Mark Christopher Lawrence (born May 22, 1964[1]) is an American character actor, stand-up comedian and voice-over artist. He is known for his role as esoteric D.J. Tone Def in the 1994 satirical rap mockumentary Fear of a Black Hat. He has appeared in popular films such as Child's Play 3 (1991), Crimson Tide (1995), Sprung (1997), Garfield: The Movie (2004) and The Island (2005).
Mark Christopher Lawrence | |
|---|---|
 Lawrence at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con | |
| Born | May 22, 1964 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, stand-up comedian, voice-over artist |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Website | markchristopherlawrence |
Lawrence is best known for his role as Big Mike on the series Chuck. He has made guest appearances on many television programs, most notably Heroes, My Name Is Earl, Crossing Jordan, Dharma & Greg, Malcolm in the Middle, Touched by an Angel, Malcolm & Eddie, Men Behaving Badly, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Good Luck Charlie and Martin. He is also featured on the radio series Adventures in Odyssey as "Ed Washington".[2]
Early life and education
editLawrence grew up in Compton, California. He and his two siblings were raised by a single mother. In tenth grade, he became involved with his high school's debate team—immersing himself in forensics competitions and theater. After winning his school district's Literary Olympiad competition, Lawrence went on to compete at the state and national levels as a member of the Cerritos Community College forensics squad. There he went on to capture the collegiate Bovero-Tabor Award, awarded to the top community college speaker in the country. Lawrence gained the attention of the University of Southern California’s debate team coaches, and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the university. While at USC, he traveled the nation competing in tournaments. Meanwhile, he was gaining valuable experience in his craft by moonlighting at the Los Angeles Theater Center. There, a Hollywood talent agent noticed his skill and landed Lawrence his first job in television, a role on Hill Street Blues.
After graduation from USC, he worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe while also performing standup comedy throughout the United States, Australia, and Canada, opening for major acts, such as Jerry Seinfeld and Rodney Dangerfield. Lawrence's work in live theater led to a Dramalogue Award for his performance in Reza Abdoh’s, Minimanta. He won an NAACP award for his work in Ken Davis' The Glass House in 1990. It was this role which attracted the attention of director, James Cameron, who then cast him as the "burly insane asylum attendant" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Caddyshack II | Construction Worker #4 | |
| 1989 | Listen to Me | Attila | |
| 1991 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Burly Attendant | |
| Child's Play 3 | Cop | ||
| 1993 | Fear of a Black Hat | Tone Def | |
| 12:01 | Jack Spays | TV movie | |
| 1995 | Crimson Tide | Rono, Chief Culinary Specialist | |
| Tales from the Hood | Prison Guard | ||
| 1997 | That Darn Cat | Rollo | |
| Sprung | Brotha #3 | ||
| The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda | Pagoda DJ | TV movie | |
| 1998 | Senseless | Wig Shop Owner | |
| Caught in the Spray | Lil' Ass Gee | Short | |
| 1999 | Molly | Angels' Manager | |
| Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story | Fats Domino | TV movie | |
| 2000 | Retiring Tatiana | E.J. | |
| 2001 | Go with the Fro | - | Short |
| Planet of the Apes | Friend at Leo's Party | ||
| Two Can Play That Game | Lying Man #4 | ||
| K-PAX | Simms | ||
| 2003 | Lost Treasure | Danny G. | |
| 2004 | Garfield: The Movie | Christopher Mello | |
| Tiger Cruise | Pop | TV movie | |
| Christmas with the Kranks | Wes Trogden | ||
| 2005 | Fair Game | Wesley | |
| The Island | Construction Worker | ||
| Life Is Ruff | Calvin's Dad | TV movie | |
| Ordinary Miracles | Duty Sergeant | TV movie | |
| 2006 | The Pursuit of Happyness | Wayne | |
| 2008 | Shout! | - | |
| The Club | Donovan | Short | |
| 2009 | Halloween II | Deputy Fred King | |
| 2010 | Speed-Dating | Dr. Petesmith | |
| Sudden Death! | Jim | Short | |
| Uncle Matin's Sword Trick | Azeem | Short | |
| Silverlake Video: The Movie | Landlord | ||
| 2011 | Sock Babies | Dad | Short |
| 2014 | Cooties | Mr. Pederson | |
| Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys | Ted | TV movie | |
| 2015 | Cocked | Burt | TV movie |
| Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story | Gary Rockwell | ||
| When I Wake Up | Ronnie Williams | Short | |
| 2016 | The Death of Rasputin | Detective Reynolds | Short |
| Moving On | Det. Weston Dempsey | Short | |
| 2017 | Stage Fright | - | TV movie |
| Conflict of Interest | Rich | ||
| Circus Kane | Billy | ||
| 2018 | West of Hell | Abram | |
| Mr. Malevolent | Borris | ||
| 2019 | Maybe I'm Fine | Detective Greene | |
| The Flourish | Dennis | Short | |
| One Fine Christmas | Al | TV movie | |
| 2nd Chance for Christmas | Spoken Word Poet | ||
| 2020 | Skin: The Movie | Marvin | |
| $TACK$ | Hector | Short[3] | |
