Cedric the Entertainer

Early life

Cedric was born on April 24, 1964, in Jefferson City, Missouri, the son of Rosetta (née Boyce), a schoolteacher, and Kittrell Kyles, an employee of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He has a younger sister, Sharita Kyles Wilson, a communications professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Cedric was raised in Caruthersville, Missouri, but after junior high school he moved to Berkeley, Missouri, a northern suburb of St. Louis. He is a graduate of Berkeley High School.

Cedric majored in mass communication at Southeast Missouri State University and worked as a State Farm Insurance claims adjuster and substitute high school teacher before becoming a full-time comedian. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

Career

Cedric's stage name came about when he felt that his real name, Cedric Kyles, sounded too formal. Inspired by an entertainer named Kodak, he came up with the name "Cheerio", but received a cease and desist letter from General Mills over their cereal Cheerios. He settled on his stage name when someone introduced him as "an entertainer, Cedric the entertainer" and the name stuck.

After appearing on It's Showtime at the Apollo in 1992, Cedric hosted BET's ComicView during the 1993–1994 season, and Def Comedy Jam in 1995. He then moved into acting, auditioning for and receiving his first-ever role as The Cowardly Lion in the 1995 Apollo Theater Revival of The Wiz. He expanded his career by playing Steve Harvey's friend Cedric Jackie Robinson on The Steve Harvey Show.

While his acting career grew, Cedric continued to perform stand-up comedy and traveled the country as one of the Kings of Comedy headliners with Steve Harvey, D. L. Hughley and Bernie Mac. The act was later made into a Spike Lee film, The Original Kings of Comedy (2000). From 2002-2003, Cedric had his own sketch comedy show, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, but after being renewed for a second season, it was canceled by Fox before the season began. He took time to write a book, Grown-A$$ Man. He appeared in the 2003 video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004. He recorded comedic interludes on two Nelly albums, Country Grammar (2000) and Nellyville (2002) as well as on Jay-Z's The Black Album (2003). A more recent HBO Comedy Special was Cedric The Entertainer: Taking You Higher in 2006.

Cedric began appearing in films, including Ride (1998), Big Momma's House (2000), Barbershop (2002), and its sequels Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), Serving Sara (2002), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Man of the House (2005) and Be Cool (2005).

He was the subject of controversy when his Barbershop character made unpopular remarks about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. These jokes (about the pastor's promiscuity with women, and Parks just being tired to get to the back of the bus) were spoken in character, as part of the script. Rev. Jesse Jackson publicly asked for those jokes to be edited out of the movie on the DVD and VHS releases.

Cedric also voiced the character of Bobby Proud in the series The Proud Family (2001-2005), and starting in 2022, its revival series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and characters in several films including Zoo Bear #1 in Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Carl in Ice Age (2002). In Madagascar (2005), and its sequels Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), he voiced Maurice, the aye aye. He appeared in the film Charlotte's Web (2006) as the voice of Golly the gander. He also voiced Leadbottom, a biplane in the films Planes (2013), and its sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).

In October 2005, Cedric joined the Champ Car auto racing series as a part owner. Cedric appeared as the lead comedian at the 2005 White House Correspondents Dinner, but jokingly remarked that he was unprepared because he thought that he would follow a humorous speech by President George W. Bush. He instead followed First Lady Laura Bush, who called him "hilarious" and "probably the funniest person" she had ever met.

In the 2007 comedy film Code Name: The Cleaner, Cedric played Jake, a janitor with amnesia who may be a secret undercover government agent involved in an illegal arms conspiracy. He starred in the 2008 films Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins and Street Kings.

Cedric has won many awards, beginning with $500 in the Johnny Walker National Comedy Contest in 1990 and coming in first in the Miller Genuine Draft Comedy Contest in 1993. BET named him Richard Pryor Comic of the Year. He has also won four NAACP Awards. He was inducted to the St. Louis Walk of Fame on June 7, 2008. His star is at 6166 Delmar.

