Donald Faison

Early life and education

Donald Adeosun Faison was born on June 22, 1974, in Harlem, New York City, to talent agent Shirley and building manager Donald Faison. His parents were active with the National Black Theatre in Harlem. They divorced in 1992. He is the older brother of singer/musician Olamide Faison. Despite sharing a surname, Faison is not related to fellow actor Frankie Faison.

Faison attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan with his best friend, actor Dash Mihok.

Career

Faison first appeared in a 1989 commercial for Folgers coffee at the age of 15, in which he played the younger brother of a soldier returning from war. In 1992, he appeared with Malik Yoba in the ABC News special Prejudice: Answering Children's Questions, hosted by Peter Jennings. He also had a small role in Sugar Hill starring Wesley Snipes. He then became famous for his role as Murray Duvall in the 1995 film Clueless and the subsequent television series, which ran from 1996 to 1999. In 1995, he also appeared in Waiting to Exhale as Tarik, the son of Loretta Devine's character, Gloria. He was featured in New Jersey Drive. He also starred in Big Fat Liar alongside Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, and Amanda Bynes. He had a recurring role as Tracy on Felicity, appeared in Remember the Titans as the running back turned safety Petey Jones, and provided voice work for various characters in the MTV animated series Clone High. He had minor roles in the sitcoms Sister, Sister and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and in the film Josie and the Pussycats. In 2005, Faison produced one episode of MTV's Punk'd involving his Scrubs co-star Zach Braff. He also appeared in the music videos for Brandy's "Sittin' Up in My Room," Fall Out Boy's cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and Gavin Degraw's "Chariot."

In 2008, Faison voiced Gary the Stormtrooper in Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II. Afterwards, he interned on the Robot Chicken show to learn more about stop motion animation, and started a *Star Wars-*themed Lego stop-motion show, BlackStormTrooper, on his YouTube channel, shundigga.

On February 13, 2009, Faison participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend Celebrity Game. Other celebrities participating included NBA Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Dominique Wilkins, NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens, actor Chris Tucker, and four Harlem Globetrotters.

In 2010, Faison starred alongside Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Eric Balfour, Laz Alonso, Crystal Reed, and David Zayas in the Brothers Strause science fiction thriller Skyline.

Faison was in the 2010 CBS comedy pilot The Odds.

As of March 2011, Faison appeared in commercials for The Sims Medieval. In 2012, he made a cameo appearance in the movie Pitch Perfect. In 2013, Faison hosted the short-lived TBS comedy sketch show Who Gets the Last Laugh?. From 2016 to 2018, he hosted the GSN game show Winsanity.

From 2018 until 2020, Faison voiced pilot Hype Fazon, a character written and named for him by Dave Filoni, in Star Wars Resistance. Faison had caught Filoni's attention via his stop motion Star Wars cartoons.

Faison and Scrubs co-star Zach Braff co-host the rewatch podcast Fake Doctors, Real Friends, which launched in March 2020, sharing their stories and experiences of shooting the show. The podcast is distributed by iHeartRadio.

Faison created the web series Alabama Jackson for Adult Swim's YouTube channel, which premiered in 2022. Faison stars as the title character.

Personal life

He had his first son, Sean Faison-Ince (born 1996), with ex-girlfriend Audrey Ince.

In 1997, Faison started dating Lisa Askey, a nursing student. The two were married from 2001 to 2005, and had three children, twins Kaya and Dade (born 1999), and Kobe (born 2001).

Faison married his second wife, CaCee Cobb, on December 15, 2012, after six years of dating. They have two children, Rocco (born 2013) and Wilder Francis (born 2015). The wedding was held at the home of Faison's best friend, and former Scrubs co-star, Zach Braff, who also served as a groomsman. Serving as a bridesmaid was singer Jessica Simpson, for whom Cobb formerly worked as a personal assistant.

When Askey, Faison's first wife, died in 2017, their children moved in with Faison and Cobb. Faison is also the first cousin of actor Julian Horton.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Music videos

Video games

A dance that Faison performs during an episode of Scrubs is featured in the video game Fortnite. Faison's permission was not sought before including the dance, and he did not receive royalties for it.

