Reginald VelJohnson

Reginald VelJohnson (born August 16, 1952) is an American actor of film, stage and television known for his role as Carl Winslow on the sitcom Family Matters. He was the only cast member to appear in every single episode.

VelJohnson also portrayed LAPD Sgt. Al Powell in the film Die Hard (1988) and its sequel Die Hard 2 (1990).

Early life

VelJohnson was born in Queens, New York, the son of Eve, a nurse, and Reginald Johnson, Sr., a hospital attendant.^[1] His father left the family when VelJohnson was 13 years old and his mother subsequently married John Reilly.^[2] VelJohnson attended Benjamin N. Cardozo High School where he was classmates with George Tenet, and porn star Ron Jeremy.^[3] He later obtained a Bachelor of Arts from New York University.^[2]

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."^[4]

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 much smaller role. 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, a recurring character on that series, which he starred in until 1998. He also had a minor role in the 2002 film Like Mike. VelJohnson replayed 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 mini HBO show entitled Just 3 Boyz starring Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and Zack Galifianakis. He also appeared in Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns as Cora's (Tamela Mann) possible father.

He will be appearing in the upcoming comedy film, The Formula, starring alongside Brandon Baker and Sasha Jackson.^[7]

Selected filmography

References

External links

• Reginald VelJohnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Reginald VelJohnson at Yahoo TV