He was the special guest host for WWE Raw on September 21, 2009, in Little Rock, Arkansas. During the show, he participated in a wrestling match, defeating Chavo Guerrero Jr. by pinfall. The match also featured Santino Marella as a guest referee. Cedric also got help from an unknown wrestler dubbed The Sledge Hammer (played by Imani Lee) and Hornswoggle.

In March 2010, Cedric made his directorial debut with Dance Fu, produced and funded independently by his company Bird and a Bear Entertainment with producer Eric C. Rhone. It starred comedian Kel Mitchell. Cedric made a cameo appearance in the film as a homicide detective. It was released straight to DVD on October 4, 2011.

Cedric appeared in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's play American Buffalo.

In a June 21, 2011, interview, Cedric said his latest reality game show, It's Worth What?, would air on NBC on July 12, 2011, but the start date was delayed by one week to July 19. From 2012-2016, he played the main character in the TV Land original series The Soul Man, featuring Niecy Nash. The series ran for five seasons.

Cedric was the host of the American TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, beginning with its 12th season in national syndication, which premiered on September 2, 2013. On April 30, 2014, Cedric announced that he was leaving the game show after the 2013–14 season to focus on other projects. Terry Crews took over as host on September 8, 2014.

In 2016, Cedric starred as Lou Dunne in the comedy film Why Him?. Starting in 2018, he played the character of Calvin Butler in the television sitcom The Neighborhood.

He was the official commentator for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match in 2024.

In 2025, Cedric the Entertainer competed on season thirteen of The Masked Singer as "Honey Pot" where the bees on the mask part of his costume sported his trademark fedoras. He was the first of Group A to be eliminated in the season premiere.

Personal life

Cedric is married to Lorna Wells. They have two children, Croix (born 2000) and Lucky Rose (born 2003). He also has a daughter, Tiara (born 1989), from a previous relationship. He continues his involvement with his high school by awarding a scholarship each year to a graduating senior through the Cedric the Entertainer Charitable Foundation, whose motto is "Reaching Out...Giving Back". In May 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts and humanities by Lincoln University of Missouri (his parents' alma mater). In 2018, St. Louis honored him by renaming the street in front of the Kappa Alpha Psi Alumni House to Cedric The Entertainer Way.{{cite AV media |title=Cedric the Entertainer Street Renaming Ceremony|date=January 17, 2019|url=http://archive.org/details/stltvmo-Cedric_the_Entertainer_Street_Renaming_Ceremony|language=en|access-date=February 25, 2020 |via=Internet Archive|quote=...Cedric The Entertainer Way really suits him, because Cedric did it his way...|minutes=12|publisher=STL TV - City of St. Louis government access channel|medium=Television Production| transcript=Transcript (WebVTT format)|transcript-url=https://archive.org/download/stltvmo-Cedric_the_Entertainer_Street_Renaming_Ceremony/Cedric_the_Entertainer_Street_Renaming_Ceremony.en.vtt#:~:text=00:12:51.720,00:12:59.430}} Alt URL

Filmography

Books

• Grown-A$$ Man, Ballantine Books, 2002.
• Flipping Boxcars: A Novel (with Alan Eisenstock), Amistad, 2023.

