Ving Rhames

Early life and education

Rhames was born and raised in Harlem, New York City, the son of Reather, a religious stay-at-home mom raising him and his brother Junior, and Ernest Rhames, an auto mechanic whose parents were South Carolina sharecroppers. He was named "Irving" after NBC journalist Irving R. Levine.

Unlike many of his childhood friends, Rhames neither took drugs nor succumbed to easy street money, but rather played football for Covent Avenue Baptist Church in the Hamilton Heights Historic District. One of Rhames' junior high school teachers praised his poetry reading. On a whim, he applied to New York's High School of Performing Arts, where he developed his love of acting. After high school, he studied drama at SUNY Purchase, where fellow acting student Stanley Tucci gave him his nickname "Ving". Rhames later transferred to the Juilliard School's Drama Division (Group 12: 1979–1983) where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1983, and began acting in Shakespeare in the Park the following Monday.

Career

Stage

Rhames' training in the classics gained him roles as early as 1983 at Shakespeare in the Park in Richard III. He has also appeared in the classics Richard II, and Sophocles' play Ajax, as well as off-Broadway productions such as Map of the World and Ascension Day, and regionally in plays by Henrik Ibsen and Molière.

Rhames played the role of amateur boxer Omar in the Second Stage Theater 1984-85 revival of Miguel Piñero's 1974 prison drama Short Eyes directed by Kevin Conway, alongside Paul Calderon and Laurence Fishburne, among others.

On Broadway appeared in John Pielmeier's play The Boys of Winter directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in December 1985 at the Biltmore Theatre.

In an interview, Rhames commented about screen versus stage roles, "I don't give Hollywood the power to limit me," and "I can always do theater, I can do Ibsen, I can do Macbeth, I can do Chekhov, I can do Molière, Othello, I can do Richard III."

Screen

1985–1989: Early television and film appearances

Rhames' screen debut came in January 1985 in the role of Young Gabriel on the PBS anthology series American Playhouse in the television film Go Tell It on the Mountain, which was followed by small roles in television and film. Rhames' theatrical film debut came next in 1986 as Jack in Native Son, based on the 1940 novel by Richard Wright.

Other 80s film appearances include roles in Paul Schrader's biographical crime drama Patty Hearst (1988) as Donald "Cinque Mtume" DeFreeze, and as Lieutenant Reilly in Brian De Palma's drama Casualties of War (1989).

On television, Rhames had two guest appearances on Miami Vice; as Georges in "The Maze" (February 1985), and as Walker Monroe in "Child's Play" (1987). In 1986 he appeared on another Michael Mann show, Crime Story in the 1986 episode, "Abrams for the Defense" in which he portrayed Hector Lincoln, a poor Chicago tenant who assaults his landlord after Hector's son is bitten by a rat, and must therefore be defended by Stephen Lang's character, David Abrams. He played Czaja Carnek on the soap opera Another World for several episodes in 1986. He played SP4 Tucker in the Tour of Duty episode "Burn Baby, Burn" (1987). Rhames played Henry Brown on Spenser: For Hire in the episode "McAllister" (1988).

1990–1999: Breakout roles

During the 1990s, Rhames' theatrical film appearances included George in Adrian Lyne's psychological horror Jacob's Ladder (1990), and Wes Craven's comedy horror film The People Under the Stairs (1991) as Leroy. Also in 1991, he played Frank McRae, the master chief petty officer in John Milius' Vietnam war film Flight of the Intruder. As Secret Service agent Duane Stevensen, he watched over Kevin Kline's character in the political comedy film Dave (1993). He played street hustler "Little Leroy" in Tim Hunter's drama The Saint of Fort Washington (1993).

One of Rhames' breakout roles includes Marsellus Wallace which came in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 crime film Pulp Fiction. Another breakout, and recurring, role came in 1996 as ace computer hacker Luther Stickell opposite Tom Cruise in Brian De Palma's film adaptation, Mission: Impossible. Due to its success, Rhames reprises the character in subsequent films. In 1997, Rhames portrayed the character of Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones in the popular film Con Air.

Other film roles during the 90s include FBI Agent Omar in Kiss of Death (1995), the wisecracking bouncer/bodyguard Shad in Striptease (1996), and a starring role as West African drug dealer Muki in the action thriller Dangerous Ground (1997) with Ice Cube and Elizabeth Hurley. In John Singleton's 1997 historical drama Rosewood, Rhames played Mann, a veteran of WWI who is now a drifter falsely accused of assault by a white woman, eliciting a lynch mob. Although Rhames' character is fictional, Rosewood is based on a true story of the 1923 Rosewood massacre. In 1998, he played Pike in the crime thriller Body Count, and Buddy Bragg in the action comedy Out of Sight. He played Jesus-praising paramedic Marcus in the drama film Bringing Out the Dead (1999) directed by Martin Scorsese.