| Sleeper Agent | Mike | ||
| Leave 'em Laughing | Soup Guy Fan | Short | |
| 2021 | Nothing Is Impossible | Pastor Lawrence | |
| Romeo and Juliet: A Covid Trajedy | Father Lawrence | Short | |
| 2022 | Family Camp | Pastor Dave | [4][5] |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Ohara | Carl | Episode: "The Sparrow" |
| 1991 | Roc | Husband | Episode: "A Home, a Loan" |
| 1992 | Designing Women | Black Gentleman | Episode: "Driving My Mama Back Home" |
| Evening Shade | Mr. Powell | Episode: "Hasta la Vista" | |
| Seinfeld | Skycap | Episode: "The Airport" | |
| 1993 | In Living Color | - | Episode: "The Info Group" |
| Martin | Security Guard | Episode: "Hollywood Swinging: Part 2" | |
| 1994 | Murphy Brown | Trekker | Episode: "Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?" |
| Seinfeld | Boss | Episode: "The Race" | |
| 1995 | The George Wendt Show | Fletcher Williams | Main Cast |
| 1996 | The Show | Chris | Recurring cast |
| 3rd Rock from the Sun | Bartender | Episode: "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick" | |
| 1997 | Coach | Big Dave | Episode: "A Boy and His Doll" |
| High Incident | - | Episode: "Excessive Force" | |
| Sister, Sister | Mr. Kirkpatrick | Episode: "Child's Play" | |
| Men Behaving Badly | Russell | Recurring cast: season 2 | |
| 1998 | Kelly Kelly | Hank | Episode: "Episode One" |
| Malcolm & Eddie | Squires | Episode: "A Few So-So Men" | |
| 2000 | Touched by an Angel | Hank | Episode: "A Perfect Game" |
| Malcolm in the Middle | Sheriff #1 | Episode: "Traffic Jam" | |
| 2001 | Yes, Dear | Tony | Episode: "The Daddies Group" |
| Dharma & Greg | Arnold | Episode: "Do the Hustle" | |
| Emeril | Matt | Episode: "Blind Dates" | |
| 2003 | The Mullets | Bill | Recurring cast |
| 2004 | American Dreams | Melvin Bishop | Episode: "Real-to-Reel" |
| Crossing Jordan | Rob Morton | Episode: "Second Chances" | |
| Grounded for Life | Duane | Episode: "Pressure Drop" | |
| Reba | Bar Bouncer | Episode: "Girls' Night Out" | |
| Center of the Universe | Moe | Episode: "Independence Day" | |
| 2005 | Hot Properties | John | Episode: "Waiting for Oprah" |
| 2006 | My Name Is Earl | Jack Knox | Episode: "Stole P's HD Cart" |
| Weeds | Mike | Episode: "Cooking with Jesus" | |
| 2007 | Heroes | Mr. Lamont | Episode: "Chapter Four 'The Kindness of Strangers'" |
| 2007-12 | Chuck | Michael "Big Mike" Tucker | Recurring cast: season 1, main cast: seasons 2–5[6] |
| 2008 | Chuck Versus the Webisodes | Big Mike | Recurring cast |
| Buy More | Big Mike | Recurring cast | |
| 2010 | Buy Hard - The Jeff and Lester Story | Big Mike | Main Cast |
| 2011 | Retired at 35 | Carl | Episode: "The Tell-Tale Cart" |
| 2012 | Glee | Rob Adams | Episode: "Glease" |
| 2013 | Lab Rats | Announcer | Episode: "Robot Fight Club" |
| Good Luck Charlie | Bernie | Episode: "Duncan Dream House" | |
| 2014 | Franklin & Bash | Henry Shae's Boss | Episode: "Honor Thy Mother" |
| 2014-15 | Kirby Buckets | Coach Batchelder | Episode: "Killer Puppies" & "Atta Boy" |
| 2015 | Murder? [7] | Jason | Episode: "Part 1 & 4" |
| 2015-16 | Chain Comedy Hour | Cast Member | Main Cast |
| 2016 | Inside the Extras Studio | Will Johnson | Episode: "Famous Director" |
| The Encounter | Sheldon | Episode: "Her Final Role" | |
| Pitch | Russell | Episode: "Unstoppable Forces & Immovable Objects" | |
| 2017 | Malibu Dan the Family Man | Marty Dankles | Recurring cast |
| 2019 | The Detour | Officer Bradshawl | Episode: "The Return" |
| Chartered | Mr. Jay Heard | Episode: "Pilot" | |
| Black Jesus | Det. Samuels | Episode: "The Compton Crusader" | |
| 2020 | The Dream | Tom | Episode: "Pilot" |
| Two Degrees | Mark | Episode: "Dr. Abigail & Me" | |
| 2021 | All the Queen's Men[8] | Gene Marks | Recurring cast: season 1 |
| 2022 | Sprung | Hank | Episode: "Chapter Seven" |
References
edit- ^ Mike Rose, cleveland com (2024-05-22). "Famous birthdays list for today, May 22, 2024 includes celebrities Ginnifer Goodwin, Maggie Q". cleveland. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
- ^ "Cast & Crew: Mark Christopher Lawrence". The Odyssey Scoop. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
- ^ Papadatos, Markos (2021-06-30). "Mark Christopher Lawrence talks about his 2021 Daytime Emmy nomination for 'Lead Actor'". Digital Journal. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ^ Morris, Andrea (2022-06-25). "'When God Closes a Door He Opens a Chick-fil-A': The Comedy of Mark Christopher Lawrence in 'Family Camp'". Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ^ Bell, Diane (2022-06-07). "Column: 'Family Camp' film romp has San Diego connection". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ^ Bernstein, Abbie (2011-12-30). "Exclusive Interview: CHUCK star Mark Christopher Lawrence looks back on five seasons of Buy More fun - Assignment X". Assignment X. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ^ "bio" (PDF). mildlyfearsomefilms.com. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
- ^ Hanson Jr., John L. (2021-10-11). "A conversation with renowned actor Mark Christopher Lawrence". KUT. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
External links
edit