Notes

References

References

1. Andreeva, Nellie. (July 28, 2015). "'The Soul Man' Picked Up For Fifth & Final Season By TV Land".
2. "Cedric The Entertainer's Biography".
3. "Cedric The Entertainer Biography (1964?-)". Filmreference.com.
4. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LrUDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22cedric+the+entertainer%22+and+%22sharita+kyles%22&pg=PA58 "Cedric 'The Entertainer' Scores in Commercials, TV and Film with Down-Home Comedy"], ''Jet'', March 12, 2001. Accessed on December 29, 2009.
5. (October 19, 2007). "Local News: Cedric "The Entertainer," to be pararde marshal (10/19/07)". seMissourian.com.
6. (August 2022). "Cedric the Entertainer: Biography". IMDb.com.
7. King, Lynnea Chapman. (October 10, 2014). "The Coen Brothers Encyclopedia". Rowman & Littlefield.
8. (January 29, 2023). "How Did Cedric The Entertainer Get His Name?". The Byron Scott Podcast.
9. Franklin, Krystal. (July 20, 2018). "It's A Mini Steve Harvey Show Reunion: Terri J. Vaughn & Cedric The Entertainer Reunited".
10. "Steve Harvey almost passed on Steve Harvey Show if Cedric The Entertainer wasn't included".
11. (May 27, 2023). "SuperFest: Cedric the Entertainer talks The Original Kings of Comedy; being a Triple Threat".
12. Christian, M. A.. (2003). "Cedric the Entertainer shares views on his rising stardom, being black in Hollywood, and what he learned from ''Barbershop''". Jet.
13. Brown, Preezy. (June 1, 2022). "Cedric The Entertainer Reveals Story Behind Threats Skit On Jay-Z's The Black Album".
14. Rodgers, Josh. (February 23, 2023). "Despite Earning $150k For Barbershop; Cedric The Entertainer Admits it Bolstered His Career".
15. (February 4, 2004). "Cedric's back to steal the show in Barbershop 2".
16. (February 19, 2015). "Malcolm D. Lee To Helm 'Barbershop 3′ For MGM". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
17. "Black Leaders Angered by Scene Say 'Barbershop' Needs a Trim".
18. Gary Susman. (24 September 2002). "''Barbershop'' jokes anger civil rights activists".
19. (December 16, 2006). "Spinning Charlotte's Web with Cedric The Entertainer".
20. (October 7, 2005). "Champ Car adds some star power".
21. (May 2, 2005). "Cedric the Entertainer at the White House". [[NPR]].
22. Busis, Hilary. (April 25, 2015). "White House Correspondents Dinner: All-time best laughs".
23. Washington, Julie. (February 8, 2008). "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins starts as a snoozer but ends on refreshing note".
24. Fuller, Alice. (April 18, 2008). "Cedric Still an Entertainer in Street Kings".
25. Stanton, L.. (2004). "Cedric the Entertainer". Current Biography.
26. (2016). "Who's Who in America". Marquis Who's Who LLC, 2016.
27. (2007). "Cedric the Entertainer". Contemporary Black Biography.
28. "St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees". St. Louis Walk of Fame.
29. link. "WWE RAW Results - 21/09/2009". Adam. Kelly
30. "The Masked Man from Cedric's RAW Revealed, WrestleMania in Atlanta?".
31. Silvestri, Max. (August 23, 2012). "We found it on Netflix Instant: Dance Fu".
32. (August 19, 2008). "Revival of Mamet's American Buffalo Finds a Broadway Home".
33. (June 22, 2011). "Cedric the Entertainer prepares for Nashville and NBC". [[The Tennessean]].
34. Andreeva, Nellie. (July 28, 2015). "'The Soul Man' Picked Up For Fifth & Final Season By TV Land".
35. "Cedric 'The Entertainer' to host 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'". [[WABC TV]].
36. (April 30, 2014). "Cedric the Entertainer to leave 'Millionaire'". USA Today.
37. (May 7, 2014). "Terry Crews Named New 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' Host". The Hollywood Reporter.
38. Hunt Wilson, Stacy. (September 28, 2018). "Cedric the Entertainer and Max Greenfield on Finding Laughs in Gentrification".
