David Alan Grier

David Alan Grier
Birthdate	June 30, 1956
Birthtown	Detroit, Michigan
Occupation	Actor Comedian

David Alan Grier (born June 30, 1956 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American actor & comedian.

He played Carl Bentley, in the original Jumanji film.

Career

• Grier got his start on the National Public Radio radio drama adaptation of Star Wars in 1980. He was the voice of a nameless X-wing fighter pilot during the Battle of Yavin.
• Grier's later first taste of star life was in a short-lived Broadway musical called The First where he played famed black baseball player Jackie Robinson. He received a Tony nomination for his performance. He later starred as James "Thunder" Early in the hit Broadway musical Dreamgirls (a role which would later be played in the movie version by Eddie Murphy).
• Then after a series of movie & TV appearances, he got a job that really got him noticed. It was the job of one of the cast members of the FOX variety show, In Living Color.
• While doing the show, more movie & TV roles followed including the role of shoe factory worker turned police officer and back again Carl Bentley in the 1995 film Jumanji.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Streamers	Roger	Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor
1984	A Soldier's Story	Corporal Cobb
1985	Beer	Elliott Morrison
1986	From the Hip	Steve Hadley
1987	Amazon Women on the Moon	Don 'No Soul' Simmons
1988	Off Limits	Rogers
	I'm Gonna Git You Sucka	Newsman
	Me and Him	Peter Conklin
1990	Loose Cannons	Drummond
	Almost an Angel	Det. Bill
1994	In the Army Now	Fred Ostroff
	Blankman	Kevin Walker
1995	Goldilocks and the Three Bears	Spike
1992	Boomerang	Gerard
1995	Tales from the Hood	Carl
	Jumanji	Carl Bentley
1997	McHale's Navy	Ensign Charles Parker
	Top of the World	Detective Augustus
1999	Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby	Mr. Butz
	Stuart Little	Red	Voice
2000	3 Strikes	Detective Jenkins
	Return to Me	Charlie Johnson
	The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle	Measures
2001	15 Minutes	Mugger in Central Park
2003	Baadasssss!	Clyde Houston
	Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie	Himself/Announcer
	Tiptoes	Jerry Robin, Jr.
2004	The Woodsman	Bob
2005	The Muppets' Wizard of Oz	Uncle Henry	TV Movie
	Bewitched	Jim Fields
2006	Little Man	Jimmy
2008	Kissing Cousins	The Griller
	The Hustle	Rev. Isaac Montgomery Paid
	The Poker House	Stymie
	An American Carol	Rastus Malone
2009	Dance Flick	Sugar Bear
	Astro Boy	Mr. Squirt / Math Cowboy / Boxer Robot	Voice
2010	Something Like a Business	3D
2011	Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil	Moss the Troll	Voice
2013	Peeples	Virgil Peeples
2015	Road Hard	Michael
2017	The Big Sick	Andy Dodd

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Equalizer	Desk Sergeant	Episode: "The Lock Box"
1986	All Is Forgiven	Oliver Royce	9 episodes
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Deter Phibin	Episode: "Kingpins"
	A Different World	Prof. Bryan Walcott	Episode: "Romancing Mr. Stone"
1988	Tour of Duty	Harold	Episode: "Soldiers"
	Duet	Gordon	Episode: "Oh My God, I Left the Baby on the Bus"
	Tanner '88	Secret Serviceman	2 episodes
1989	ALF	FBI Agent #1	Episode: "Wanted: Dead or Alive"
1990	Equal Justice	Stone	Episode: "A Sucker's Bet"
1990–1994	In Living Color	Various	143 episodes
1993–1997	Martin	Reverend Leon Lonnie Love	4 episodes
1995	Saturday Night Live	Antoine Meriweather	Episode: "Damon Wayans/Dionne Farris"
	Dream On	Marshall	Episode: "Take Two Tablets, and Get Me to Mt. Sinai"
	The Preston Episodes	David Preston	10 episodes
	Pinky and the Brain	Marlon (voice)	Episode: "TV or Not TV"
1995–2000	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Various voices	3 episodes
1998	Damon	Bernard	13 episodes Nominated – Image Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
	Cosby	Gil	Episode: "Chemistry"
	Hercules: The Animated Series	Memnon (voice)	Episode: "Hercules and the Phil Factor"
1999	A Saintly Switch	Dan Anderson	Television movie
	The '60s	Fred Hampton	Television movie
	Kenan & Kel	Himself	Episode: "Aw, Here It Goes To Hollywood : Part 2"
2000	Angels in the Infield	Bob Bugler	Television movie
	The X-Files	Cinema Audience	Episode: "Hollywood A.D."
	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Tubunch (voice)	Episode: "Stress Test"
2000–2001	DAG	Jerome Dagget	17 episodes
2002	King of Texas	Rip	Television movie
	Sesame Street	Aladdin	Episode: "#33.45"
	Boston Public	Laurence Williams	Episode: "Chapter Forty-Two"
	The Proud Family	Reuben (voice)	Episode: "Behind Family Lines"
2002–2004	Life with Bonnie	David Bellows	44 episodes Nominated – Image Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television Series
2002–2005	Crank Yankers	Various voices	15 episodes
2003	Samurai Jack	Da Samurai/Junk Monster (voice)	Episode: "Samurai Versus Samurai"
2003–2005	My Wife and Kids	Jimmy	3 episodes
2007	Thank God You're Here	Host	7 episodes
2010	Bones	Professor Bunsen Jude	Episode: "The Body and the Bounty"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Jeremy Swift	Episode: "Branded"
2013	Happy Endings	Terry Chuckles	Episode: "In the Heat of the Noche"
	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	Rudd Rhymez (voice)	Episode: "Hip Hopocalypse Now"
2014	The Soul Man	Jesse	Episode: "Obama Drama"
	Bad Teacher	Carl Gaines	13 episodes
	Black Dynamite	Doctor (voice)	Episode: "How Honeybee Got Her Groove Back or Night of the Living Dickheads"
2014–2015	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Network President	Recurring role; 5 episodes
2015–2017	The Carmichael Show	Joe Carmichael	Main cast; 32 episodes
2015	The McCarthys	Dr. Hugh Morris	Episode: "Family Therapy"
	Cutthroat Kitchen	Himself/judge	Episode: "Taco Dirty to Me"
	The Wiz Live!	The Cowardly Lion / Robert The Farmhand Man #2	Live performance
2016	The Eric Andre Show	Himself/David Alan Thicke	Episode: "Dennis Rodman; Haley Joel Osment"
2017	A Christmas Story Live!	Santa Claus	Live performance
2017–2018	Snap Decision	Host
2018	A Series of Unfortunate Events	Hal	2 Episodes