Reginald VelJohnson

Reginald VelJohnson (born Reginald Vel Johnson, Jr.)[1] (born August 16, 1952) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing policeman characters such as Carl Winslow on the sitcom Family Matters, which ran from 1989 to 1998, and LAPD Sgt. Al Powell in the films Die Hard and Die Hard 2.

Early life

VelJohnson was born on August 16, 1952 in Queens, New York, the son of Eve, a nurse, and Reginald Johnson, Sr., a hospital attendant.[2] His father left the family when VelJohnson was 13 years old and his mother subsequently married John Reilly.[3] VelJohnson attended Benjamin N. Cardozo High School where he was classmates with George Tenet, and porn star Ron Jeremy.[4] He later obtained a Bachelor of Arts from New York University.[3] Before embarking on an acting career, he changed his name from Reginald Vel Johnson (his birth name) to Reginald VelJohnson. He later said he changed the spelling, "because I wanted a name people would remember."[1]

Career

VelJohnson is known for playing police officers in films and on television. 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 cameo role, for which he still received fourth billing. He also portrayed a yelling apartment resident for promoting Instant Lottery games for a Michigan Lottery commercial in 1988. VelJohnson also played a police officer alongside Tom Hanks in Turner & Hooch (1989). Johnson was cast as Carl Winslow in the sitcom Family Matters alongside Jo Marie Payton, who played his wife Harriette Winslow; he starred in that program until 1998. He also had a minor role in the 2002 film Like Mike. VelJohnson reprised his role of Sgt. Al Powell in the GameCube video game title, Die Hard: Vendetta, also in 2002. In 2004, he took the title role in the off-Broadway show She all Dat! (playing "she"). Since the end of Family Matters, besides making a few guest appearances on TV shows, VelJohnson has done mostly theater work. He wrote a critically acclaimed series of short stories called Division Street. One of them, called Sunday Evening Haircut, was made into a short film in 2005, which starred VelJohnson himself, alongside Kiki Shepard. VelJohnson has also made guest appearances in several TV shows, including The Equalizer, Diagnosis: Murder, Twice in a Lifetime, Will & Grace, Monk, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Eve, Crossing Jordan, The Parkers, That's So Raven, Chuck, in which he reprises his role as Al Powell, 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.[5] The following year he appeared as the "Sgt. Al Powell" character from the Die Hard series in an episode of NBC's Chuck entitled "Chuck Versus the Santa Claus", as the cousin of Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence).[6] In 2010, VelJohnson started a recurring role as the principal on the Disney sitcom I'm in the Band and also Funnyordie.com's short HBO film entitled Just 3 Boyz starring Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and Zack Galifianakis. He will be appearing in the upcoming comedy film, The Formula, starring alongside Brandon Baker and Sasha Jackson.[7]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1981 Wolfen Morgue Attendant Credited as Reginald Vel Johnson
1984 Ghostbusters Jail Guard Credited as Reggie Vel Johnson
1985 Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins Ambulance Driver
1986 Crocodile Dundee Gus
1988 Plain Clothes Captain Graff
1988 Die Hard Sgt. Al Powell
1989 Turner & Hooch Det. David Sutton
1990 Die Hard 2 Sgt. Al Powell
1991 Fond Little Memory, AA Fond Little Memory Short film
1993 Posse Preston
2000 Ground Zero Burt Green
2002 Like Mike Mr. Boyd
2005 Sunday Evening Haircut O.C. Short film
Producer, writer
2005 Suits on the Loose Brother Steedman
2005 Death to the Supermodels Tom Direct-to-video release
2006 Hidden Secrets Norman Wexler