39. Braxton, Greg. (November 16, 2020). "There's an enemy out there; say's Cedric the Entertainer, And he's ready to fight back".
40. Hamilton, Gary. (April 14, 2023). "Cedric the Entertainer enjoying life in his Neighborhood".
41. Schneider, Michael. (February 12, 2025). "'The Masked Singer' Season 13 Premiere Reveals Identity of Honey Pot: Here Is the Celebrity Under the Costume".
42. Uwumarogie, Victoria. (June 8, 2021). "Cedric the Entertainer Is A Proud Dad As Daughter Lucky Stuns At Senior Prom".
43. Musitafu, Akbur. (January 27, 2023). "Cedric the Entertainer's Wife Is His Queen Who Keeps Him Grounded".
44. Hoskins, Kelley. (December 15, 2018). "Cedric the Entertainer has a street named in his honor in north St. Louis". [[KTVI.
45. "Cedric the Entertainer (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
46. Grobar, Matt. (January 7, 2026). "Netflix's 2026 Film Slate: Dates For 'War Machine' & Other Titles, New Cast For Animated 'Swapped' Plus First-Look Pics For 'Enola Holmes 3,' More".
47. "The ''ComicView'' Legacy".
48. Bustos, Kristina. (October 1, 2012). "''2 Broke Girls'' casts Cedric the Entertainer in guest role".
49. Abrams, Natalie. (October 1, 2012). "''2 Broke Girls'' Exclusive: Cedric the Entertainer is Coming to Town!".
50. Pace, Robert. (March 11, 2013). "Exclusive Clip: ''Real Husbands of Hollywood'' Tase Themselves".
51. NG, Philiana. (March 20, 2013). "Cedric the Entertainer to Host Who Wants to be a Millionaire".
52. Samuels, Allison. (September 2, 2013). "Cedric the Entertainer Wants to Make You A Millionaire".
53. Pesce, Nicole. (April 16, 2015). "Cedric the Entertainer's ''Barber Battle'' on CW will see who makes the cut".
54. Kickham, Dylan. (August 4, 2016). "''Another Period'': Riki Lindhome on spoofing Kimye and punching dogs in latest episode".
55. Westmoore, Jean. (May 22, 2017). "You Should Be Watching: ''Master of None''".
56. Ramirez, Christina. (October 24, 2017). "Usher and Anthony Anderson Face Off in an Epic Rap Battle on ''Drop the Mic''".
57. Espiritu, Emmanuelle. (July 7, 2017). "''Nightcap'' Season 2 Episode 7: Series About to End? Debra Messing, Brendan Fraser to Guest Star".
58. (April 26, 2018). "''Comedy Get Down'' Crew Celebrates 100th Show in style".
59. Abrams, Natalie. (March 28, 2017). "''Superior Donuts'' casts Cedric the Entertainer as Franco's father".
60. (January 23, 2020). "Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Announces Two More Seasons of Comedy Game Show ''Funny You Should Ask''".
61. Pedersen, Erik. (May 17, 2017). "Tracy Morgan TBS Series Gets A Title, Adds Cedric The Entertainer & Others".
62. Triplett, Steffan. (December 18, 2020). "One Good Thing: A magically soothing cartoon that lets friendship last forever".
63. "Cedric The Entertainer – ''The Neighborhood'' Cast Member – CBS".
64. Romano, Nick. (March 6, 2018). "Melissa McCarthy own's Sia in ''Nobodies'' season 2 trailer".
65. Macrae, Grace. (November 22, 2019). "''Power'' season 6: Famous guest stars revealed in run up to huge finale showdown".
66. Tyrell, Caitlin. (February 17, 2023). "Cedric the Entertainer Hosts His Own Award Show In CBS ''Greatest @Home Videos''".
67. Brockington, Ariana. (September 11, 2021). "Every Celeb Who Makes A Sly Voice Cameo In Hulu's ''Woke''".
68. Dawn, Randee. (September 19, 2021). "Cedric The Entertainer leads fun Emmys opening with Rita Wilson, other stars".
69. Ordona, Michael. (July 12, 2021). "Cedric the Entertainer will host live, in-person 2021 Emmy ceremony".
70. Swift, Andy. (February 27, 2020). "''The Proud Family'' Revival Ordered at Disney+ With Original Cast — First Look".
71. Cobb, Kayla. (2024-04-30). "'John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA' Sets Live Guests".