broadway in this role, he also toured for two years with the company."Obba Babatunde"
Broadway Productions, Internet Broadway Database, 2001–2019 He gradually moved into film and television work, and has had numerous roles in both genres.

Film

His feature film appearances include ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' as Willie, ''The Celestine Prophecy'', '' Material Girls'', '' After the Sunset'', ''The Manchurian Candidate'', '' The Notebook'', a SWAT captain in ''John Q'', an attorney in ''Philadelphia'' (1993), ''The Last Fall'', ''If I Tell You I Have to Kill You'', ''The Fallen Faithful'', ''Trapped'', ''Tension'', and '' Kinky''. He also played Dean Cain in the film ''

How High ''How High'' is a 2001 American stoner comedy film directed by Jesse Dylan in his feature film directorial debut and written by Dustin Lee Abraham. In the film, Method Man and Redman portray two cannabis users who are visited by the ghost ...

'', as well as the role of Willie Long in ''

'', Lamar in '' That Thing You Do!,'' and Mayor Denny in '' Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups.''

Television

Babatundé has appeared in three prime-time series: CBS' ''Madam Secretary'', as Barton Royce in the Showtime's '' I'm Dying Up Here'' (2017), and as Dean Fairbanks in Netflix's ''Dear White People'' (2017–2018). Babatundé appeared in a recurring role on '' Kingdom'' and Amazon's ''Hand of God'', as Bishop Bruce Congdon. He also appeared in '' Half & Half'', as well as appearances on ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''Th ...

'', '' Boston Legal'', ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'', ''NCIS'', ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'', ''

Strong Medicine ''Strong Medicine'' is an American medical drama with a focus on feminist politics, health issues and class conflict that aired on the Lifetime network from 2000 to 2006. It was created and produced in part by Whoopi Goldberg, who made cam ...

'', '' The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', ''

Touched by an Angel ''Touched by an Angel'' is an American drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced by Ma ...

'', '' Chicago Hope'', '' Any Day Now, Karen Sisco,

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college. It aired from January 20, 19 ...

'', and ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

.'' In the 1998 miniseries, ''

The Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

'', he played

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

, the founder of

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Babatundé appeared as Daniel Harrelson Sr., the father of Shemar Moore's character in the 2017 series '' S.W.A.T.''.

Other ventures

Voice acting

Babatundé's voice acting roles in animated films and games include Lando Calrissian in '' Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds'', '' Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader'', '' Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike'', and '' Disney Infinity 3.0'' as well as Conroy in '' Rocket Power.'' In the animated feature '' The Wild Thornberrys Movie'', Babatundé voiced the character of Boko, and in the 2016 Air Bud Entertainment film ''Pup Star'', he played the soul-singing Basset Hound, Big Ears.

Producer and director

Babatundé was co-producer and director of ''Oscar's Black Odyssey'', co-producer of ''Dorothy Dandridge: An American Beauty'', and co-producer of ''TV in Black: The First 50 Years''. He is associate producer of the horror film ''Voodoo Dolls'' and executive producer of ''Journey''. Most recently, Babatundé directed and co-stars with Katt Williams in the Lionsgate Home Entertainment feature film ''American Bad Boy'', and he produced and directed the short film ''Clarissa's Gift''. Babatundé also directed a version of the Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls''. He co-authored, directed, and produced ''In the Blink of an Eye''.

Singing

Some of his recorded works include singing the title track on the Onaje Allan Gumbs's album ''Sack Full of Dreams'', and "The Gal That Got Away" on ''Over The Rainbow'', the

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ' ...

soundtrack. In 1982 Babatunde starred as Zodzetrick in the Houston Grand Opera's second production of

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the ...

's opera '' Treemonisha''. They had produced it first in 1976. After the opera was rediscovered, the world premiere was produced in 1972 by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and

Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...

chorus.

Awards and nominations

In 1981 Babatunde was nominated for an Ovation Award and a Tony Award for his role as C.C. White in the original Broadway cast of ''

''. Babatundé was nominated for an Emmy for the 1997

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film '' Miss Evers' Boys'' and an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

for the 1999

film '' Introducing Dorothy Dandridge''. In 2010, Babatundé won NAACP Theatre Awards' "Best Lead Male" for his portrayal of

Sammy Davis Jr Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which tou ...

. in the Old Globe production of the musical ''Sammy''. In 2011 he won an NAACP Image Award as "Best Actor" for his role as Sarge in ''A Soldiers Play''. In 2019, Babatundé was inducted into the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum. In 2016, he received the Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series" for his role as Julius Avant in the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful". He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Peachtree Village International Film Festival.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Personal life

He is the grandfather of NFL running back Tarik Cohen.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babatunde, Obba 1951 births Living people American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male stage actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Nigerian descent American people of Yoruba descent Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series winners Daytime Emmy Award winners Male actors from Queens, New York People from Jamaica, Queens Yoruba male actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century African-American male actors 21st-century African-American male actors