Robert Townsend (actor)

Robert Townsend (born February 6, 1957) is an American actor, director, comedian, and writer. Townsend is best known for directing the films Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Eddie Murphy Raw (1987), The Meteor Man (1993), The Five Heartbeats (1991) and various other films and stand-up specials. He is especially known for his portrayal of The WB's sitcom The Parent 'Hood 's main character Robert Peterson, the series he created and directed select episodes of ran from 1995 to 1999. Townsend is also known for his role as Donald "Duck" Matthews in his 1991 film The Five Heartbeats. He later wrote, directed and produced Making the Five Heartbeats (2018), a documentary film about the production process and behind the scenes insight into creating the film. Townsend is also known for his production company Townsend Entertainment which has produced films Playin' for Love, In the Hive and more. During the 1980s and early–1990s, Townsend gained national exposure through his stand-up comedy routines and appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Townsend has worked with talent including Halle Berry, Morgan Freeman, Chris Tucker, Beyoncé, Denzel Washington, Ayo Edebiri, and many more.

Robert Townsend
Townsend in 2018
Born	(1957-02-06) February 6, 1957 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Illinois State University
Alma mater	Austin High School
Occupations	Actor comedian film director writer
Years active	1974–present
Notable work	Hollywood Shuffle The Five Heartbeats The Parent 'Hood
Spouse	Cheri Jones ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 2001)​
Children	3, including Skye
Website	roberttownsend.com

Early life and career

Townsend was born in Chicago, the second of four children to Shirley (née Jenkins) and Ed Townsend. His mother ended up raising him and his three siblings as a single parent. Growing up on the city's west side, Townsend attended Austin High School; graduating in 1975. He became interested in acting as a teenager. During a reading of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex in high school, Townsend captured the attention of Chicago's X Bag Theatre, The Experimental Black Actors Guild. Townsend later auditioned for parts at Chicago's Experimental Black Actors' Guild and performed in local plays studying at the famed Second City comedy workshop for improvisation in 1974. Townsend had a brief uncredited role in the 1975 movie Cooley High, but says the film "changed his life" for what he perceived as its true-to-life portrayal of people like him.

After high school, Townsend enrolled at Illinois State University, studied a year and later moved to New York to study at the Negro Ensemble Company. Townsend's mother believed that he should complete his college education, but he felt that college took time away from his passion for acting, and he soon dropped out of school to pursue his acting career full-time.

Career

Townsend auditioned to be part of Saturday Night Live's 1980–1981 cast, but was rejected in favor of Eddie Murphy. In 1982, Townsend appeared as one of the main characters in the PBS series Another Page, produced by Kentucky Educational Television that taught literacy to adults through serialized stories. Townsend later appeared in small parts in films like A Soldier's Story (1984), directed by Norman Jewison, and after its success garnered much more substantial parts in films like The Mighty Quinn (1989) with Denzel Washington.

In 1987, Townsend wrote, directed and produced Hollywood Shuffle, a satire based on the hardships and obstacles that black actors undergo in the film industry. The success of his first project helped him establish himself in the industry. Another of his films was The Five Heartbeats based on 1960s R&B male groups and the tribulations of the music industry. Townsend created and produced two television variety shows—the CableACE award–winning Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime for HBO, and the Fox Television variety show Townsend Television (1993). He also created and starred in the WB Network's sitcom The Parent 'Hood which originally ran from January 1995 to July 1999. In 2018, Townsend also directed 2 episodes for the B.E.T. Series American Soul which began airing in 2019. The show is about Don Cornelius and Soul Train. Townsend was programming director at the Black Family Channel, but the network folded in 2007. Townsend created The Robert Townsend Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to introduce and help new unsigned filmmakers.

Awards and other credits

Townsend directed the 2001 TV movie, Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story for which Cole won the NAACP Image Award as Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. Townsend also directed two television movies in 2001 and 2002 respectively, Carmen: A Hip Hopera and 10,000 Black Men Named George. In 2013, Townsend was nominated for an Ovation Award in the category of "Lead Actor in a Musical" for his role as Dan in the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts production of Next to Normal.