On television, Rhames played Dr. Peter Benton's brother-in-law on the medical drama ER, a recurring role he filled for three seasons from 1994 to 1996. Rhames won a Golden Globe in 1998 for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film in HBO's Don King: Only in America (1997). At the ceremony he gave his award to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, saying, "I feel that being an artist is about giving, and I'd like to give this to you." Lemmon was clearly touched by the gesture as was the celebrity audience who gave Lemmon a standing ovation. Lemmon, who tried unsuccessfully to give the award back to Rhames, said it was "one of the nicest, sweetest moments I've ever known in my life." The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced later that they would have a duplicate award prepared for Rhames. That moment was #98 on E!'s 101 Awesome Moments in Entertainment. The New York Times lauded Rhames for the act, writing that in doing so he "demonstrated his capacity for abundant generosity".

2000 to the present

Rhames reprises his role as Luther Stickell beginning in Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). He co-starred in Mission: Impossible III (2006), had a cameo appearance in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), and played a major role in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025), the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth installments in the Mission Impossible film series, respectively. He is the only actor besides Tom Cruise to appear in all eight Mission: Impossible films.

Other theatrical film roles include Johnnie Cochran in American Tragedy (2000), and the ex-con boyfriend of Jody's mother in the John Singleton film Baby Boy (2001). He contributed his voice for the character of Cobra Bubbles in the Walt Disney animated feature film Lilo & Stitch (2002) and the subsequent television series. Rhames played police Sergeant Kenneth Hall, a stoic cop and former Marine, fighting zombie hordes in the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. He played a different character, military Captain Kenneth Rhodes, in the 2008 remake of Day of the Dead. Rhames played a gay (and possibly also homicidal) firefighter who comes out of the closet in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007). In the 2008 film Saving God, he played an ex-con who is released from prison a changed man, looking to take over his father's former church congregation in a deteriorating neighborhood. Rhames stars in Phantom Punch (2008), a biopic of boxer Sonny Liston, released directly to DVD, as well as the British independent action/thriller film The Tournament (2009), portraying a fighter out to win a no-rules tournament.

On television Rhames portrayed a gay drag queen in the television film Holiday Heart (2000). He played John Morgan in Hallmark Hall of Fame's film Little John (2002). In March 2005, Rhames played the lead role on a new Kojak series, on the USA Network cable channel (and on ITV4 in the UK). The bald head, lollipops, and "Who loves ya, baby?" catchphrase remained intact, but little else remained from the Telly Savalas-starring original. It was announced that he would have a role in the 2006 Aquaman-based show Mercy Reef; however, due to the integration of The WB and UPN for the new network, CW, Mercy Reef was not picked up. He narrated the BET television series American Gangster (2006–2009).

Other works

Rhames makes an appearance in Ludacris's song "Southern Gangstas" on his 2008 album Theater of the Mind. Rappers Playaz Circle and Rick Ross are also featured on the track.

Rhames voiced the part of Tobias Jones in the video game Driver 3 (2004).

He filmed The Red Canvas (2009) with Ernie Reyes Jr., UFC lightweight contender Gray Maynard, and Randy Couture. In 2010, he filed a lawsuit against the film's producer, claiming that he had only been paid $175,000 of a $200,000 contract.

Since 2014, Rhames has provided the narration for numerous Arby's commercials, with the slogan "Arby's: We have the meats!"

In 2015, he filmed a series of commercials for The ADT Corporation. Rhames has also appeared in a series of television commercials for RadioShack, usually performing with Vanessa L. Williams.

Rhames is one of the narrators for UFC.

Rhames narrated the team introductions for the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in February 2017.

Personal life

Rhames is a Christian. In 1994 he married Valerie Scott, a former movie publicist. He has since divorced, and has been married to Deborah Reed since 2000.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

References

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2. (20 March 2005). "Who Loves Ya, Baby? 'Kojak's' Back – And This Time, He'S Black".
3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100825125319/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4569728/ Newsmakers – Newsweek Entertainment – MSNBC.com]
4. (April 2010). "Alumni News". [[The Juilliard School]].
5. Brennan, Sandra. (2007). "Ving Rhames". [[The New York Times]].
6. (April 1997). "Contemporary Black Biography". Cengage Gale.
7. "Season 6 (1984-1985): ''Short Eyes'' by Miguel Piñero". [[Second Stage Theater]].
8. "Ving Rhames". [[The Broadway League]].
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13. (2000). "People Entertainment Almanac". Time.
14. (25 August 2017). "Vietnam at 24 Frames a Second: A Critical and Thematic Analysis of 360 Films About the Vietnam War". McFarland.
15. (April 30, 1988). "''Spenser: For Hire'' - McAllister".
16. Richardson, Riché. (2007). "Black masculinity and the U.S. South: from Uncle Tom to gangsta". University of Georgia Press.
17. Calvin, Marlene. (2010). "Diasporic Lives: Alienation and Violence as Themes in African American Jamaican Cultural Texts". LIT Verlag Münster.
18. Gerston, Jill. (2013). "Ving Rhames – About This Person". [[The New York Times]].
19. (August 17, 2014). "Ving Rhames Returns for Mission: Impossible 5". www.superherohype.com.
20. [http://www.tmz.com/2010/02/20/ving-rhames-lawsuit-sued-money-red-canvas-kenneth-chamitoff/ Ving Rhames to Producer: Do I Look Like a Bitch?] {{Webarchive. link. (March 23, 2010 . TMZ.com. Retrieved on August 28, 2010.)
21. Felix, Maria. (2021-06-26). "Who Is The Narrator For The Arby's Commercials?".
22. Howe, Desson. (February 21, 1997). "Reel Action Hero". The Washington Post.
23. Kimball, Josh. (October 17, 2008). "Ving Rhames Stars in Newly Released Christian Film". The Christian Post.
24. (20 February 1997). "Reel Action Hero: From 'Pulp Fiction' to 'Rosewood,' Ving Rhames is a Powerful Figure". [[The Washington Post]].
25. Nordine, Michael. (July 28, 2018). "Ving Rhames Was Held at Gunpoint by Cops in His Own Home After a Neighbor Reported a 'Large Black Man' Breaking In".
26. "Ving Rhames (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
27. Team, The Deadline. (2014-08-22). "Ving Rhames Boards ''Operator''; ''Threshold'' Ramps Up; Five Join ''Clavius''".
28. Daniell, Mark. (April 25, 2017). "Sylvester Stallone's ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' character has a big future in the MCU".
29. Busch, Anita. (2015-08-18). "Ving Rhames Joins Growing Comedy Cast Of ''Bastards''".
30. Barber, James. (2018-03-20). "''Con Man'' is the Weirdest Movie of the Year".
31. McNary, Dave. (2017-06-13). "Michelle Monaghan to Reunite With Tom Cruise for ''Mission: Impossible 6''".
32. King, Jack. (March 14, 2022). "''Wendell & Wild'' Teaser Announces Ving Rhames, David Harewood, and More Joining Voice Cast".
33. Ritman, Alex. (2021-11-02). "AFM: Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth, Ving Rhames Board Joe Russo Co-Penned Thriller ''The Locksmith''".
34. Grobar, Matt. (2022-08-17). "''Garfield'': Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham & Cecily Strong Board Animated Feature From Alcon Entertainment".
35. Kroll, Justin. (2023-03-28). "Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina And Ron Perlman Join Apple's ''The Instigators''".
36. Reul, Katie. (2024-03-05). "''The Wild Robot'', Animated Film Starring Lupita Nyong'o and Pedro Pascal, Gets Gorgeous First Trailer".
37. Galuppo, Mia. (2024-04-22). "''Severance'' Actor Tramell Tillman Joins Next ''Mission: Impossible'' (Exclusive)".
38. Massoto, Erick. (2024-11-21). "Ving Rhames Goes Rocky Balboa in ''Uppercut'' Trailer [Exclusive]".
39. Wiseman, Andreas. (February 11, 2025). "Liam Neeson Chase Pic 'The Mongoose' Underway In Australia With Marisa Tomei, Ving Rhames & Michael Chiklis Joining Cast".
40. Grobar, Matt. (2023-02-13). "''Sinking Spring'': Ving Rhames, Dustin Nguyen, Nesta Cooper, 3 Others Round Out Cast Of Apple's Crime Drama Series".
41. "1998 Golden Globes Award". Ropeofsilicon.
42. Jones, Anderson. (March 10, 2000). "ShoWest 2000 Signs Off". Eonline.com.