2007 Three Days to Vegas Johnny
Out at the Wedding Dexter
2009 Steppin: The Movie Mr. Shavers
2010 Jelly (film) Joe Woods
2010 You Again Mason Dunlevy
2012 Brother White Hill
2012 Air Collision Bob Abbot
2013 The Formula Professor Millan
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985–1988 Equalizer, TheThe Equalizer N/A (1985)
Harmon Hunter (1986)
Arthur Williams (1988)		 Episode: "Lady Cop"
Episode: "Dead Drop"
Episode: "Sea of Fire"
1988 227 Santa Thief, TheThe Santa Thief Episode: "The Night They Arrested Santa Claus"
1989 Perfect Strangers Carl Winslow Episode: "Crimebusters"
1989–1998 Family Matters Carl Winslow 215 episodes
1992 Tales from the Crypt Hotel Guest Episode: "Werewolf Concerto"
1993 Dream On Santa Episode: "Silent Night, Holy Cow:
1994 Cool Like That Christmas, AA Cool Like That Christmas Dad (Voice) Television movie
1994 One of Her Own Det. Bob Hymes Television movie
1996 Deadly Pursuits Ed Conroy Television movie
1998 Diagnosis: Murder Dr. David Sinclair Episode: "The Last Resort"
1999 Hughleys, TheThe Hughleys Rev. Bennett Episode: "Daddy's Going to Hell"
2000 Twice in a Lifetime Dr. David Bryant Episode: "Whistle Blower"
2001 Fugitive, TheThe Fugitive Maurice Beaumont Episode: "Lagniappe"
2002 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Dr. Phillip Kane Episodes: "Face Lift" and "Gentle, Gentle"
2002 Crossing Jordan Mr. Holden Episode: "Someone to Count On"
2002 Will & Grace Dr. Kaplan Episode: "It's the Gay Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
2003 Parkers, TheThe Parkers Sterling Oglevee Episode: "A Sterling Relationship"
2005 That’s So Raven Dikembe, The Ambassador Episode: "The Royal Treatment"
2005 Ghost Whisperer Danny Small Episode: "Undead Comic"
2006 Eve Rev. Everett Episode: "Oh, Brother"
2006 Monk Todd Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion"
2007 On the Lot Neighbor in 'Time Upon a Once' Episode: "11 Cut to 10 & 10 Directors Complete"
2007 Bones Dale Owens Episode: "The Santa in the Slush"
2008 Chuck Sgt. Al Powell Episode: "Chuck Versus Santa Claus"
2009 Three Gifts, TheThe Three Gifts Rodney Smith Television movie
2010 I'm in the Band Principal Cornelius Strickland Recurring role
2010 Funny or Die Presents Christopher Episode: "Just 3 Boyz"
2010 Bold and the Beautiful, TheThe Bold and the Beautiful Ed 2 episodes
2010 Meet the Browns Ernie Wilson Episode: "Meet the Baby Daddy"
2011–2015 Hart of Dixie Dash DeWitt Recurring role
2011–2013 Mike & Molly Brother Heywood 5 episodes
2012–2013 Tron: Uprising Able Recurring role
2012 General Hospital Reverend Love
2012 The Mistle-Tones Holly's dad Television movie
2013 Real Husbands of Hollywood (Season 2) Himself Tisha and Duane
2015 Clipped Tommy
2015 The Flight Before Christmas Joe Played husband of (Jo Marie Payton), who also acted as Reginald's wife on Family Matters.
2016 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Judge Clarence Melvoy Episode: "McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century"

References

  1. 1 2 Buck, Jerry (1989-11-16). "Reginald Veljohnson of `Family Matters' reminisces". The Dallas Morning News.
  2. ↑ "Reginald VelJohnson Biography (1952–)". Filmreference.com. 1952-08-16. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  3. 1 2 "Reginald Veljohnson Biography – Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. 1952-08-16. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  4. ↑ "Queens Tribune Online, QConfidential". Queenstribune.com. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  5. ↑ http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=2&vd=26
  6. ↑ "Chuck" Chuck Versus Santa Claus (2008) - Full cast and crew
  7. ↑ Smith, William. "Mixing 'The Formula' For Success". The Hawk Eye. Retrieved 14 November 2012.

External links

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