Obba Babatundé

Obba Babatundé born December 1 1951 is an American actor of stage and screen known for his Emmynominated performance in the television movie Miss Evers Boys a NAACP Image Awardnominated performance in the TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and a Tony Awardnominated role for his performance as CC White in the original cast of the 1981 Broadway musical Dreamgirls Babatundé was a protege of Sammy Davis Jr who said of him This is the only cat who can do everything I can do Babatundé does dance sing play instruments execute impersonations including his portrayal of Davis aided by their similarity in energy size and talent tap dancing and performing on multiple instruments In fall 2009 Babatundé played Davis in the title role of Sammy Once in a Lifetime a world premiere musical at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego Early in 2000 Babatundé partnered with writerproducer Ruth Adkins Robinson for a series of TV projects including TV in Black The First 50 Years Oscars Black Odyssey From Hattie to Hallie and Dorthy Dandridge An American Beauty The pair have projects that will take them through 2011 His TV roles have often portrayed authority figures such as a recurring gueststarring role as a high school principal on Dawsons Creek an appearance as a judge in a twopart episode of Any Day Now and as the father of the main characters on Half Half He also played Harvard college Dean Cain in the movie How High as well as the role of Willie Long in the movie Life and costarred as an attorney in Philadelphia and as a senator in the 2004 reprise of The Manchurian Candidate He also played the director in season 3 of Friends in an episode titled The One with All the Jealousy Other TV shows he has had recurring roles on include The Fresh Prince of BelAir Chicago Hope Rocket Power Static Shock and Karen Sisco He played a small but pivotal role as a doormanbellhop in the film That Thing You Do and also appeared in The Wild Thornberrys Movie as the voice of Boko He played a famous producer known as Gordy Berry on two episodes of The Fresh Prince of BelAir In the 1998 miniseries The Temptations he played the founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy Babatundé is adept at American sign language and had used this talent in many roles including on one NYPD Blue His recorded work includes a performance with the New York pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs on the 2007 album Sack Full of Dreams The actorproducer is also an avid horseman and is a highly regarded rider and trainer in the Rodeo Circuit including the annual Bill Pickett Rodeol From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia