Cedric the Entertainer Biography

Summary

"Cedric the Entertainer" (born "Cedric Antonio Kyles" on April 24, 1964) is an American actor and comedian.

Career

In 1992, he made his first TV appearance on "It's Showtime at the Apollo". Soon after, he appeared on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" and BET's "ComicView", which he would later host for the 1993-94 season. In 1994, Cedric also won the Richard Pryor Comic of the Year Award from BET.

In 1996, Cedric moved into acting, playing Steve Harvey's friend, Cedric Jackie Robinson, on his sitcom, "The Steve Harvey Show". His acting career grew and he began appearing in movies, including "Big Momma's House", "Dr. Dolittle 2", "Barbershop", "Barbershop 2", "Serving Sara", "Johnson Family Vacation", "Intolerable Cruelty", "Man of the House", "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events", and "Be Cool". Cedric was the subject of controversy when his "Barbershop" character made unsavory remarks regarding Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. These comments were spoken in character, were part of the script, and he has never apologized for them. In the 2005 animated film "Madagascar", Cedric voiced Maurice the lemur. In October 2005, Cedric joined the Champ Car auto racing series as a part owner. Cedric appeared in the movie "Charlotte's Web" as the voice of Golly the gander. Cedric was offered a role in the film(Going Off) by Edmund Darris, but declined the role. (... more) While his acting career grew, Cedric continued stand-up and travelled the country as one of the "Kings of Comedy" headliners, with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac. The act was later made into a film by Spike Lee called "The Original Kings of Comedy". Cedric briefly had his own sketch comedy show called "Cedric the Entertainer Presents", but it never caught on and was cancelled after one season. The show had been renewed for a second season, but FOX cancelled it before the season began. His most recent HBO Comedy Special was entitled "Cedric 'The Entertainer' Taking You Higher Special". Two background dancers were Kamilah Barrett and Sandra Colton, both finalists in FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance".

Cedric most recently appeared in "Code Name: The Cleaner", a comedy in which he plays Jake, a janitor with amnesia who may be a secret undercover government agent involved in an illegal arms conspiracy. The film flopped when it grossed under $10,000,000 out of its $20,000,000 budget.

Cedric the Entertainer also appears on the Playstation 2 video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004