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Book Home  Books Information Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving "Ving" Rhames (born May 12, 1959 in
New York City, New York) is an American actor.
Rhames grew up in Harlem, Manhattan. A good student,
Ving entered the New York High School of Performing Arts, where he
discovered his love of acting. After high school he studied at the
Juilliard Drama School, and began his career in New York theater.
At Juilliard, he was a roommate of fellow actor Stanley Tucci.
He first appeared on Broadway in the play "The
Winter Boys" in 1984. Ving continued his rise to fame through
his work in soap operas. He found work as a supporting actor, and
came to the attention of the general public in Pulp Fiction (1994)
as Marsellus Wallace. Not long after, Rhames was cast alongside Tom
Cruise as the ace computer hacker Luther Stickell in Brian de Palma's
Mission: Impossible (1996). With solid performances in both these
highly popular productions, his face was now well known to moviegoers,
and the work offers began rolling in more frequently.
Rhames won a Golden Globe in 1998 for best actor in
a TV miniseries for his performance in HBO's Don King: Only in America.
At the ceremony Rhames gave his award to the late 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 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.
The talented actor then contributed attention-grabbing
performances in Bringing Out the Dead (1999), reprised his Luther
Stickell role for Mission: Impossible II (2000), contributed his deep
bass voice for the character of Cobra Bubbles in Lilo & Stitch
(2002), and played a burly cop fighting cannibal zombie hordes in
Dawn of the Dead (2004). Rhames has also appeared in a series of television
commercials for Radio Shack, usually performing with Vanessa Lynn
Williams. A keen fitness and weight-lifting enthusiast, Rhames is
also well known for his strong spiritual beliefs and benevolent attitude
toward other people.
Rhames currently stars as the title detective in the
USA Network's 2005 TV series Kojak, loosely based on the '70s show
of the same name. During a press conference in Hollywood for the new
series, American critics criticized Rhames (who is Black) for playing
a role which orginally portrayed by the late Telly Savalas, a Greek-American
character. The actor was reportedly brought to tears by the harsh
criticism.
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