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Donald Faison: Biography".
2. (June 17, 2002). "What's Up, Doc?". [[People (magazine).
3. Tanber, George J.. (February 22, 2007). "Q&A: 'Scrubs' star as pro team owner?". [[ESPN]].
4. (June 17, 2011). "Folgers ad (1989)".
5. (September 14, 2006). "Zach Braff Busted Beating Up Teen on 'Punk'd'". [[Hollywood.com]].
6. Opam, Kwame. (December 1, 2014). "'Scrubs' actor Donald Faison has been a Black Stormtrooper for years". [[The Verge]].
7. Graham, Jefferson. (January 21, 2014). "Talking Your Tech: Donald Faison gets animated over stop-motion". [[USA Today]].
8. (February 10, 2009). "NBA.com: Wilkins, Drexler, Owens among Celebrity Game notables".
9. Kay, Jeremy. (February 11, 2010). "IM Global want buyers to see the light on Skyline". [[Screen International.
10. Andreeva, Nellie. (February 18, 2010). "Five pilots beef up casts".
11. Klassen, Anna. (April 16, 2015). "13 Things 'Pitch Perfect' Has Ruined Forever". [[Bustle (magazine).
12. Bell, Amanda June. (March 15, 2017). "What Donald Faison has been doing since Scrubs". [[ZergNet#Owned or associated websites.
13. Berenz, Ryan. (April 4, 2013). "Who Gets the Last Laugh?: Donald Faison hosts TBS hidden-camera comedy". Channel Guide Magazine.
14. Pedersen, Erik. (November 18, 2015). "GSN Will Play 'Winsanity' With Host Donald Faison". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
15. Asarch, Steven. (October 4, 2018). "'STAR WARS' RESISTANCE' ISN'T THE MYTHICAL SPACE OPERA YOU'RE USED TO". [[Newsweek]].
16. Lee, Emily. (March 31, 2020). "Zach Braff & Donald Faison Launch 'Fake Doctors, Real Friends' Podcast".
17. Hipes, Patrick. (May 19, 2021). "Adult Swim To Produce Digital Short Series Based On Its Hit Shows Including 'Rick And Morty'".
18. Messer, Lesley. (December 15, 2012). "Donald Faison Marries Cacee Cobb". [[People (magazine).
19. Johnson, Zach. (December 15, 2012). "Donald Faison Marries CaCee Cobb!". [[Us Weekly]].
20. Webber, Stephanie. (August 24, 2013). "CaCee Cobb And Donald Faison Named Their Son Rocco!". [[Us Weekly]].
21. Webber, Stephanie. (April 24, 2015). "CaCee Cobb Welcomes Baby Girl Wilder Frances With Donald Faison: First Photo!". [[Us Weekly]].
22. Stone, Natalie. (March 2, 2017). "Donald Faison and Ex-Wife Lisa Askey: A Look Back at Their Relationship Before Her Passing".
23. Chestang, Raphael. (March 8, 2017). "Donald Faison Spends Time With His Kids Following the Death of Ex-Wife Lisa Askey". [[Entertainment Tonight.
24. (December 22, 2020). "315: My Tormented Mentor". [[iHeartRadio]].
25. Starrs, Chris. (December 16, 2024). "Whole New Ballgame: Gwinnett Native Julian Horton Making A Name For Himself In Tyler Perry's 'Beauty in Black'".
26. Carras, Christi. (January 5, 2022). "Disney sets 'Alice in Wonderland' series with Craig Ferguson". [[Los Angeles Times]].
27. Behbakht, Andy. (2022-03-03). "Legends of Tomorrow Season 8 Would Make New DC Hero A Main Character".
28. Milligan, Mercedes. (November 3, 2022). "'Reindeer in Here' Announces Sledful of Stars for Voice Cast".
29. Campione, Katie. (2025-10-28). "'Backyard Baseball' Video Game Lands First Ever Adaptation With Tiffany Haddish, Arturo Castro & More All-Stars Voicing Animated Special".
30. (February 19, 2015). "Ingrid Michaelson - "Time Machine" OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO". YouTube.
31. Crucchiola, Jordan. (November 18, 2018). "Yes, That Is The Scrubs 'Poison' Dance In Fortnite, and No, Donald Faison Is Not Getting Royalties". [[New York (magazine)#Digital expansion and destination sites.