Personal life

Townsend was married to Cheri Jones from September 15, 1990, to August 9, 2001. They have three children, including Skye Townsend.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer
1987	Hollywood Shuffle	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Eddie Murphy Raw	Yes	No	No
1991	The Five Heartbeats	Yes	Yes	Yes
1993	The Meteor Man	Yes	Yes	Yes
1997	B*A*P*S	Yes	No	No
2008	Of Boys and Men	No	Yes	No
2009	Phantom Punch	Yes	No	No
2012	In the Hive	Yes	Yes	No
2015	Playin' for Love	Yes	Yes	Yes

Direct-to-video

• Black Listed (2003) (Also writer)
• Bill Cosby 77 (2014) (Unreleased)

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Cooley High	Basketball player seen in the gym room	Uncredited
	Mahogany	Extra
1976	The Monkey Hustle	Musician
1979	The Warriors	Baseball Fury	Uncredited
1980	Willie & Phil	Thin Boy
1984	Streets of Fire	Lester - The Sorels
	A Soldier's Story	Cpl. Ellis
1985	American Flyers	Jerome
1986	Ratboy	Manny
	Odd Jobs	Dwight
1987	Hollywood Shuffle	Bobby Taylor
1989	The Mighty Quinn	Maubee
1991	The Five Heartbeats	Donald "Duck" Matthews
1993	The Meteor Man	Jefferson Reed/Meteor Man
1999	Joseph's Gift	James Saunders
2000	Up, Up and Away	Jim Marshall/Bronze Eagle
2003	Black Listed	Alan Chambers	Direct-to-video
2008	Of Boys and Men	Holden Cole
2012	Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire	Vampire Actor #1	Voice role
2015	Playin' for Love	Coach Banks

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer	Creator	Notes
1987	The Late Show	No	Yes	No	No	1 episode
1993	Townsend Television	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
1995-1999	The Parent 'Hood	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Directed 17 episodes
2002	Soul Food	Yes	No	No	No	Episode "Tonight at Noon"
2005-2006	South of Nowhere	Yes	No	No	No	4 episodes
2007	Unfabulous	Yes	No	No	No	Episode "The Quest"
2009	Diary of a Single Mom	Yes	No	Yes	No	All 26 episodes
2018	Love Is	Yes	No	No	No	Episode "First Date"
2019	American Soul	Yes	No	No	No	Episodes "Lost and Found" and Just Us
	Black Lightning	Yes	No	No	No	Episodes "Pillar of Fire" and "Requiem for Tavon"
2020	The Last O.G.	Yes	No	No	No	Episodes "Family Feud" and "Come Clean"
2021	The Wonder Years	Yes	No	No	No	Episode "Independence Day"
2023	Power Book IV: Force	Yes	No	No	No	Episode "Here There Be Monsters"
2024	Poppa's House	Yes	No	No	No	Episode "Podcast"

TV special

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer	Notes
1987	Uptown Comedy Express	No	Yes	No
1991	The Best of Robert Townsend & His Partners in Crime	Yes	Yes	Yes
	A Party for Richard Pryor	No	Yes	No
	A Comedy Salute to Michael Jordan	No	Yes	No	Event from Comic Relief USA
1992	Comic Relief V	No	Yes	No
2013	Bill Cosby: Far from Finished	Yes	No	No
2022	Ms. Pat: Y'all Wanna Hear Something Crazy?	Yes	No	No

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer
1991	Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime	Yes	Yes	Yes
1999	Jackie's Back	Yes	No	No
2000	Up, Up and Away	Yes	No	No
	Little Richard	Yes	No	No
	Holiday Heart	Yes	No	No
2001	Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story	Yes	No	No
	Carmen: A Hip Hopera	Yes	No	No
2002	10,000 Black Men Named George	Yes	No	No
2009	Musical Theater of Hope	Yes	Yes	No

Miniseries

Year	Title	Episodes
2021	Colin in Black & White	"Road Trip"
		"The Decision"
2022	The Best Man: The Final Chapters	"Brown Girl Dreaming"
		"An American Marriage"
2023	Kaleidoscope	"Green: 7 Years Before the Heist"
		"Violet: 24 Years Before the Heist"

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Watch Your Mouth	Prince Otoma	Episodes "The Outcast" and "The Student Prince"
1979	Women at West Point	Russell Baker	TV movie
1981	Senior Trip	Randy
1982	In Love with an Older Woman	James
	M*A*S*H	Patient	Episode "Bombshells"
1995–1999	The Parent 'Hood	Robert Peterson	90 episodes
2002	I Was a Teenage Faust	Mr. Five	TV movie
2023	The Bear	Emmanuel Adamu	6 episodes

Further reading

• Alexander, George (December 18, 2007). Why We Make Movies: Black Filmmakers Talk About the Magic of Cinema. Harlem Moon. ISBN 978-0-3074-1959-0.
• Collier, Aldore (June 1, 1991). "Robert Townsend: a new kind of Hollywood dreamer". Ebony. XLVI (8): 102–106. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
• Rogers, Brent. "Robert Townsend Article in Perspectives". Sustaining Digital History. 12 November 2007.

External links

• Official website
• Robert Townsend at IMDb